Set. The. Hook.

I enjoy both types of fishing. I prefer to fish dries more, probably because I don't fish them as much as nymphs (I typically only tie on a dry when a see at least a few rises....SS brookie fishing excepted).

LOL....if fish always rose and I fished dries most of the time, I could envision myself rigging up some nymphs just for a change.
 
jayL wrote:
What's boring about it?

Nymphing is where it's at for excitement. The take is less spectacular, but everything leading up to it is superior IMO.

If searching with dries was more effective, I'd probably prefer that. Covering tons of water looking for a surprise is what does it for me. This is why I switch to terrestrials when it's time.
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Get the same thing tossing a dry to likely places, too. Tossing it long distances, under trees and over rocks. Making it efficently coast down stream and a twitch before it takes off. Waiting for the moment that out of knowhere something smashes it from the bottom makes it all the more interesting, as well.

Nymphing is either watching your bobber lull along the water, or staring intently at a string hoping it moves funny. It appears to work best when you just sort of flop it into the water 5' off the rod tip, too. God knows, it works, I managed four fish in one pool thought it was pretty fun for a minute, moved up stream and then cut it off because it was boring.
 
It's an easy dilemma for me:

Fish dry flies,
watch paint dry....
 
To be fair, its more engaging than paint drying.. You get to consistently unhook yourself off the bottom and undo mega-tangles from three-hook rigs.
 
Three hook rigs eh? must admit, i've moved away from multiple nymph rigs due to my own magical ability to tangle my line by looking at it funny.

As for hooking the bottom - that just makes it MORE exciting as you may get 10 takes with a dry fly and therefor 10 instances of excitement. When nymphing you get 10 real takes, but snag the bottom 100 times - so you end up with 110 instances of excitement when you THINK you have a take.
 
I must've missed the part that explained that in the manual...
 
No offense, but nymphing is only boring when you're half-assing it. Nothing gets me in a zone like finding a good run and combing through it with weighted flies. It's intense.
 
Im a morning fisherman so nymphing is usually what you have to do to catch fish in the wee early morning. I enjoy catching fish with both. But I find it futile to prospect with dries, unless its terrestrials. If fish are on top, then thats where Im gonna be. Most times though, atleast when Im out, nymphs are on the menu.

Fishing should be fun, so Gfen, if you find nymphing boring, Id say dont do it. But Id say atelast know how to do it right, cause it might save you from the skunk
 
Meh.

Thankfully, its a hobby and not work so we can all do what we want to do.

That said, I still can't set the hook on a dry fly. ;)
 
What I do is a quick snap of the wrist, downstream while holding the slack in either my left hand or having it pinched on the handle withy my right index finger.
 
I'm with you gfen... I missed by far my largest trout ever on a march brown dry last week. He came up once total, and it was to my fly... Atleast I know where he lives, but boy is it frustrating to get a fish to rise and you can't SET THE HOOK! Up until I hooked my first bat that night, I was kicking myself for missing the hookset.
 
I sometimes think hook setting is an art.Other times I know it is.
I am not nor ever will be able to fish an indicator.To slow on the set.
Eager fish easy hook set.Fast water quick set, slow water more deliberate.If any of this makes sense. GG
 
Through my own observations since this was started I seriously doubt you can be missing that many fish. I have to say for every ACTUALLY take I have 6-8 last second refusals where they break the surface right next to my fly.

And for every 10 actual takes I might miss 2. Either way I think dry fly fishing takes a 6th sense cause there is always that split second in a drift where you lose sight of you fly (esp. small stuff) and you just gotta "know" what is going on by feel. FWIW
 
A guy asked my buddy Josh if he Czech nymphs. Josh said yeah. I check my nymphs all the time. You have to keep the weeds off of the hooks or you'll never catch fish.
 
On the nymphing side, I am more engaged and catch more fish when I fish to "imaginary" fish. When I envision where a fish should be lying - a single spot, not "sort of in the run"and present a nymph to that lie nymphing is a blast, and I catch plenty. Generally this type of fishing doesn't involve an indicator. At times when you get into the "zone" it is almost mystical. You never hit bottom and raise your arm for reasons not immediately apparent until a trout starts running off. When I lose focus nymphing can be a nightmare of snagged flies and no fish. I think good nymphing takes more concentration than good dry fly fishing. It is real easy to stay focused when a rising fish is in front of you, but imagining where a fish should be takes concentration.

When I put on an indicator I do a lot of "chuck-and-chance-it" fishing. Soon I am bored to tears and the skunk may be following me around. It is far too easy to fish the indicator and not fish for the trout.
 
Use streamers... Ive never missed a fish. And when I nymph I only ever use one and I don't use a indicator. I fish things like this...

Streamers-70% of the time
Nymphs- 20%
Dries-10%

I also let a little bit of line slip when I set the hook.
 
gfen wrote:
Damnit, give me hints. I'm done. I can't do it. I get constant takes on dries, but I seem to have lost the ability to set a hook.

Seven takes, no sets. It ain't all bad timing, either.


I'm about ready to pick up golf.
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Just slow down. Think set, then do it. Nymphing or dry fly fishing you need to commit to the set. You're probably just ripping the fly away from the trout unless you have a bad hook gap. Check your fly and also check it often for debris etc. I fished with a broken hook for way too long one day. Slow down and commit when you set. You'll be fine.

The one thing I'll say about not missing fish nymphing is that you never knew you had one on so the bragging rights are skewed!
 
As a newbie to this whole fly fishing thing I have come to think nymphing as the same as my old reliable bait/spin fishing. It is the same, so I try to stay away from it. I started fly fishing because I wanted something different. I want to watch my fly go under a tree branch and get gobbled up. The excitement of surprise is just fantastic. If I wanted to fish with a bobber, I would put on a butter worm lol Just my opinion.
 
LRSABecker wrote:
As a newbie to this whole fly fishing thing I have come to think nymphing as the same as my old reliable bait/spin fishing. It is the same, so I try to stay away from it. I started fly fishing because I wanted something different. I want to watch my fly go under a tree branch and get gobbled up. The excitement of surprise is just fantastic. If I wanted to fish with a bobber, I would put on a butter worm lol Just my opinion.
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I'm gonna pretend I didn't read this....I like you. and want to keep it that way :)
 
LRSABecker wrote:
It is the same
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Not even close. Some nymphing methods are similar, but that's the exception, rather than the rule. Many nymphing methods are the same as bait fishing in the same way that a sunday drive is the same as driving in a nascar race.

I say this as a formerly hard core and long time bait fisher that still dusts the UL spinning rod off once a year, and a full time fly fisherman.

Keep at it and you'll see. :)
 
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