NYMPHING TACTICS & WATER TYPE

Some nymphing tactics are most effective in specific water types.

The number of fly patterns, new tactics and tackle options for nymphers grows every year. With so many options the challenge now is which particular nymphing technique(s) to employ on a given day. You can overthink this in a heartbeat and end up on the river with two or three fly rods all rigged for fishing a specific nymphing method. The alternative is to stick to the old ways by taking just one rod and changing one rig for another when conditions dictate. Of course, the drawback to the one rod option is that changing some rigs will require time-consuming variations to your existing leader or replacing it with an entirely new leader.

Here’s another way to look at things. Consider the home water where you perfected your nymphing skills. The odds are there were two or three dominant water types that you concentrated on. If you were nymphing the "buckets" behind instream rocks on a rough-and-tumble mountain stream using a Czech style tight-line technique or similar nymphing method was like money in the bank. But that same technique isn’t worth much on a clear, two-foot deep run where you can actually see the trout that you want to catch. Chucking a heavily weighted Czech nymph will spook the fish. My point is that you have to match you nymphing technique to the water type you’re fishing. So it’s back to Fly Fishing 101—you have to read the water.

That’s easy to say, but how do you deal with it if you don’t want to re-rig all the time or carry multiple rods? The place to start is to see how far you can go with the nymphing technique(s) that you already know. What happens if you raise the rod during the lead when you fish heavily weighted imitations? Is it possible to cast a weighted nymph farther upstream to allow it more time to sink into the strike zone when the water deepens? Can you change your cast a bit to achieve what you’re after?

The odds are you’re already tweaking your nymphing style to meet changes in the water type you’re fishing and don’t even know it. Try doing it by design. Make a point to keep track of which modifications work. You may find that you can stretch the effectiveness of your favorite go-to nymphing techniques farther than you ever thought was possible.

NOTE: Registration is now open for my Practical Nymphing class at the Denver Fly Fishing Show, January 3 – 5, 2014. Click Denver, CO at  Fly Fishing Show for details or to check out the dates and locations of all the 2014 Fly fishing Show.

COLD & SNOW; SHOWS & FLY TYING

Right now it’s about 2:00 P.M. MST and it’s 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside and snowing. Looks like it will be this way for the better part of the next four or five days, so I’ll be tying flies and thinking about the upcoming Fly Fishing Shows I’ll be participating in across the country. I’ve been teaching classes, tying flies, signing my books, and presenting seminars at the shows every year since 2001. Check the event schedule on my web site to see if I’ll be at a location near you.

I’m teaching my Practical Nymphing Class again in 2014 at the Denver, CO; Somerset, NJ; Lynnwood (Seattle) WA; and Pleasanton, CA shows. Each year I try to add something new to the class. We’ll spend more time discussing tight-line nymphing this time around, but it’s going to be in the context figuring out which nymphing technique works best for the water type you are fishing. The best thing about the class is that the number of participants is limited. That means we’ll really be able to talk about how to improve your nymphing techniques whether you’re a beginner or more experienced nymph fisher. We’ll also spend time discussing nymphing fundamentals such as knots, rigs and strike detection. If you’re interested in taking the class check out the details and register at the Fly Fishing Show website.

All right, then. It’s time for me to tie some flies. I’ll show you what I come up with a little later.

TAKA'S EMERGERS

NOTE: If you haven’t already read my November 11 post (“October Caddis in November) check it out for some background on “Taka” (Takaaki Suzuki).

It is early morning. Everyone is asleep except for Taka and me. I’m sitting in a chair watching him tie flies. He’s busy cranking out what look to be about size 20 Blue-winged Olive dun emerger imitations. There’s already a pile of them on top of his tablet computer. I really don’t know when he sleeps. Taka distributed two or three of these flies to each of us several days ago. I know for sure they work when the trout are rising to the olives that hatch almost every day on every river we’ve fished in northern California.

The fly is functional simplicity incarnate. Two Coq-de-Leon barbs serve for the tails. The body is tapered gray tying thread. A medium dun hackle sized just a bit larger than the hook gap is wrapped and then trimmed so the fly sits flat on the water’s surface. What you might call a sparse wing or post of a translucent orange Antron-like winging material is in front of the hackle. It’s cocked at a slight angle over the eye of the hook. It’s kind of weird how all of these sparsely tied elements somehow make the fly highly visible on the water’s surface. And if you like fishing small flies you’ll know that being able to see the fly on the water dramatically increases your chances for positive hook-ups

It’s also an incredibly durable fly which is important because the trout can’t get enough of it. That durability goes right back to the materials—it’s pretty hard to beat up a thread body and the hackle holds up well because it’s a bit shorter and trimmed off on the bottom. The wing is indestructible. That leaves the tails as the most delicate part of the fly and they hold up amazingly well.

