rb608 wrote:

wrote:

Interesting thread. What books on nymphing have all of you found
helpful?

I can honestly say I've found nymphing to be one of those "magical"
things for which books can only crudely describe the basics of actual
action. Books have helped me understand the foods and feeding of
nymphing fish, but only actually doing it has taught me much about the
technique.

This reminds me of a nice experience I had on the Crowsnest earlier
this summer. Let me preface it by saying that I rarely fish subsurface
flies, as I don't really care for weighted flies, split shot, etc., and
I don't have a lot of confidence in my abilities.

The water was low and clear, and I had been fishing dries with
decent success, catching fish in the 8-10" range. I noticed a larger
"flash" in a deep hole and decided to give it a shot with a subsurface
fly. It took me several casts to get the fly to drift close to where I
had seen the fish's flank. When I did, I just tightened up the line
without having seen anything concrete to indicate he had taken it, and I
had the fish on.

It turned out to be the biggest trout I've caught in my limited
experience, and the first one I had caught when specifically targeting
him with a nymph. I had read all the books about tightlining,
indicators, right-angle nymphing, etc., etc., but it was really just
instinct that made me set the hook.

Hmmm, I could have sworn I had a point to this when I started
writing it ...

Oh yeah ... the next time I'm on the water and get the urge to fish
like the hoi-polloi ;-), I'm forsaking all the excess stuff and just
relying on blind luck. :-)


Chuck Vance (even a blind liberrian finds the slop sometimes)