Dave LaCourse wrote in
:

Remember, if your indicator (line/leader connection) is going faster
or the same speed as the top current (watch to bubbles), then you do
not have enough weight on. Your indicator should be going slower than
the top level of water. Can't get down to the bottom? Add more
weight, move your indicator up, or remove it all together.

Dave





I don't get this. I know you're up there with the best nymph fishermen I
know, but I don't see how a nymph without a motor on it can go faster than
the current, unless there's a faster current down below (or maybe a fish
took and for some reason is running downstream), and flow mechanics say the
closer you get to an bank or bottom, the slower the current runs.

When I see my indicator going faster than the current, it's usually because
there's a belly in my line and it's dragging the line tip. An upstream
mend usually fixes this. In some cases, maybe strange eddies make drag
free drifts very difficult no matter how well you mend, and maybe in these
cases more weight helps.

I try to keep as little weight on my leader as possible. While during
winter steelheading I might chuck and duck 3 BB's, this time of year, for
trout on modest water, I'm rarely heavier than two size 10's-- more often
one size 8. If I can see a big "plonk" on the water when casting a size 14
sulphur nymph, I've got too much weight on, so long as I can tick bottom
every now and then with less weight. Maybe making sure you hit bottom is
more important than the dead drift, but I try to do both. In one sense, if
a belly is dragging your line tip, sure as shooting its pulling your nymph
off the bottom.

I try for the dead drift, with the indicator going pretty near the top
current--keeping in mind that the bottom current could be a little slower.

Probably the most important thing for the beginning nympher to remember is
if your indicator or line seems to do something odd, no matter how subtle,
set the hook immediately. This can get you hung up, because you're trying
to hit bottom, but don't assume its bottom, and you'll wait for the next
fish. Often, that was the next fish. If you want to try to avoid getting
hung up, put your shot on a very short dropper off the tippet.

Scott