So yes, I was incredibly impressed with the imitation. And yes, I made sure to bring some home as examples for my own tying. I’ve since found that the design of the fly is impressionistic enough that it covers a lot of ground when trout are rising to any small naturals.

And get this. Just the other day I cleaned up during a midge hatch with a variation of the same pattern. Taka had given us just two of these imitations. I never tried them in California because the dun emerger worked fine, but I did tuck both of them away in my fly box for future reference, i.e., I knew they’d be great for our winter midge hatches here in Colorado. This pattern looks more like a classic midge emerger, but I bet trout would take it during a Blue-winged Olive hatch, too. Once again, you can really see this fly on the water and it’s incredibly durable.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I really learned a lot watching Taka tie small flies. His imitations are sparse, simple, highly visible on the water and durable. And the trout like them. What more can you ask for?

Taka tying emergers.

JIM PLAYS JIMI HENDRIX

Its morning and we’re all stumbling around trying to find the coffee pot except for Jim Hidy. He already has a cup and is slouched back in an easy chair picking out Jimi Hendrix riffs on his Fender Telecaster Deluxe. The guitar isn’t plugged in, but the chords and notes are quietly clear and pure for those of us sitting nearby. As long as I’ve known Jim he’s been working to learn Hendrix’s entire catalog and crafting split bamboo fly rods.

I got to know Jim when a mutual friend, fly fishing author Dave Hughes, called to tell me I should cast one of Hidy’s fly rods. I took Dave’s advice and talked Jim into sending me a rod to review for my column, “Cane Currents”, in The Angler’s Journal (The Angler’s Journal was published from 1994 to 2000). I liked everything about the rod and later included a revised version of the review with Jim in my book “Splitting Cane.”

Somewhere along the way Jim invited me to fish the Upper Sacramento River with him and his pals. All of us fished bamboo fly rods. That gathering of friends has taken place in Dunsmuir, California every year since and would not be possible without Jim’s dedication to making it happen.

People often ask me “Why fish bamboo? What makes it so much better that you’d spend that much money for a handcrafted fly rod?” I used to try to explain it. Now I just say bamboo isn’t necessarily better than anything. It’s just different. If you like it, you like it. It’s kind of like Jimi Hendrix.

Jim Hidy

A TEACHING GUIDE

Wayne Eng teaching how to tight line nymph a subtle sweet spot. 

Wayne Eng, the respected northern California fly fishing guide and instructor, agreed to teach me some nymphing techniques that are well suited for the Upper Sacramento River if I agreed to let him start from the very beginning. “Pretend you’re from Mars and you’ve never fly fished before. It’s just easier for me to teach you if we do it that way,” he said.
    There was a time when I would have protested, but that was before I fully understood that all fishing is regional. I really am a beginner when it comes to nymphing the Upper Sac. Where I come from we do a lot more sight fishing when we nymph. Nymphing the Upper Sac is totally about reading the water, getting good drifts, and matching a nymphing technique to the water you’re fishing.
    Wayne started me off roll casting on his front lawn. As well as learning to tighten up my roll cast, the ultimate goal of session is its application to mending the fly line on the river. Once we were on the river the talk shifted reading the water—feeding lanes, cushions, seams, slots, run-outs, potholes---all that stuff I thought I understood until Wayne showed me I was seeing fewer than half of the nymphing opportunities right in front of my eyes. 
    We went straight to technique and execution from there—strike downstream, ways to keep your nymph imitation in the water and not the trees, by eliminating backcasts in favor of roll casts and practical tight line nymphing without all the razzle-dazzle. I sort of knew about all of this, but Wayne fine-tuned what I did know for use on his river and showed me some new tricks, too. 
    Wayne is what we called a teaching fly fishing guide when I was in the guide business. He’s happiest helping absolute beginners get off on the right foot. And anyone who can teach a Martian new tricks is okay with me….

Without Wayne's help I would have passed up the feeding lane that held this trout.

OCTOBER CADDIS IN NOVEMBER

Taka's October Caddisfly imitation.  

