Posts Tagged fly angler

Setting up your own French Nymphing leader doesn’t have to be a complicated business.  Just as in baking a cake, a few simple ingredients when combined create a delectable, tasty treat.  Though these fishing tips won’t be making a cake any time soon, they will help any fly angler wanting to give French Nymphing tactics a serious try.  This illustration represents the basic lengths and line poundage to make your fly fishing tackle more efficient when casting, and more manageable when fishing your flies along the bottom.  Listed below are a few fly fishing knots that I prefer when I tie this setup.

• Bloodknot
• Overhand loop
• Loop to loop connection

For those who are not familiar with these knots, I will be breaking them down individually in the next few articles.  So hold on and digest this diagram first and get your fingers nimble by practicing the knots you do know.

click on image for larger view

What to do with this diagram?  Start gathering your materials, and check back with us at www.jwflyfishing.com where I will show you how to incorporate these leader segments together to create an indispensable piece of fly fishing gear!  Hope to see you on the water soon!

JW

What about you?  Ever think you might like to try French or European Nymphing fly fishing techniques on your home waters someday?  What do you think brought so many other fishermen to decide to do this?  Some reasons for going that route are extensive and variable.  But a couple of driving factors are they have seen or heard that it’s effective and excels at catching plenty of trout.   Many people contemplate it, but quickly get discouraged and do not  actually even get started.  Others don’t take the time to learn enough of what is involved to even know how to get started.

Have you considered it?  Do you still have questions about whether to test French and European Nymphing fly fishing techniques on your home waters or not?  To help you put things in focus, think about these three points in favor:

• First,  Casting and Control.  These fly fishing techniques allow you to effectively cast and fish a team of flies much farther from you and fish them with far more control than more traditional nymphing methods.  In traditional nymphing methods the casting is more of an upstream lob or roll cast with heavy weighted flies likely causing a sore arm at the end of the day. Not with the Euro methods, they cast more like a dry fly.  Executing a cast consists of picking your team of nymphs off the water and false casting them back parallel with the river avoiding snags and overhanging limbs such a you would with a dry fly, then catapulting them forward and away from you to the target.  Once the cast is made, immediately the slack is picked up off the water with a few short hand retrievals and the rod is lifted and tilted downstream exposing the coiled or straight sighter (a.k.a indicator) from the water  in a manner that leads the flies through a stretch of water, yet allows them to drift slowly along the bottom.  This is where the good stuff happens!  When the flies have drifted to you, start your false cast and slingshot them forward again into place to repeat the process.  With very little time spent casting and false casting you can really cover some ground with French and European Nymphing techniques.

JW's Own French Nymphing Indicator

• Second,  Indicators and Depth Change.  These methods replace the cumbersome bobber style indicator with a much lighter “Coiled” or “Straight” sighter or indicator made of Hi-Vis monofilament (making it stick out like a sore thumb) incorporated with loop to loop knots into the leader.  This allows for great visibility, quick setup and tear down, and a very accurate indicator that flat out doesn’t miss much that goes on underneath the water, working like a spring it opens and closes detecting the slightest changes on bottom by quivering open and shut.  When a fish hits… the indicator is straightened completely in an abrupt manner!  Lots of versatility is gained here without having to physically adjust and manipulate football or other style indicators on your leader.  Nothing stinks more than changing your whole rig around to fish different depths of water,  up down with the indicator, adding more weight, “oops, I just cast my indicator off my line!!”   Ouch, we have all been there!  European styles of nymphing stand out in this department,  wasting very little time and allowing the angler to fish varying depths of water more effectively by simply lowering the indicator closer or actually in the water.    I will admit, as with all fishing methods, these techniques will not always be the answer.  Dry flies certainly have their place in any fly angler’s arsenal.  However, fishing moving water and current seams is where these tactics will truly shine. They will allow any fly angler to quickly and efficiently try a vast range of flies with the time he would normally spend rigging and adjusting with other nymphing methods.

• Third,  The weight is incorporated in the flies, so no more fumbling around putting and removing splitshot and moving it up and down the leader to get a good presentation of the fishing flies.. This means that The fly angler does all the weighting of the flies at home, in the fly tying vise by incorporating a bead or tungsten bead at the head of the fly or for lighter or dropper flies by making 8 to 10 wraps of lead or lead substitute wire around the shank of the hook or even both the bead and the lead substitute wire(which I prefer) before you finish the fly.  This eliminates a great deal of  fidgeting with weights on the stream, making fly changes quicker and less cumbersome. Then by choosing the appropriately weighted flies you  adjust the weight of your rig fine tuning the way it drifts along the bottom of the stream until it bumps along and doesn’t hang up.  With a little experience this becomes second nature just by looking at the flow of the river.

