nymph

[chuck2701]

what does a nymph supposed to imitate? what would be a good nymph for the first day in pa? how do you fish a nymph?

 

[lv2nymph]

It imitates the immature stage of an aquatic insect. In the first day you must mean the opener. Perhaps someone will chime in with more help with that than I can give. But on streams you can fish year round a size 18 beatis nymph is a good choice pheasant tail of the same size is nice. Stoneflies are always a good choice, nymphs tied on a scud hook work well. It's hard to beat a good drag free dead drift when nymphing. Cast upstream, in a seam, next to structure, at the head and down into a rifle to name a few good spots.

 

[chuck2701]

will the pheasant tail work all year?

 

[BelAirSteve]

Yes, pheasant tail nymphs will catch fish year round. They imitate several species of mayflies, and are a good searching pattern. Fish them from size 14 down to 18.

 

[MKern]

If you fish pheasant tail you will eventually catch fish; even if it's not deep enough or the drift isn't really that good. PT's pretty much match most nymph stages of most mayfly species.

I often fish two PT's at the same time. Maybe a size 12 or 14 and then a 16 or 18 following behind.

But to answer you question of what a nymph is: pick up a few rocks from the stream and look at the bottom. The bugs crawling around are nymphs.

Think back to 6th grade science class. Bugs have life cycles. Complete metamorphosis goes egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Incomplete metamorphosis goes egg, nymph and adult.

Caddis and midges undergo complete metamorphosis, while mayflies skip the pupal stage and hatch into adults from the nymph stage.

Just a heads up too, most aquatic bugs have a year life cycle and spend most of their lives as larva or nymphs and only a few days as an adult.

 

[lv2nymph]

To elaborate on mkern's good post. Depending on what time of the year it is a lot of the nymphs will be much smaller than they will be at maturity and ready to turn into an adult winged bug. Just didn't want you to see a bunch of size 24 bugs and think how do I tie those. As spring moves along they'll be getting close to their hatching size. Google aquatic insects or go to trout nut's site to get an idea of what you'll be finding under there.

 

[Fishidiot]

chuck2701 wrote:
what does a nymph supposed to imitate? what would be a good nymph for the first day in pa? how do you fish a nymph?

A "nymph" (as others have indicated) is an insect that lives underwater. It can also mean a fly designed to imitate these insects.

This is why the term "nymph" can be a bit confusing... because some terms for nymphs can describe actual insects (such as a "stonefly" or "midge larvae"), whereas other terms refer only to flies. A good example of a nymph that is a fly would be "pheasant tail" or "hare's ear."

Most nymphs will work well early in the trout season since the trout are usually feeding on real nymphs this time of year.

 

[afishinado]

No real need to worry about matching any hatches at this time. Focus on your fishing technique for sinking flies, aka nymphs and you will be way ahead of the game.

Here is a list of 12 suggested flies to get you started.

Have fun!

 

[lv2nymph]

What I was suggesting was if he was going to nose around under rocks to get a better understanding of what a nymph is he could check them out and find what they are. Didn't mean to imply to do an exact match of them, my apologies for taking a wrong turn there.

 

[afishinado]

Rock rolling is fun and a great way to learn about bugs.

Also, plucking floating bugs from the stream is also fun and another great way to learn about hatching bugs as well as bugs that fall into the stream.

Matching your fly to what you see, even if you really don't know the names of the bugs will make fly selection easier and will at the very least give you some sort of starting point in fly selection.

But, don't sweat the fly selection too much. It is rare that fish become locked in on one bug and refuse all others. If you learn to first find where the fish are and present a fly naturally, and right in their face....I like your chances.

 

[shortrod2]

As if it wasn't confusing enough already, a fly designed to imitate scuds (freshwater shrimp) and cress bugs (sow bugs) can be called a "nymph". Scuds and cress bugs are crustaceans not immature insects.

 

[chuck2701]

is there any way to get a nymph to sink deeper in swift water without using a beaded nymph?

 

[shortrod2]

chuck2701 wrote:
is there any way to get a nymph to sink deeper in swift water without using a beaded nymph?

Yes, flies can be weighted with lead or lead substitute in wire or other form.

And/or you can add weight to your leader/tippet in shot or strip form.

And/or you can use a sinking or sink tip fly line.

 

[MKern]

Without tying your own flies or having someone tie them for you with lead weight, adding weight to the line is typically the only way. There are sink tip leaders, but most are overkill for trout fishing.

 

[somersetian]

"If your not getting snagged every 5 or 6 drifts your not deep enough." Some of the best advice I was ever given.

 

[afishinado]

somersetian wrote:
"If your not getting snagged every 5 or 6 drifts your not deep enough." Some of the best advice I was ever given.

The corollary to the above:

"The difference between catching fish, or not is often a just a splitshot."