If there is anything reassuring about jarring awake at 4:30 A.M. it’s the sound of “tap, tap, tap……tap, tap,” coming from Takaaki Suzuki’s room. I know that because it means “Taka” is stacking deer hair for the wing on the October Caddisfly imitation he’s tying. Before he’s done he will tie enough of the flies to give the nine other fly fishers asleep in the bedrooms, on the fold out couches downstairs and foam pads on the floor two each of his coveted fly imitations. 

By 7:30 A.M. we’re all up and stumbling around looking for a cup of coffee. That’s when Taka comes out from his room with the flies. We hold our cupped hands out so he can drop our allotted two flies into them. The fly imitates a large orange-bodied caddisfly fluttering up and down over the river ovipositing each time she touches its surface or in an entirely different scenario an October Caddisfly falling from a tree to the water’s surface after succumbing to a hard November frost. The fly is the most elegant solution I can imagine to either situation. It’s tied sparse, skitters in the breeze, and just looks like the whir of wings and orange that is the October Caddisfly. The imitation also happens to be deadly. 

Needless to say none of us are unhappy at all about the “tap, tap, tap” that briefly awakens some of us on cold early mornings in northern California. We quickly fall back asleep, anxious to fish.

 NOTE: I’m just back from California where I fished with an international group of anglers who meet there every November. This year four fly fishers traveled in from Japan, one came from New Mexico, one from Massachusetts, three from California and one from Colorado. Most of them have been here before. Some of them have been coming back for five, six or even ten years. Every one fishes split bamboo rods. More on that later.

 

OCTOBER CADDIS & PUMPKINS

Tomorrow I’ll be in California. Jim Hidy, the split bamboo rod maker, invited me to join a group that gets together every year around this time in hopes of hitting the October Caddis hatch just right. He called yesterday and said it looks like close to perfect conditions. Perfect conditions before I go fishing always scare me. I didn’t quite understand the alchemy involved for the hatch to come off, but I think there needs to be a hard frost and the stars have to be aligned right….you know what I mean.

I’m just happy to be going. It’s been ten years since I tried to fish the October Caddis hatch with Jim and his pals. He says they have it dialed in a little better now. Anyway, I’ve gotten all sorts of fly pattern recipes for an October Caddis dry fly. One friend said, “It’s just a pumpkin colored caddisfly, dude.” I’m at the tying bench now. It’s late. I guess I should have got going on this sooner. Think Pumpkin. 

A late night attempt at tying an October Caddis imitation. 

IT'S ALMOST MIDGE TIME

Hey! Small fly dudes. It’s almost midge time. Don’t overdo your midge larvae and pupae patterns. Just remember your imitations must have the illusion of abdominal segmentation. Tie very simple thread midges. Use flossy threads like waxed UTC 70 denier. The waxed thread makes the imitation’s abdomen look more like a real live midge’s abdomen. Use the same thread in a different color for the rib. Finish the off with a black thread head. Add a stub of flashy stuff for a wing bud or whatever they call it if you like, but it’s the contrast of the rib and abdomen threads that ultimately gets the job done. Match what the trout are eating. It really matters. 

The final ingredient is action. Lift the pattern a few inches, let it drop a few inches. Swing it short and real slow. Lift it a little quicker if you see a trout coming for it. Don’t listen to me experiment. Do new stuff. Innovate. Midges are the master game.  

 

 RECIPE FOR THE PICTURED FLY

HOOK: TMC 2488, size 18.

ABDOMEN: Hopper Yellow Waxed UTC 70 thread. 

RIB: Brown Olive Waxed UTC 70 thread. 

WING: White SAAP WING-FIBER, Sparkle-Mistic. 

HEAD: Black, Waxed UTC 70 thread. 

This is a basic model. Change it to meet your local trout's taste!!!

THE HUNT

I should have known that the elk hunt would be all-consuming. We were up no later than 5:00 a.m. most days and heading up the trail by 5:45 a.m. We hunted all morning with a nap in the sun after lunch. Then we hunted our way back to our trucks at the trailhead. But enough said for now. The hunt was successful, so it’s back to fishing, fly tying and lining up speaking engagements for the winter months. 

On the way to camp I always stop by this spring. It's the sweetest water there is.

Some of my favorite country, but the elk were at higher elevation. 

PUMPKIN MADNESS ON THE FRYING PAN RIVER

Every year around Halloween pumpkins begin to mysteriously appear along the Frying Pan River. I've seen them there for the past 20 years. It's a great tradition.  

ON THE WAY

Snowy Independence Pass on the way to the Frying Pan River. In Basalt it's sunny and warm. Who'd have guessed it? Don't you just love the Rocky Mountains. I'll watch for the BWO hatch on the way to elk camp.