Here are some good solid reasons on the plus side.  And now I hope you will agree that they make the case of at least considering further experimentation with French or European nymphing techniques on your home waters.  All right, I am well aware there may be some sceptics who frame the old  ”It’s just another fishing fad.” or, ”It’s just what’s hot on the market right now”.    Good points, and most certainly valid to some degree with all the new rods and gear out there aimed at this niche.  However I have experienced first hand that it can certainly be economical, and exciting, while surprising results can be achieved with very little cost and effort.   With a little bit of patience, practice, and a few basic knots under your belt such as an overhand loop, bloodknot, and clinch knot, it is certainly possible to start catching fish with these leaner, stealthier, and certainly more interactive styles of nymphing  on your very first outing.  The best way to incorporate these techniques is to bring two rods, one set up to fish Dry Flies and when the bugs are not hatching or the fish aren’t biting pull out the Nymphing rod and sharpen your skills with these techniques, you may be pleasantly surprised as well as rewarded.

Perhaps now you will consider the benefits to you, and learn how to effectively incorporate French or European nymphing techniques where you live!  Stay tuned for the segment on leader construction, to get all you converts started!!

JW

Any questions or comments please direct them to my inbox  johnnydesmd@yahoo.com or comment on the About/Comments page.

Uncover tips on how to Become a better Fly angler at my fly fishing nymphs,french nymphing,european nymphing,fly fishing techniques,fishing tip website at www.JWFlyfishing.com.

Hendrickson Polish woven nymph

5 tactics quite likely to assist you in catching more trout during the Hendrickson and other early mayfly hatches this Spring.

1. Fish with nymphs during the first week of the insects hatching. Choosing a nymph in the proper size and color is key. Turn a few rocks and look for some of the naturals before you choose the fly you will be fishing with. For best results you will need to change to some sort of a nymphing setup, there are quite a few out there I prefer my coiled sighters and a host of Euro methods including French/Spanish Nymphing. The other alternative that I like to use especially when its windy is Czech Nymphing with a football indicator or something similar.

Hendrickson Parachute Dun

2. While fishing dry flies visit the river when the hatch is strongest from mid morning to afternoon. This gives the water a chance to warm and make insects more active( important with the extreme fluctuations in Springtime weather conditions) This will also put you on the river during the most concentrated part of the hatch, when the majority of the nymphs will be emerging and drifting over the trout.

3. If you are going to fish dry flies, ever so slightly Twitch or Tickle your flies  to make them come to life and act a bit more like a crippled mayfly struggling to get free from the surface. This is an almost certain winner. It can cause viscious strike from trout merely striking out in predatory instinct.

4. Try some Parachute patterns. These patterns work nice for a few reasons, the first being that they sit low in the water revealing a realistic impression of the natural insect on the water. The Parachute post sits high off the water improving your visual link with the fly, while creating a wing much like that of the natural. The hackle being wound around the bottom of the parachute post touches the water in the same manner that the legs of the real insect do.

Males have larger round tomato colored eys, females are larger with paler colors on their body.

5. Inspect any naturals you can get you hands on closely. Whether your turning rocks over looking for the nymphs or snatching Hendricksons out of the air this is important in helping you greatly improve your insect identification skills as well as showing you key triggers on the mayflies that you can incorporate into your own patterns.

There aren’t any guarantees, needless to say. However, in most cases, should you follow the tactics above and execute them well, your likelihood of achieving your objective, to really hook a few more trout this spring will  surely be considerably better than they might have been otherwise. Hope to see you out there soon!
JW

The summer is a wonderful time to enjoy the cool flows of the Farmington River. When the weather gets hot and balmy I look forward to the cool air that engulf the riverbank. Whether you find yourself dry fly fishing in a hatch of Sulphur Duns or probing the banks with large terrestrials, there is no doubt that the Farmington River in the midst of summer is a terrific place for any fly angler. Though the dry fly fishing can be great this time of year, a succesful fly angler must realize the importance of fly fishing nymphs to dredge the larger weary fish from their lies. The Farmington River is host to huge populations of Stoneflies and Caddis in many sizes that trout go nuts on during the summer months! Trout can be seen from the banks grubbing and turning stones along the river bottom flashing from side to side as they dislodge rocks and pick off their favorite food items. Many of these trout can be taken by a fly angler that is willing to incorporate a different fly fishing technique into his normal repetoire. No matter what your preference one thing is for certain. The Farmington River is a great place to frolic, bask in the sun and enjoy your summer with family and friends catching some beautiful trout. Good luck out there and hope to see you on the river soon.
JW

Heres a nice little addition to your fly patterns. This fly is “money” on the Farmington and a solid tie for the box of any fly angler. This fly is designed to be very heavy and drift along the bottom, “rolling” in between rocks and boulders where trout lie waiting for food to pass by. That being said you should fish this fly in swift rocky runs and the current seams directly behind them where this insect flourishes. You can fish this with a Czech, Polish, Euro, or any other style of fly fishing nymphs, the key being the weight that keeps this bugger down in the strike zone.