Nymph theory

Since I'm a relative newbie, allow me to fullfill my duty as relative
newbie and ask a dumb question.

Recently I was fishing a warm water stream for smallmouth and I was
using a little split shot about 8" up from the fly on the tippet, and I
found after a while, I got a nasty tangle in my tippet around the split
shot. It was like a wind knot but worse? How does everyone avoid nasty
wind knots when using split shot? Or is it just a fact of life, and the
reason we carry extra spools of tippet?

thanks
-Ethan

salmobytes wrote:

3) Split shot 12-24" up the leader allows the nymph
to drift naturally,


A solution:
Stick with the *extra-short* leader, but put it on a dry line.
Put an extra-big, pea-sized split shot at the junction
of the end of the fly line and the leader butt. It's not a
perfect solution.

"Ethan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Since I'm a relative newbie, allow me to fullfill my duty as relative
newbie and ask a dumb question.

We've had some dumb questions over the years, this isn't one of them.

Recently I was fishing a warm water stream for smallmouth and I was
using a little split shot about 8" up from the fly on the tippet, and I
found after a while, I got a nasty tangle in my tippet around the split
shot. It was like a wind knot but worse? How does everyone avoid nasty
wind knots when using split shot? Or is it just a fact of life, and the
reason we carry extra spools of tippet?

You probably need to adjust your casting stroke, probably slowing down a
little and even expanding your backcast to let your rod load fully before
beginning the forward stroke. If you're doing any false casting your chances
of this happening are greater too. When fishing with weight, especially with
a softer action rod, the operative words are slower and smoother. I was
taught to not even try a typical cast when I was starting out and using
weight, more of a "swing" but it kept me from false casting too much and
getting some significant bird's nest in my leader. Pick up your fly at the
end of the drift, backcast once and place your fly on the next cast, even if
you have to do this a few times to get to your target.

Sandy said:
You always get the most strikes on the end fly,

Steve said:
I haven't found that to be true Sandy.
Do you think perhaps you just feel more of the strikes at the end fly?

......I find that to be true (end fly works best) when I chain
the flies together, with the tippet of the end fly clinch knotted
to the bend of hook in front. I do that because it tangles less
and it's easier to cast. But maybe it ain't work as good as
an old fashioned dropper loop. My experience is that I do
catch flsh on the up-leader fly, else I wouldn't bother to do it
at all. But I do find I catch fewer fish than the end fly.

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


salmobytes wrote:
Sandy said:
You always get the most strikes on the end fly,

Steve said:
I haven't found that to be true Sandy.
Do you think perhaps you just feel more of the strikes at the end fly?

.....I find that to be true (end fly works best) when I chain
the flies together, with the tippet of the end fly clinch knotted
to the bend of hook in front. I do that because it tangles less
and it's easier to cast. But maybe it ain't work as good as
an old fashioned dropper loop. My experience is that I do
catch flsh on the up-leader fly, else I wouldn't bother to do it
at all. But I do find I catch fewer fish than the end fly.

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.

Joe F.

Fred Lebow wrote:
What is a Crazy Charlie?


It's a bonefish fly, usually tied with hollow chain bead eyes.
But for use as a fish-catching sinker on large western rivers,
I tie them with heavier nickel barbell eyes.

http://business.virgin.net/british.c...inkbeadeye.jpg

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)

"Steve" wrote in message
...
On 13 Nov 2006 10:31:08 -0800, wrote:

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

My checkbook.

I just looked in the Milwaukee Public Library's on line catalog. They don't
have that. Could I please borrow your copy?

Wolfgang

wrote in news:1163442668.356525.275970
@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

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



Prospecting for Trout.


--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

boy thinking about nymphing problems makes me think about a leader design I
picked up in Trout by Ernest Schwiebert
I think it was called a nymphing leader, it was 13 feet and the middle
section had a 3 foot section of 0.13. you could lay out a fairly long cast
and the nymph would swim more naturally.the fly is some what detached form
the rest of the rig. I liked it. I have the formula someplace I'll dig it up
if any one is interested.

"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
. ..
"Ethan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Since I'm a relative newbie, allow me to fullfill my duty as relative
newbie and ask a dumb question.

We've had some dumb questions over the years, this isn't one of them.

Recently I was fishing a warm water stream for smallmouth and I was
using a little split shot about 8" up from the fly on the tippet, and I
found after a while, I got a nasty tangle in my tippet around the split
shot. It was like a wind knot but worse? How does everyone avoid nasty
wind knots when using split shot? Or is it just a fact of life, and the
reason we carry extra spools of tippet?

You probably need to adjust your casting stroke, probably slowing down a
little and even expanding your backcast to let your rod load fully before
beginning the forward stroke. If you're doing any false casting your
chances of this happening are greater too. When fishing with weight,
especially with a softer action rod, the operative words are slower and
smoother. I was taught to not even try a typical cast when I was starting
out and using weight, more of a "swing" but it kept me from false casting
too much and getting some significant bird's nest in my leader. Pick up
your fly at the end of the drift, backcast once and place your fly on the
next cast, even if you have to do this a few times to get to your target.