Presentation

[Hodge36]

I am new to this forum and and new to fly fishing. My name is Adam I am from a small village called Warriors Mark about 6 miles from Tyrone. My question is what do you guys mean when you present the fly? I just thought you let it float through the hole or with the wooly bugger you sort of jig it. When I use dry flies I can catch trout but when I use a nymph that people recommend I use I never catch anything(and i know the nymphs were working because I watched the guy catch them)
Thank You

 

[gfen]

Presentation is, well, presenting the fly to the fish.. In other words, making it do what you want it to do.

Nymphs are normally fished at a "dead drift," in sync with the current they're in. Too fast or too slow, and the fish knows its not right. It makes it, to me, a more difficult endevour.

Perhaps try a wet fly in lieu of a nymph, the current helps give it life, so you present it in such a way where drag isn't as much, if any, detriment and can actually be beneficial.

 

[Hodge36]

Thank you. Im trying to self-teach myself fly fishing.

 

[MKern]

Presentation is abattle every cast.

The current will do weird things to the fly, but more importantly it will do a ton of "incorrect" things to your line and leader; thus affecting your fly.

This is called drag and is impossible to completely eliminate, but limiting it will definately result in more fish.

Dry fly fishing is "easier" because you can activty spot feeding fish. Nymph fishing is "harder" because you have to first locate the fish.


Stick with it! I'm self-taught too.

 

[Hodge36]

I plan on sticking with it. Theres something about it I love. Also thanks for all the info.

 

[afishinado]

Here are two good PAFF threads to read through on the subject of nymphing. Read through the posts and you'll get the drift....;-)

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12713&forum=2&post_id=162942#forumpost162942

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=14293&forum=7&post_id=183333#forumpost183333

Good luck.

 

[Hodge36]

Thank you afishinado very helpful to me.

 

[ant]

You can also check out the book Nymphing by Gary Borger. I read it when I first started to fish subsurface and it a very thorough book. It teaches about the water column, the anatomy of trout, different casts, different nymphing techniques..... tons of stuff.

You can check it out on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/cSb1TB

 

[pszy22]

I'd also encourage you to experiment with how you present your dry fly as well. The predominate insect populations in my home river are caddis flies. Caddis flies rarely, if ever dead drift. They are a very active fly in and on the water. Of course, dead ones do dead drift.

I probably fish a dead drift presentation 25% of the time, other times I am fishing an active presentation - twitch, swing, skate, dapple, etc. There is certainly nothing wrong with a dead drift presentation, and if you are catching fish, great. But the one thing I would say is if you aren't having any luck, try a different presentation before you swap flies.

 

[gfen]

pszy22 wrote:
I'd also encourage you to experiment with how you present your dry fly as well. The predominate insect populations in my home river are caddis flies. Caddis flies rarely, if ever dead drift. They are a very active fly in and on the water. Of course, dead ones do dead drift.

Leonard Wright on fluttering caddis.

 

[osprey]

Hodge36.............presentation , IMO , is how you make the fly look to the fish , experiment and stick with it for sure , alot of us fly fishers feel that presentation is the most important thing of all , you will see down the road that even the wrong fly , presented properly will catch fish.

 

[JackM]

When I hear people advise others that it is all "in the presentation" I tend to want to say "no chit Sherlock." Of course when the fish sees the fly, it sees it as it is presented. But the proper way to present a fly varies according to the fly and the conditions. Sometimes a presentation that seems unconventional works better than the prescribed presentation of some expert that for the purpose of simplicity, has recommended a certain presentation for a certain generic stream circumstance.

I do think certain presentation options should be tried first depending upon the stream circumstance, but if it fails to work, try something else. For mayfly dries, drag-free drifts should be tried first, for streamers, moving downstream slightly faster than the current, for emergers, lifted, nymphs, dead-drifted. If you could only choose one presentation technique, a generic formula like I just mentioned may give you the best odds, fortunately, you do not have to settle on a single technique for a given fly.

So in sum, presentation does not refer to a single manner of presenting the fly. We should emphasize proper or appropriate presentation and be willing to experiment in any given circumstance to find it.

 

[osprey]

JackM...........you say it much better than i did but it's the same thing just easier to understand when you say it..........you got a purtier tongue than a $20.00 .............you know.

 

[afishinado]

Proper presentation and not fly pattern is usually what separates a consistently successful angler from the proverbial blind squirrel type angler that gets a nut once in a while.

I agree with Jack that "proper" presentation does not just mean "dead drift" presentation. DD is often the most effective presentation, but not always. An angler being able to fish present a fly well in difficult spots with regard to current or cover is part of the equation. Also casting without "lining" a fish or splashing down your line is part of proper presentation. In addition to casting with slack, proper mending to employ or not employ subtle movement to the fly all falls under the category of proper presentation.

 

[albatross]

I love the squirrel Tom! LMAO

 

[osprey]

aFish..........especially that native brook trout dry fly game where alot of times that one good cast has to count , just one chance , don't blow it , reading water most of the time with the occasional sighted fish but rarely , put it up in that plunge pool , with enough slack so it sits there a second or two before the current drags it outta there , BANG!! man i love that , i think a few more of you folks do too.

 

[JackM]

By the way, hodge, I hope your quest to be self-taught does not keep you from reading as much as possible, observing other anglers or even taking advice from more experienced fly anglers. Though I never took a formal lesson, all of those things contributed to my development into just enough of a hack to have a great time whenever I hit the streams. Good luck in your continued learning. There is a wealth of good and bad information here, and it is up to you to sort it out. Sometimes a blind squirrel can even teach you something important.

 

[osprey]

I resent y'all makin fun of disabled squirrels , it's just not right.

 

[Hodge36]

I have been fishing A LOT. I have caught some fish, mostly trout and a few steelhead. I can relate to the blind squirrel thing because i took my friend out for his first time and he was catching fish left and right, of coarse not me though.

 

[osprey]

gfen.........reading Leonard Wrights stuff changed my fly fishing life forever , he writes like your sittin beside a camp fire with him. Some of the coolest info ever came from reading his stuff "The Sudden inch" has caught me a ton of trout and the part about a skid that's under control is just awesome info.