Couple of good ones

[JoeCz]

Dropped my son off at his job at 5 pm and headed up Rt 17. Fishing by 6:15 and was lucky enough to land a couple nice browns on nymphs before dark. One took a #8 brown stonefly, the other took a #16 shaggy caddis. Plenty of mayflies around but no rising fish, although I tried sulfur and iso emergers. A good start to the weekend!

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[JoeCz]

Not sure why the second pic didn’t post...

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[northcountryman]

Very nice ! How deep were you fishing the stonefly?

[JoeCz]

Very nice ! How deep were you fishing the stonefly?

Both fish were hooked at the head of a pool, right where the riffle entered. Cast ahead of that by about 15 feet, let the nymphs bounce down along the bottom. In this case, the riffle isn't that shallow, about knee-deep (and sometimes I hook fish in the riffle itself), so I have an indicator about 4-5 feet above the stonefly (which I basically use to get the rig down; sometimes I use a #10 hare's ear jig instead) and then a small fly off the hook bend of the stonefly. I'm not typically expecting the fish to take the stonefly, but the fish I hook are about 50-50 on which fly they take. I'm guessing that I probably miss more takes on the smaller fly, just because the way the rig is set up. 9' leader, 4x tippet and dropper.

There were some good-sized mayflies in the air yesterday afternoon (Isos? Slate drakes?) and some smaller sulfurs, but no rising trout, so after trying a couple of dries I switched to nymphing. When I have a nice stretch of river all to myself I hate to bail on it just because I'm not seeing fish. That's a way to spend more time driving than fishing.

The bigger fish jumped twice, then took me under a partially downed tree and about 50 yards downstream before I was able to reel him in. Put up a great fight!

[Eperous]

Nice!!!

[northcountryman]

Very nice , what kind of Indy do you like to use?

[JoeCz]

Very nice , what kind of Indy do you like to use?

In calmer waters, I’ll use a yarn indicator. In choppier/faster riffles I use the small size (1/2”) airlock.

I’ve caught a couple of fish when nymphing without an indicator, but suspect I need to add a lighter weight rod to my arsenal to pull it off with more regularity. For now, I just have a 9’ 5 wt.

Joe

[northcountryman]

Yeah it helps, have you tried it euro style yet?

[narcodog]

Very nice , what kind of Indy do you like to use?

In calmer waters, I’ll use a yarn indicator. In choppier/faster riffles I use the small size (1/2”) airlock.

I’ve caught a couple of fish when nymphing without an indicator, but suspect I need to add a lighter weight rod to my arsenal to pull it off with more regularity. For now, I just have a 9’ 5 wt.

Joe

Joe, don't get caught up in the rod game. The 9ft 5 is probably the best all around rod you can use, don't sell it short. As far as an indicator there is a great debate on their use. If you catch fish without them then go that way. He is my opinion. When using an indicator your fly needs to drift at a certain depth. As you walk up and down the stream the water depth changes from deep to shallow. If your not adjusting your bobber for the changing water your going to miss fish as your fly will either be to deep or to shallow. Just sayin.

[JoeCz]

Narcodog,

The beauty of the airlock indicator is that it makes it so easy to change the depth. Loosen the nut, slide the indicator up or down and retighten. If I'm not getting hung up on the bottom every so often, I figure I'm not getting the nymphs down deep enough. Where the flies end up depends on the length of the line to the indicator, but also the weight of the flies (and/or any added weight), the speed of the current and mending the line. It's not as stereotypically simple as some critics might suggest.

I'm aware that there's a certain group who look down on "bobber fishing." But as a kid/teenager, it's not like I was tearing up my local FL tribs even with worms or egg sacs suspended under mine. I catch a lot more fish now than I ever used to. And I love the fact that when fly-fishing, I'm able to release unharmed virtually every fish I catch. I'd prefer to catch fish on dry flies, but I'm not dogmatic about it.

So if I want to try Euro-nymphing, does anyone have recommendations for starting out?

Joe