Nymph flies are relatively basic in design and most are quite drab ? nothing special to look at. But the techniques used to fish these buggy concoctions of fur and feather can get wildly complex in a hurry.
However, when you’re just kicking off your nymph fishing journey, there’s no need to complicate things. Simply find a way to get your zebra midge or gold-ribbed hares ear nymph into a trout’s feeding lane and there’s a good chance you’ll hook up.
Okay let’s be honest, while nymphing can be that simple, you’ll inevitably find yourself faced with fishing conditions that mess up your straightforward presentations big time. Luckily, thanks to countless innovations by dedicated nymph anglers over many years, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you’re faced with a new nymph fishing challenge.
That’s where the many nymph fishing styles and techniques come into play.
In later articles (chapters) we’ll go into fine detail on how to fish each of these nymph fishing techniques, but let’s start with a brief walk-through of the most popular and effective nymph styles to show you what’s available.
Traditional Nymphing
When it comes to simple methods of nymph fishing, no style is more stripped down than traditional nymphing.
At its core, traditional nymphing is centered around achieving a drag-free drift to make the nymph flies look like a trout’s natural food tumbling down the river.
While there are many sub-techniques and strategies used in traditional nymphing, the basic procedure looks like this:
- One or two nymphs are tied to a standard tapered leader typically 9 feet long. Using 5X or 6X tippet is a fairly common when traditional nymphing.
- The flies are cast either directly upstream or up-and-across then are allowed to drift downstream through likely fish-holding water.
- To maintain a drag-free drift, frequent line mends are made to slow down or speed up the fly.
- Since mending line intentionally introduces slack into the system, strikes are detected visually by watching the line and leader for any twitches or movement. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the silver flash of a fish turning sideways to take your nymph.
- When the line starts to drag at the end of the drift, the flies are recast upstream and the process starts over until a fish is caught.
If this process seems remarkably similar to how you’d fish a dry fly, that’s because it is. Think of traditional nymphing as dry fly fishing but with a nymph instead of a dry.
You might be wondering… What makes traditional nymphing traditional?
Basically, the methods used in traditional nymphing are how anglers fished all their flies dry, wet, didn’t matter before the advent of modern nymphing techniques and the accompanying gear and gadgets.
Of course, anglers of bygone eras relied heavily on the down-and-across swing technique for fishing wet flies which is also a deadly tactic when traditional nymphing but we’ll save that for a later article (chapter).
Indicator Nymphing
Take the basic traditional nymphing rig we just covered two flies on a standard tapered leader crimp on some split shot above the flies and a bobber a few feet further up the leader. That’s an indicator nymph rig in a nutshell.
Really? A bobber? I thought we were talking about fly fishing here?
Okay, in fly fishing lingo we call it a “strike indicator.” But an indicator is simply a piece of buoyant material that’s used to both suspend the flies and weight in the water as well as “indicate” the strikes of fish. Strike indicators come in all shapes and sizes and most serious indicator anglers carry several different varieties to meet the needs of the situation.
If you’d like to learn more about Strike Indicators, check out this article. What is a Strike Indicator and Tips for Using.
Sure, some fly anglers shun the use of indicators saying there’s no place for “bobbers” in fly fishing. But there are several good reasons why indicator nymphing has grown to become perhaps the most popular way to catch fish with a nymph fly rod today:
- Indicators allow you to fish with enough weight to get your flies down deep where the fish are without hanging up on the bottom constantly.
- Indicators work extremely well for their intended purpose they help you see when a fish takes your fly!
- Indicators make it easy to see when your rig is dragging so you know when to mend and when to let it ride.
If you’re looking to start catching fish with nymphs right away, indicator nymphing is a great place to start. We have an entire article (chapter) dedicated to tying and fishing indicator rigs so stay tuned!
Euro Nymphing, Polish, Czech, French & Spanish
Euro nymphing isn’t so much a specific fishing technique as it is an umbrella term for several different nymphing styles developed by European anglers largely for international fly fishing competitions. Under that umbrella, there are sub-techniques labeled according to their country of origin with the most prominent being Polish nymphing, Czech nymphing, French nymphing, and Spanish Nymphing.
