Dry Fly Fishing is Overrated – Why You Should be Nymphing

Introduction:

As soon as the seasons turn from spring to summer, the water levels start to drop and the hatches become active. Most people put away the nymph boxes. Yes, some evening the caddis are hatching so profusely thick that you cannot see 10 feet in front of you. Excluding those times, you should be nymphing.

When I first started to fly fish, casting a dry fly was all I knew. I took my first fly fishing trip in early August in Montana and threw small dry flies to hungry cutthroat trout. Dry fly fishing was the only way I knew how to catch fish, and it worked well.

Not long after that, I began to expand my knowledge into the fly fishing world and its broad spectrum of methods. As someone who was just opening their eyes to this new sport, I was overwhelmed by the variety of content presented to me at the time. What I found was that there was little I knew, and a lot that I didn’t know.

This may have left many people discouraged, but for a young 14-year-old, I became motivated to learn more. I started watching YouTube videos, reading magazines and blog posts, and tying my own flies. Watching and reading about fly fishing were the two best things that I did, outside of actually fishing, that has gotten me to where I am today.

One element of fly fishing that I discovered early on, and has stuck with me to this day, is the complexity of the trout’s diet. These fish live in the river all year long, and have to eat every day to survive and grow. My first question was: where do all of the bugs come from?

As I went deeper, doing research about entomology and the diet of the trout, I learned more about freestone rivers and the bugs that live in river systems in the Western US and in other waters across the country. I was a few years in to spending some of time fly fishing and had finally figured it out, or at least a simple version of it.

The bugs live in the river, go through phases in their lives, and either get eaten and/or lay eggs for new bugs to be born. The bugs that come from the laid eggs then go through the same cycles and phases as their past generation. This, being a very simple version of what occurs in rivers and streams all across the US, is quite fascinating.

After discovering this, I grew my knowledge on something that had interested me from the start: nymphing. I had fished nymphs in Montana, Colorado and Iowa, but never knew the true reasoning for it. I just knew that the fish feed subsurface and that using nymphs caught fish.

I went on a couple of guided fishing trips with my great friend Chance Lenay, and throughout those trips he taught me about the science and methods behind nymphing.

Chance explained to me that the bugs live in the water, and when they get peeled off of the rocks below the surface the fish typically eat them. The nymphs that we fish imitate those bugs that come from the rocks on the bed of the river.

Along with this new knowledge came the realization that nymphing is extremely effective. The trout do not have to work hard for the food when they are presented with it.

Fast forward to the present day where I have been fishing in Montana, the Driftless, and other places for 6 years, and have a good idea of the techniques, styles, patterns, and more that make up nymphing.

I am not arguing that you should be casting an indicator rig during a caddis hatch. I am explaining why I believe nymphing is so effective and the different ways that you can nymph throughout the year. Here is an explanation of why nymphing is so effective, ways to fish nymphs and more.

Why I Find Nymphing So Productive:

Throughout my fly fishing career, I have grown to love nymph fishing. In the Driftless it is the primary way to catch fish, due to the lesser frequency in bug hatches compared to the Western United States. I have spent many hours on the water figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, and how to make it better.

Nymphing can be a variety of things. When I say that I am nymph fishing, I am fishing with a dry and a dropper, a double nymph rig that is weighted under an indicator, a nymph and a small streamer under and indicator, or a different method.

The reason I find myself nymphing so much is for multiple reasons. My first reason as to why I like nymphing so much is because it is always changing. It is a constant game of selecting the correct flies, achieving depth, and accomplishing the perfect drift.

Another reason I love to nymph is due to its prodcutivity. In the Driftless and in the US West, you can generally find fish every day when using a nymph rig of any sort. Trout hold in the deeper depths of water, approximately 1 foot off of the bottom, and feed in that zone 80-90% of the time.

When you think about it simply, trout live in the river and never leave. They have to eat to survive and grown, and they spend almost all of their life in the lower columns of the water. The chances of finding a fish that will take your fly, if in the correct zone at the correct time, is quite likely. That is the main reason why I find nymphing to produce fish.

When you find those times when they are feeding, the nymphing game then becomes more about technique, knowledge of the water you are fishing, and your fly and rig mechanics.

Bugs and Drifts:

Most of the time, trout are holding and feeding within one foot of the bottom, allowing them to feed actively and not work too hard. Down in that area are where the bugs live as well. Scuds, swimming mayflies, caddis pupae, and more are all moving through the water columns.

Keeping your flies in this zone is difficult. It takes immense practice at mending in different currents, weighting your nymph rig and more to achieve the perfect drift over and over again. In a lengthy cast, say 20-30 feet with a heavily weighted nymph setup, your drift will look good in the water for the first 5 feet of, and then look slightly unnatural for the rest of the allotted time.

