Nymph Fishing

Nymphing? Let Me Count The Ways

When it comes to river nymph fishing there are probably more methods, techniques, and strategies than positions in the Kama Sutra. Zane Mirfin concludes his two-part series on nymphing.

Nymph fishing to most is the act of fishing a submerged or sunken trout fly with a floating or sinking flyline, dead-drift or under tension, either upstream or downstream, or maybe somewhere in between.

I have been fortunate to meet, talk to, guide, fish with, or learn from many fine anglers and when it comes to nymph fishing, the more you expose yourself to new ideas, the more you learn.

Nymph fishing is different things to different anglers, depending on where they live, where they fish, what they catch, and how they fish. Following are a few of the river nymph fishing techniques I and fishing acquaintances have used with success over the years.

G.E.M Skues is widely credited as the creator of modern nymph fishing. Earlier anglers, such as Walton and Cotton of The Compleat Angler fame, clearly understood about nymphal forms, but Skues codified a nymphing system to the disgust of many dry fly zealots at the time. Skues was principally fishing upstream to sighted trout close to the surface, often with flies that nowadays we would commonly call emergers.

When the fish get cunning in these modern times and are in the upper reaches of the water column, learning to fish nymphs within a foot or two of the surface can pay dividends. Unweighted nymphs near the surface can be more effective than a dry fly and are also less prone to drag, or the influence of wind.

Frank Sawyer, riverkeeper for 50 years on Britain’s upper Avon spring creek, took the Skues’ nymph system to the next level when he wisely observed that trout commonly fed deeper in the water column on nymphs. His definitive book, Nymphs and The Trout, was published in 1958. Sawyer’s contribution to angling lies principally in his invention of the Pheasant Tail nymph and, most importantly, his innovation in adding copper wire as weight to sink nymphs fished up and across to sighted fish. This new technique revolutionised flyfishing and paved the way for how we understand nymph fishing to this day.

Sawyer’s method of fishing a floating line, long leader, and no indicator to visible fish still works a treat. Interestingly, Sawyer often moved his sunken nymphs gently to excite the target fish. When fish are skittish, it is possible to make multiple presentations to a sighted trout without the added risk of spooking the fish with a dragging indicator. When the angler anticipates a ‘take’, it is a simple matter to tighten up on the line and feel for the fish. This works well in pristine water, especially slower, deeper water with good visibility.

Both methods above rely on the obvious movement of a trout taking the nymph -- either fins, body, or flashing mouth alerting the angler to set the hook.

In life, you’re allowed to have angling heroes and Tony Entwistle has always been one of mine. One of the techniques Tony taught me many years ago was the ‘lift and draw’. Tony’s method is to cast to a fish, often in a deep pool, and let the nymph sink down deep ahead of the fish. We often use two nymphs -- a bomb or heavy stonefly nymph with a smaller, more imitative nymph trailed off the bend of the hook, always on a long leader. When the angler believes the fly is getting close to the trout’s nose, the rod is lifted with a smooth motion so tension is created down through the line. This motion swims the nymph(s) off the bottom and can trigger fish to take, as well as alerting the angler to a hookup when weight is felt through the rod and line. The lift and draw is ideal on deep lying or difficult-to-see fish, or when it will be more difficult to see obvious signs of a take. Advances in technology, such as ‘sticky sharp’, chemically sharpened hooks and new flyline types with low stretch properties, have greatly improved this style of fishing. Traditional plastic flylines can have as much as 15-20% stretch and bite detection can be compromised.

The lift and draw can also be used blind, especially in big, deep holes, using a big creeper or stonefly imitation. Cast and allow a three to four second drift to get your fly deep, then give a few pumps with the rod tip to feel for trout before the tip is dropped again, allowing another three to four seconds of drift before pumping the rod again, and so on until it is time to re-cast.

William Stewart was a Scottish 19th century angler of great skill, who reversed the way wet flies were traditionally fished by fishing them upstream as nymphs (The Practical Angler, 1857). His soft hackle nymphs, or ‘spiders’ tied in ‘the round’, are deadly to this day. Fish respond well to flies fished upstream either dead-drift or with movement. The Leisenring Lift, originated by American angler James Leisenring (The Art of Tying the Wet Fly, 1941) was principally fished down and across blind into known trout lies, but can be easily adapted to the upstream method. Maybe the lift and draw is nothing more than an upstream visual Leisenring Lift with a dash of Sawyer and Stewart thrown in.

