On 31 May 2005 20:24:30 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

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.

If your strike indicator is going the same speed as the bubbles around
it (top current), so is your nymph. The water that the nymph is in
will be running much slower, but if the nymph is going faster than the
bottom current, a fish probably won't hit it. And, it doesn't need a
motor, inboard or outboard, to be going faster than the bottom
current. If my strike indicator (line) is going as fast as the water
around it, I add more split shot until it slows to a speed I think is
correct. And, you are right, if you get a belly in your line, the
strike indicator/fly will move much faster than the current.

Distance nymphing, like you would do with steelhead and salmon, or on
the Rapid River, is very dependent on mending. You don't mend
properly, you are going to get few hits, and every time you do mend,
the fly should go a little deeper. Most of the steelhead I've hooked
have been hooked right after I've mended the line. If you don't know
how to mend, don't go to Alaska for salmon or big rainbows, because
the whole game is mending *once you have the lure at the proper depth
by means of weight.*


Dave