Do not worry about this though; trout aren’t especially picky when it comes to feeding on the current active bugs. A good drift at the correct depth will get the job done, and a great drift is even better.

Techniques to Nymph Effectively:

With all of the research I have done on nymphing, experimenting with different techniques on the water is the best way to learn what works and what techniques and methods don’t.

In a scenario like this, the feedback loop is almost instant. If you have your rig at the depth that it needs to be and make the correct drift, it then becomes dependent on your fly choices. If the fish does not take when all of the other variables are equalized, switching flies is the best way to problem solve. With so many ways to nymph, here are a couple of techniques that interest me and are productive for myself on the water. 

·      Single/Double Nymph Rig

·      Dry Fly and a Dropper

·      Sight Nymphing

Below is an explanation of each technique and how to fish it.

Single/Double Nymph Rig:

This style of nymphing is easily the most popular right now. I also find this technique to be the most effective in the spring and fall months. Fishing one or two nymph flies with or without weight under and indicator is one of the best ways to catch fish while nymphing.

You can utilize this setup by fishing a heavier lead nymph and an unweighted trailer nymph, two heavy nymphs with or without split shot, a small streamer and a nymph as a trailer fly and more. I enjoy fishing this setup over others because you can always switch it up to optimize success.

Using the single nymph and double nymph rig works great in shallow and deeper water. When fishing shallow water, do not add additional weight to your setup. Fish a heavier lead fly alone or with a weightless trailing nymph approximately 4-6 feet underneath your indicator.

When fishing this method in greater depths, I would generally add a split shot, and continue to use a heavier lead nymph and a weightless trailing nymph. Fishing two flies in deeper water helps the flies reach their optimal depth and increases you chances of catching fish. The main variable in this method lies in your distance from your flies to your indicator. I will typically fish a double nymph rig 7-9 feet underneath my indicator.

Fishing two nymphs under an indicator is simple to put together, easy to adjust and one of the most productive methods of nymphing used today.

See this video for instruction on how to setup your nymph rigs: 

Dry Fly and a Dropper:

Fishing a dry/dropper setup is by far my favorite for the months of July and August. Fish are looking up to big bugs on the surface, but still feeding on nymphs in those shallow and deeper runs and pools when the water temperatures begin to rise.

There is a wide spectrum of dry/dropper rigs that I find work well in different scenarios. Larger dry fly patterns like a Chubby Chernobyl, PMX, and Amy’s Ant work well for holding up those heavier nymphs that are tied on using fluorocarbon tippet. Smaller dry fly patterns that resemble a Parachute Adams or Yellow Sally generally do well when fishing a weightless nymph underneath.

One of the more important elements to this setup is your leader length and size. Using 9-14 feet of 4x monofilament to your first dry fly is optimal, and allows you to keep your fly line off the water and keeps that drag free drift going for much longer.

The depth of your dropper below the dry fly changes on the type of water you are fishing. If you are fishing a weighted dropper like an AKA Prince or Lightning Bug under a larger dry fly, I will regularly use 20-30 inches of 4x fluorocarbon tippet to attach the nymph to the dry fly. If you are fishing the Pete’s Red Neck Nymph, a weightless nymph, I will use anywhere from 10-40 inches of 3x fluorocarbon tippet. This length allows for the nymph to reach its desired depth in an appropriate amount of time.

When fishing the dry fly with a dropper, I have had many eats on the dropper as soon as it hits the water. This may be because the fish sees the dry fly when it first hits the water, but refuses to eat it and then sees and eats the nymph. I find this very interesting, and have been experimenting in different water structures with a nymph tied closer to the dry fly. Fishing with a nymph 8-16 inches below the dry fly allows you to target fish in the heads of shallow riffles.

The dry/dropper setup also works well for fly fishing on lakes and larger bodies of still water. Fishing with the dry fly may attract the fish to the surface, and the nymph is there to catch fish when they become disinterested in the dry fly. 

Sight Nymphing:

 A technique that I have not fished much of, sight nymphing is truly dependent on the water’s condition and state of the fish. With clear water and the fish feeding subsurface, sight nymphing is ideally the best way to move fish.

I have been reading about and researching sight nymphing after moving out to Montana earlier this summer. Many of my coworkers and various shop employees in the area have told me about water all over the state where sight nymphing is imperative to catching fish.

Fishing for finicky trout in shallow water is best done without an indicator, because the splash of the indicator will most likely spook the trout. This is a technique that I look forward to learning more about and using in the future.

Closing: 

Nymphing has been a classic method to catch fish for decades, and is still one of the most effective ways to find fish today. I hope you learned more about nymphing, it's various techniques, and why it is so productive. 

Article by Ben Nelson