Many river nymph species are active swimmers, with the big mayflies, such as Nesameletus and Oniscigaster, able to motor, although many other species in the dobsonfly, stonefly, and caddis orders are also very capable swimmers. Insect movement is a trigger to trout predation, and vulnerable prey moving seductively will likely provoke a violent response. Recently on a small stream on the West Coast, we caught fish after fish when we realised trout were taking nymphs best when they were dragging, rather than dead-drift. Opening up a trout for the landowner, it was stuffed full of emerging caddis pupa. Once we started casting and lifting to actively move the fly, fishing became easy and highly effective.

One of my fishing customers, Fred Young, taught me the ‘leech fishing’ trick and I’ve caught lots of trout using it in the right conditions and locations. Fred’s technique involves casting up and across, using a floating line, a moderate leader, and twitching a nymph back to the angler with a high rod tip and plenty of constant wrist motion. Fred always preferred a moderately weighted nymph, particularly tied with CDC and/or marabou legs and tails. Fish often go nuts over the moving fly and this works well in coloured water and in stirred up wave action on lakes.

Modern indicator nymphing is the latest phenomenon, often plumbing the depths with lead and tungsten weighted nymphs. Strike indicators revolutionised nymph fishing around the world and you could write a book on this. For more information on this method refer to my Issue 62 feature, Indicator Nymphing Fast, Shallow Water. On a promotional trip to Southern California last July I was given, and also purchased, some amazing strike indication devices. Some of the better ones had screwdriver tightening devices to attach the indicator to the leader, or central indicator posts, like a flagpole, so you know at any time where the fly is in relation to the indicator drift. I purchased ‘thingamabobs’ -- lightweight, plastic indicators that don’t look unlike a ping pong ball, with an eyelet to attach to the leader. Thingamabobs come in numerous sizes and colours and a Swedish customer was pretty dubious when I attached one to his line in November. Per is a great angler and was amazed at how aerodynamic the thingamabob was to cast, especially attached to10 feet of leader, a one-eighth ounce split shot, and two medium sized unweighted nymphs. I’ve learned from coarse fishing the importance of understanding weight to float ratios, so when a fish touches the hook the indicator will tell you immediately. On this day, I must have had it just right. After a few casts, Per was into a nice trout out of a deep, well-defined gut that would have been difficult to fish successfully any other way.

High stick or Czech nymphing are similarly related nymph fishing techniques to take trout at close range in heavy, fast pocket water. Rene Vaz wrote a great article called Short Line Nymphing in Special Issue 27, describing the mechanics developed by European anglers to catch fish in rough, fast, broken water. I won’t repeat his advise except to say that back in the early 90s I learned the American high sticking technique in the waters of the western States and it was deadly on the rivers of Colorado, in among the big, fast pockets of the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan rivers. With this technique, fish close and deep, using boulders and current for cover to escape detection from the fish.

The major difference between high sticking and Czech nymphing is the use of a strike indicator. The Americans commonly use one or more indicators attached down the line to aid detection and/or drift control (maybe with a bit of flyline on the water too), whereas Europeans use a coloured leader made up of braid or highly visible nylon (with no flyline touching the water) to observe the drift, although trout are often felt through the line too, especially when jigging. I predict this method will become more common over time, with anglers utilising four to five metre rods to comb fishy spots seldom fished effectively before. In an age of rubber-soled wading boots, many anglers will seek to wade safer, shallow waters while fishing heavy current trout havens with longer rods and new innovative nymphing techniques.
Charles Brooks wrote a classic book in 1976 called Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout. Brooks had a range of techniques, but was particularly adept at fishing high density sinking lines up and across with short stout leaders of about a metre, using thickly hackled, rough dubbed, and well weighted stonefly nymphs. His method to all intents and purposes isn’t much different to Czech nymphing, although you always feel the fish pull on the line, rather than visually setting the hook. My greatest fish taken by this method was a 10kg steelhead in British Columbia’s Kispiox River. I spotted the fish in a deep, fast run and, only having a deep sinking T-300 line, I cut the leader back to well under a metre and tied on a big weighted Globug. On about the 10th cast, I finally got the drift right and the line tightened, as the big steelhead took off nearly ripping the rod from my grasp.

