** NOTE ** This is the fifth installment of the Troutbitten Short Series covering drop shot nymphing. Find the full series HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- How is casting any different with drop shot weight vs traditional split shot placement or weighted flies? And how is the...
** NOTE ** This is the fourth installment of the Troutbitten Short Series covering Drop Shot Nymphing. Find the full series HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- There’s nothing new about drop shotting. Placing the weight at the bottom of the rig is very common in all forms of...
** NOTE ** This is the third installment of the Troutbitten Short Series covering Drop Shot Nymphing. Find the full series HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- I’ve often described adding weight as the original sin of fly fishing. As soon as we add weight to the system, things...
** NOTE ** This is the second installment of the Troutbitten Short Series covering Drop Shot Nymphing. Find the full series HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- Contact lies at the heart of tight line tactics. The ability to be in touch with our flies at any moment is what makes...
As the years pass, I’ve found a few refinements, I’ve learned a few advantages that lead me toward drop shot as the solution for more on-stream problems. It’s a tactic that has its place alongside all the other ways that I like to drift nymphs. Because the principles of dead drifting a nymph usually come down to imitating a natural drift as close as possible, but the methods for doing so are remarkably varied.
Every river scenario has a solution. And quite often, drop shotting is the perfect answer.
It’s not red anymore. It’s burgundy, but it “might” be red again someday. I’ve been alive long enough to know that when something you love leaves, it’s best to start moving on. And yes, I’m a leader junkie . . .
There’s a talent for combining all the essential techniques. Stitching them together seamlessly and flowing from one to the next takes a certain aptitude, and some intention.
Refine one through nine. Then time and again, you’ll see what you want to see. You’ll put it together. And you’ll say with confidence, “Now that was a great drift.”
The strike is the best part of fishing. It’s what we’re all out there waiting for, or rather, what we’re trying to make happen all day long. And the trout eats because we get so many things right.
We fool a fish, and we fulfill the wish of every angler.
When the fish strikes, we strike back. Short, swift and effective, the hook finds fish flesh. Then we try to keep the trout buttoned and get it to the net.
In the next article, this series concludes with the focus on putting it all together . . .
A simple piece of Dacron, tied in a barrel, is a visible and sensitive addition to your tight line and euro nymphing rig. The versatile Backing Barrel serves as a stand-alone sighter, especially when tied with a one-inch tag. Better yet, it draws your eyes to the colored monofilament of any sighter and enhances visibility threefold. The Backing Barrel adds a third dimension of strike detection, with the Dacron flag just stiff enough to stand away from the line, but just soft enough to twitch upon even the most subtle takes . . .
We overweight to lead the flies, and we underweight to track them. But to guide the flies, we must find the middle ground, with enough weight to control the flies against the effects of the current but not so much that the flies cannot be permitted to drift at the will of that same current.
This may sound like a bit of hocus pocus. But in truth, it’s an intuitive process that becomes natural with trial and error . . .