Over the past couple springs I’ve been working hard to understand euro nymphing. I started off with some strong beginner’s luck & felt very connected to my flies at the bottom of my drifts, anymore I’m half clueless, half connected. I think part of my difficulty is in determining how much tippet length I should let sink, another part of my difficulty is in determining the amount of tension that I need to hold in order to make an effective drift. I realize that it is usually effective to kind of slip into and out of tension throughout a drift, especially in the presence of uneven currents.
I spent the day fishing euro yesterday on spring creek & found myself frequently late to sets and thus missing fish that had struck my flies. I usually use a very heavy fly whenever I’m feeling blind, like 3.3(+) mm bead. Once I get stuck on the bottom a bunch, I’ll swap out for lighter nymphs.
Sometimes I’m unsure as to what length of tippet to allow to sink, and how much to motivate my drift ahead in the current. Most often, I’ll use 4-6’ of tippet below my sighter. I usually try to achieve a length that allows my sighter to be just off the surface or exactly at the surface of the water. I’ll tuck cast into the lane I want, and I’ll give a good second or two for my flies to descend before leading the drift.
I’m unsure if maybe I’m suffering from using too fine of a mono leader or even too fine of tippet; where I suffer from the influence of eddies/currents throughout my drift. I’ve attempted to use “micro” and “thin” mono leaders, I’ve attempted to buff up my euro leaders as well. I seem to have a bit more grace with the slightly thicker leaders at times.
Otherwise, I’ve suspected that I may have erred on the side of using sighter that was too fine, as well. Does anyone have any pointers for an angler feeling blind about his drifts? I seem to alternate between feeling entirely blind to my drifts or setting halfway through every drift whenever I graze bottom. This happens even after I adjust for more weight/more sink time at the start of my drifts. Beyond this, I remember I used to kill it naked nymphing on a conventional leader, and I just feel quite disconnected from what it is that my sighter is telling me, anymore.