Another technique first described by New Zealander Keith Draper is using sink tip lines and offset circle type hooks fished upstream in larger rivers. The short, fast sinking heads, commonly two to four metres, help get the fly deep fast and the floating running line can be mended to assist the drift. With this technique you are waiting for fish to hook themselves against the water resistance of the line and it is effective on rainbow trout. Interestingly, in a book I am reading at the moment called Snapper, editor Sam Mossman describes how early Maori developed wooden and bone circle hooks that far outperformed the steel ‘J’ style hooks of Captain James Cook’s crewmen. One thing I have learned set-lining for snapper in Tasman Bay is how modern Japanese circle hooks catch the most fish, as they pull into the snapper’s mouth under the pressure of the fish. This is why Europeans tie their Czech nymphs on circle type hooks and why they work so well on sink tip lines fished up and across. There is often little need to strike, as fish hook themselves.
I really enjoy ‘down and across’ fishing with small, soft-hackled wet flies. The ‘wee wets’ are still nymph fishing and work well to imitate hatching mayflies and caddis pupa.

Edward Ringwood Hewitt (Nymph Fly Fishing, 1934) was one of the pioneers of fishing in America’s Catskills’ tradition. His dry fly wisdom was considerable, but he still caught a lot fishing his nymphs down and across the current.
Ernest Schwiebert in his magnificent 1978 book, Trout, describes many downstream nymphing techniques often only differentiated by how one controls downstream drag, tension on the line, or with the inclusion of hand twist retrieves, line strips, or rod movements to imitate active nymphs.

Another favourite fishing book is Sylvester Nemes’ The Soft Hackle Wetfly, which taught me to tie my soft hackle nymphs on large, heavy wire hooks to ride better in the water. Sylvester fishes unweighted soft hackles and can often see the boil of the take before feeling the pull of the fish. I commonly use lead-weighted soft hackles, or put a bead under the hackle to get a little deeper when fishing with a floating line, or use unweighted nymphs when using a sink tip or polyleader. I’ve even been playing with intermediate slow sinking lines for down and across nymphing. The no-stretch intermediate lines give amazing sensitivity and feel without sacrificing any casting efficiency or presentation issues.
When it comes to down and across nymphing, sometimes the takes can be very subtle as Jim Ring explains in an article, The Small Wetfly -- A Lost Art?, reproduced in the 1980 book, Trout and Salmon Sport in New Zealand -- An Angling Anthology. Ring was a major influence in Tony Orman’s 1974 book, Trout With Nymph, and coincidentally was my fourth form science teacher at Waimea College. Ring observed: “Good fish take in the gentlest manner. It feels like somebody touching your sleeve so delicately, to attract attention without giving offence. If anything happens during the drift, assume it is a fish.” Ring also noted that, if you can hook up one in three takes, you are “getting reasonably proficient”.

When fishing down and across with nymphs, I hold the rod at about 60 degrees and also hold a loop of line against the cork handle that can be ripped from under my finger in the event of a king hit from a hungry trout. It is a good idea to fish heavier tippet than used on upstream methods, as the force of water and sometimes savage takes will mean you will likely bust off a few fish.

Nymphing downstream with sinking lines, throwing a 24-30ft shooting head, can be a real delight sometimes. When the wind howls downstream, the water is high and cloudy, or the river is well stocked with rainbows, fishing down and across with a fast sinking line can be the way to go. I generally never go lighter than 10lb Maxima tippet because you will get some thumping takes from aggressive fish. Some would call this streamer fishing, but fishing a Woolly Bugger could just as easily be imitating a large creeper or a crustacean, such as koura or large estuarine shrimp. I commonly tie a beadhead nymph off the bend of the hook on the Bugger and it is very common to take fish on this trailing fly. I commonly cast my line across stream, throwing one or two upstream mends to allow the line to sink and straighten, then following around with the rod tip in what is known as a ‘steelhead swing’. When the line straightens below me, I strip it back to the junction of the shooting head, take a step downstream, and shoot the line out again, working a set of concentric circles down a pool. Imitative Bugger colours are black, brown, grey, and olive, but one of my favourite big down and across ‘nymphs’ is an orange-bodied Woolly Bugger with black tail and hackle. I’m also a fan of Montana rubber leg nymphs when fishing this method and have a real soft spot for that great American trout fly, the girdle bug.
Experiment with the nymphing techniques I’ve featured, but never be afraid to develop your own methods and individual style. Fishing the artificial nymph is a constantly evolving art form and scientific endeavour. No one has yet developed the perfect technique, strategy, or method -- and the great thing is that they never will. That’s what makes nymph fishing so much fun and what allows us to enjoy the fabulous mystery that we call flyfishing.

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