A specialized fly rod is usually needed for these “Tight Line” Nymphing Techniques. I highly Recommend the TFO Drift – A Definitive Nymph Fly Rod (Check the great price on Amazon) This rod was built from the reel seat up to be the best nymph rod on the market.
Each of the Euro nymphing styles has its own peculiarities and quirks and each is better suited for different river conditions. But beyond their differences, Euro nymphing techniques all share these commonalities:
- Euro nymphing techniques were developed to follow the rules of international fly fishing competitions, which are based on European fishing regulations.
- Competition rules prohibit the use of added weight to the leader, so rigs for Euro nymphing utilize heavily weighted or bead-head flies instead of split shot to get the flies deep.
- Competition rules also prohibit the use of floats on the leader which means no strike indicators. As such, most Euro nymphing techniques involve very short casts and drifts during which the angler stays tight to his flies without any slack in the system in order to feel the strikes. Other Euro nymphing techniques do utilize longer casts and anglers will add pieces of highly visible line to their leaders called “sighters” to help detect strikes.
- Unlike traditional nymphing or indicator nymphing, maintaining a drag-free drift is NOT a priority when Euro nymphing. Instead, the priority is placed on strike detection and systematically covering as much water as possible. Most Euro nymphing techniques actually involve pulling the flies downstream in order to stay tight to the flies!
- Longer rods, 11 feet or more are preferred for Euro nymphing techniques as they offer additional reach to cover more water. Long rods also make it easier to keep line off the water while controlling the speed of the drift.
While Euro nymphing techniques are associated with competition fly fishing, any angler who wants to catch lots of fish consistently should experiment with these innovative strategies from across the pond!
Chuck-and-Duck Nymphing
What do you do when your favorite river is too high and dirty for traditional or indicator nymphing? Do you trade in your fly rod for a spinning rod and start throwing spoons?
Woah, woah, woah, not so fast.
Although it’s a bit radical and some might say controversial, there is a way to get your flies down into the deepest holes of a river where you know the big ones are hanging out.
It’s called Chuck-and-Duck. And while it isn’t the “prettiest” way to fly fish, it certainly works.
Chuck-and-Duck tactics were originally developed for fishing steelhead and salmon in the Great Lakes river systems. When the rivers got high and blown out, the salmon would hold up in deep pools where they were effectively inaccessible with standard fly tackle. So instead of watching the spin anglers have all the fun, fly anglers adapted in the best way they could.
Here’s how a typical Chuck-and-Duck strategy plays out:
- Heavier rods 8 or 9-weights are used and standard floating fly lines are swapped out for thinner diameter monofilament running line. Some running lines have the appearance of typical monofilament fishing lines, but the best have fly-line-like PVC coatings. Using running line allows your rig to sink quickly an essential quality of the Chuck-and-Duck rig.
- Unlike in traditional fly fishing in which the weight of the fly line is used to cast the nearly weightless flies, a weight attached to the leader is used to cast the running line very similar to spin fishing.
- Instead of crimping split shot onto the leader for weight, a slinky weight is attached to the leader with a snap swivel which slides freely above a barrel swivel to which the tippet and flies are tied.
- Two or more flies are typically used, and when fishing for steelhead and salmon, at least one of those flies is an egg pattern.
- The entire heavily weighted rig is then lobbed overhead into the river. Traditional fly casting mechanics go out the window and it becomes apparent why this style of fly fishing is called “chuck and duck” watch out or you’ll get knocked in the head!
- Thanks to the thin running line and slinky weight, your flies will be on the bottom in no time. The rig is allowed to bounce along the bottom while maintaining a tight line to detect strikes. At the end of the run, the line is reeled in and cast again until a big chromer is hooked!
Is Chuck-and-Duck the purest form of fly fishing around? Not by a long shot. But does it catch fish, You bet it does.
Conclusion
See what we mean. There are many, many ways to fish nymphs. But don’t let this overwhelm you. Think of each nymphing style as a different tool you can pull out to combat the conditions before you. Next, we’ll walk you through how to rig and fish each of the nymph fishing styles explained above so you can put them to use on the river!
Sources
Read more about setting up Nymphing Outfit in this article. Selecting The Best Nymph Fishing Fly Rod, Reel and Line.
Another Great Article on this Website is Setting Up a Traditional Nymphing Rig.