Fishing nymphs

[foxfire]

I've had moderate success (3) this past wekend fishing nymphs in moving water but am confused on how to fish in slower pools. Do you need to strip/jig it though, or are nymphs just not that effective in slow water?

 

[pcray1231]

In short, it's difficult.

In slow, but still moving water, you can fish a nymph under a floating strike indicator, holding it at whatever depth you want. There have been situations where I found that effective, but it's rare. Usually I pass by the frog water, and if I do wanna fish it, usually it's with streamers and such that you're actively moving.

 

[shortrod]

There are no absolutes, but in general nymphs can be less effective in slower water, as you have seen. The bottom line is you want your nymphs to act like the naturals that the fish are feeding on. If the water is slow your nymphs will drift slow. The slower the drift the more time a fish has to decide to reject your fly.

Some naturals swim well so stripping can be used to imitate them.

When the water levels are up and/or the water is muddy the slow drift can work to your favor by giving the fish more of a chance to see you fly.

 

[mike_richardson]

Pcray and shortrod nailed it. I found the short twitches then pause short twitches again works. Doing a little lift works as well.

Slower water is best fished when the water is up and colored.

 

[foxfire]

As a follow up. What is the best time to fish nymphs? In nature arent the more active when the sun is warming the water?

 

[shortrod]

Any time.

Large stoneflys spend 2-3 years in nymph form so they are always in the mix.

In Gary LaFontaine's book "Caddisflies", he talks about a phenomenon called the "drift" where larva release themselves to be carried by the stream flow. I think the drift mainly occurs at night but would carry over to morning hours.

Mayfly nymphs become more active as they prepare for emerging.

All species of aquatic insects spend 99% of there lives that are available to fish in a form that would be best imitated by a nymph.

At least 75% of what most trout eat could be best imitated by a nymph.

 

[mike_richardson]

to follow up on short rods post-

that is why i spend 90% of my time fishing nymphs under the water

moving to streamers now how ever to get some paterns down

 

[NorthBranch]

In my younger days, one of my favorite fishing methods was to fish slower moving pools with nymphs. It takes a keen eye to detect strikes (which I don't have much of at my age) and patience.

I liked fishing an unweighted nymph, treated with some fly sink, in slow pools by casting quartering upstream and would treat the leader with floatant up to the point that the remaining untreated leader would allow the nymph to sink to the appropriate depth. You also need to use as light as tippet as possible to let the nymph act natural. I used a lot of 6X or 7X tippets.

My favorite pattern was a caddis larva or pupa, or a small Hare's ear type pattern in a color to match the time of the year... dark in early season, light brown/tan a little latter, and cream/white in the summer.

If you can "spot" the fish it helps, as you need to make your cast far enough ahead of the fish to get it to their depth, and general... right down their dinner plate. That usually requires fairly long, accurate, drag free casts.

Again, it takes some doing, but if you get it right, you can really take a lot of fish if you do, and can have some other fisherman really scratching their heads. LOL

The challenge of this type of fishing is what make fly fishing so much fun. The first time you catch a 16 or 18 inch hold over, or native brown trout this way... you won't forget it.