Nymphing - indicator-to-nymph MAX distance

"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...

If your strike indicator is going the same speed as the bubbles around
it (top current), so is your nymph...

Hm......

If you're fishing in shallow water with a weighted nymph with an eight foot
leader and the nymph starts out downstream from the indicator and in the lee
of a small pebble......

Your indicator can move nearly sixteen feet.....at the same speed as the
bubbles around it.....before the nymph moves at all..

Wolfgang

On Tue, 31 May 2005 19:11:51 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

If you're fishing in shallow water with a weighted nymph with an eight foot
leader and the nymph starts out downstream from the indicator and in the lee
of a small pebble......

Your indicator can move nearly sixteen feet.....at the same speed as the
bubbles around it.....before the nymph moves at all..

You are correct. But who nymphs downstream. Certainly not me.
And just because I am fishing with an eight foot leader, it does not
mean my strike indicator is eight feet from the nymph. In two feet of
water, it is probably three or four feet from the nymph. Or, more
than likely I am not using an indicator at all.

Dave

Scott Seidman wrote:
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 don't either.

My approach to dead-drift nymphing is to work the "turnover point."
That's the (usually short) section of the drift where the indicator is
directly above the fly, and where the drift has the least drag. Ideally,
the indicator, as well as the fly, will drift with no drag.

The idea is basically to decide where the fish are and then to cast
upstream, with the distance depending in the current, and to mend to
create a turnover point right in front of the fish.

Works for me.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

On Tue, 31 May 2005 18:05:09 -0600, rw
wrote:

I don't either.

My approach to dead-drift nymphing is to work the "turnover point."
That's the (usually short) section of the drift where the indicator is
directly above the fly, and where the drift has the least drag. Ideally,
the indicator, as well as the fly, will drift with no drag.

The idea is basically to decide where the fish are and then to cast
upstream, with the distance depending in the current, and to mend to
create a turnover point right in front of the fish.

Works for me.


I posted a correction to the original post saying that "faster than
the current" is possible only if you have a belly in the line, meaning
the line and indicator are dragging. If the strike indicator
(leader/line connection, or whatever you are watching for a strike) is
not moving slower than the top current, you need more weight. Your
turnover point is obvious, however most of my strikes are before I
reach the turnover spot.

Dave LaCourse wrote:

Your
turnover point is obvious, however most of my strikes are before I
reach the turnover spot.

That's because you're dragging your fly over what should be the turnover
point.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

If you're fishing deep with lots of distance between the bobber and the
fly, watch the submerged curves in your leader instead of your fish
pimp when you can and you'll notice more takes.

When the drift is too far away to see the leader underwater, overpower
the mend a little and pull the whole outfit a little tighter underwater
and that'll also help with detection. I think it's worth the temporary
interruption in the drift to get a little straighter leader underwater.

Let your downstream drifts straigthen completely before you strip your
line in or pick it up to cast. Sometimes you've got a fish hooked and
don't know it and of course sometimes they like it swinging and/or
rising at the end of the drift.

bruce h

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
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),...

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...

He didn't mean that. He meant the indicator should be going a little slower
than the surface current. It won't ever be going faster unless there's some
strange drag from a fast side current or something. Anyway, this is why
Borger calls it a drift indicator instead of a strike indicator.

Scott, I see where I have confused you. Sorry. That should read if
your indicator (line) is moving at the same speed as the surface
current, you need to add weight to slow it down. If it is moving
"faster", then you have a belly in you line and need to mend (as you
have stated).

Sorry for any confusion.

Dave

This has been one of the best, most informative discussions I have ever
seen here. Thanks so much for all your postings. I will ponder, try
out, and come back when I have more questions.

Many thanks, Tim

Actually, Dave (or anyone), I do have a couple more question:

Do you worry that too much weight can somehow mess with the drift of
your nymph?

OK, obviously there's some amount of weight that is too much. But I'm
just wondering if I should always try to err on the side of extra
weight. As it is, I can't think of a time that I"ve ever put on more
than two 4's, or maybe one BB - and perhaps that's my problem. And
yes, I'm sure in general I don't do enough to tick bottom. But does
the upside of being down deep always trump the downside of possibly
having too much weight? (Sorry - that sentence came out as is, and
it's just too bad to change it.)

If it makes a difference - most of the situations when I'm
under-confident in my nymphing occur when I'm casting a ways, say about
20'. If I'm high-sticking, then I'm generally pretty confident. (And
part of what started all of this is that I noticed that I have a
markedly better success rate nymphing when I'm close enough and the
water is clear enough that I can actually see the take subsurface - a
much much higher success ratio - made me think I was doing something
wrong in other situations, just looking at my indicator.)