Advice fishing a nymph

thehamo

Hey,

So back from my 5th outting on the dodder and yet again, fishless. Can anyone give me advice on fishing a nymph as I couldl well be fishing it wrong.

Method I have been using is casting the nymph up stream and letting the current take it down. i've been trying pools under weirs, after fast flows of water, under trees, all the usual little features.

The nymph I was using today looked somthing very similar to the attached pic. Was a bead head pheasant tail. Also tried a hairs ear but alas....

Also, it tends wo have a good bit of weed on it from being dragged alont the bottom, any way of stopping this?

Cheers!

rtc

thehamo wrote: »

Hey, try fishing the nymph beneath dry fly athat can support the weight of the nymph.you can alter the depth easily with this method and the dry fly will act as a bite indicator.As soon the dry fly goes down ,strike.It's not foolproof but it is effective..With regard to your poor return for your trips to the dodder,it may be down to you not seing the take.If your line makes the slightest hesitation then strike.You could be on the bottom but then again you could be lucky.I am no expert on this and I'm sure you will get more feedback from the other lads and lassies on this site who are more experienced anglers than I am but try it out.All the best!

So back from my 5th outting on the dodder and yet again, fishless. Can anyone give me advice on fishing a nymph as I couldl well be fishing it wrong.

Method I have been using is casting the nymph up stream and letting the current take it down. i've been trying pools under weirs, after fast flows of water, under trees, all the usual little features.

The nymph I was using today looked somthing very similar to the attached pic. Was a bead head pheasant tail. Also tried a hairs ear but alas....

Also, it tends wo have a good bit of weed on it from being dragged alont the bottom, any way of stopping this?

Cheers!

QUOTE=thehamo;67556219]Hey, try fishing the nymph beneath dry fly athat can support the weight of the nymph.you can alter the depth easily with this method and the dry fly will act as a bite indicator.As soon the dry fly goes down ,strike.It's not foolproof but it is effective..With regard to your poor return for your trips to the dodder,it may be down to you not seing the take.If your line makes the slightest hesitation then strike.You could be on the bottom but then again you could be lucky.I am no expert on this and I'm sure you will get more feedback from the other lads and lassies on this site who are more experienced anglers than I am but try it out.All the best!

davidk11811

rtc wrote: »

QUOTE=thehamo;67556219]Hey, try fishing the nymph beneath dry fly athat can support the weight of the nymph.you can alter the depth easily with this method and the dry fly will act as a bite indicator.As soon the dry fly goes down ,strike.It's not foolproof but it is effective..With regard to your poor return for your trips to the dodder,it may be down to you not seing the take.If your line makes the slightest hesitation then strike.You could be on the bottom but then again you could be lucky.I am no expert on this and I'm sure you will get more feedback from the other lads and lassies on this site who are more experienced anglers than I am but try it out.All the best!

How exactly do you tie both flies onto the line? (Me is terrible at fly fishing)

coolwings

Sounds like you are fishing too deep.
Try fishing the nymph off a dropper with a dry on the tail, this will raise it and takes should register as a line movement.

thehamo

Cheers, how do you stop the dropper from wrapping around the original leader? I tried this before fishing a buzzer with a daddy on the tail, but the buzzer kept wrapping itsself around the leader

dody

Hello thehamo, the method of fishing a nymph under a dry fly as described by rtc would be a good way to start nymph fishing. I use a size 14 klinkhamer dry fly with a length of 3 lb fluorocarbon tied to the bend of it, and a size 16 goldhead pheasant tail nymph on the end.The distance between dryfly and nymph is about 10 inches more than the depth of water.Make sure the tippet is degreased with sinkant so that the nymph sinks fast . When casting upstream get the leader to straighten out nicely so that there's no slack between nymph + dryfly as you will often get takes the second the nymph plops into the water.
Fish every bit of water in front of you before casting out further. Wearing polaroids is a great help. Since i started using this method i'm catching trout in places i used never bother with, water 6 inches deep on a sunny day, in between thick weeds, and all day long.
If you,re tying your own flies a pink or orange wing post would be handy on the klinkhamer to spot your fly among the white suds downstream of a weirpool. Keep the nymph tail down to about 5 pheasant tail fibres and about 1/2 to 1/3 the length of the hook shank.My own pheasant tail nymphs have a simple thorax of hares ear or muskrat behind the bead and the trout love them.
One disadvantage of this method is if you hook a fish on the dry fly and the nymph gets snagged then the hook pulls out.
I hope i didn't bore you with stuff you already know but that's how i'm catching a lot more trout than ever before.
Let us know how you get on,

dody

Don't worry too much about the weed. The nymph wants to be barely off the bottom. If its weed every cast you could shorten the dropper

rtc

dody wrote: »

Hello thehamo, the method of fishing a nymph under a dry fly as described by rtc would be a good way to start nymph fishing. I use a size 14 klinkhamer dry fly with a length of 3 lb fluorocarbon tied to the bend of it, and a size 16 goldhead pheasant tail nymph on the end.The distance between dryfly and nymph is about 10 inches more than the depth of water.Make sure the tippet is degreased with sinkant so that the nymph sinks fast . When casting upstream get the leader to straighten out nicely so that there's no slack between nymph + dryfly as you will often get takes the second the nymph plops into the water.
Fish every bit of water in front of you before casting out further. Wearing polaroids is a great help. Since i started using this method i'm catching trout in places i used never bother with, water 6 inches deep on a sunny day, in between thick weeds, and all day long.
If you,re tying your own flies a pink or orange wing post would be handy on the klinkhamer to spot your fly among the white suds downstream of a weirpool. Keep the nymph tail down to about 5 pheasant tail fibres and about 1/2 to 1/3 the length of the hook shank.My own pheasant tail nymphs have a simple thorax of hares ear or muskrat behind the bead and the trout love them.
One disadvantage of this method is if you hook a fish on the dry fly and the nymph gets snagged then the hook pulls out.
I hope i didn't bore you with stuff you already know but that's how i'm catching a lot more trout than ever before.
Let us know how you get on,

Nicely explained,and I have learned something new as well.Cheers dody.

thehamo

so I was down in Mayo at the weekend and was staying on the banks of the cloon river so decided to have a punt. Nothing going but wasnt out long, the cows took a liking to me and disrupted my casting so I had to leave!

Anyway, i tried fishing a dry as an indicator, using a daddy with some floatant on it, and a nymph as a dropper. I tied the nymph to the end of the leader and tied a length of tippet, about 8 inches, onto the leader and put the dry onto that. The only result I had with that is that the two lines got wrapped together when I was casting and the nymph ended pulling the daddy underneath the water. Any idea how to over come this??

dody

Try tying the dryfly on first then tie 3 lb line to the bend of the hook with the nymph on the end. I'd say the daddy will cause knots in your line while casting. Try a more streamlined fly like a size 12 sedge or klinkhamer. This setup casts in a nice straight line rather than flapping about, letting you fish rather than untie big knots the whole time:mad:.
Keep us posted on your nymphing and we'll try to keep you on the path to success:)