Most anglers seem to think that tight line nymphing is just one thing -- as if there's a single way to do all of this. The logical assumption, at first, is that you can learn this style and then polish it up until the new-to-you tactic is under your belt. Then maybe...
Missed ‘em. How many thousands of times have we said that? And why do we miss so many hits, takes or eats on our nymphs? Late hook sets are a problem, as is guessing about whether we should set the hook in the first place. But I believe, more times than not, when we...
A few days ago, someone said that they realized what I’ve been writing about on Troutbitten is beyond euro nymphing. He told me that it’s more of a hybrid method of western styles mixed with some French nymphing. Fair enough. The hybrid part I agree with. But my first...
** This is Part Three of a short Troutbitten series about contact, feel and sight while tight line nymphing. This all reads a lot better if you first visit Parts ONE (Strike Detection is Visual) and TWO (How Much of this is Feel?) ** -- -- -- -- -- -- So there we...
There are times for constant contact. But on most days, the best tight line presentations are not about feeling the action of the fly or the weight on the bottom. It’s not about a perfect tight line with the rig. Rather, it’s about slipping in and out of contact with the fly on a small scale — staying somewhere between tightline and slackline — that’s where the magic lies.
I’ve watched a lot of anglers fish nymphs. Most of them pick up at least a few trout, and some guys are like a vacuum cleaner. But I like to watch how differently everyone approaches the game. It’s curious to see so much variation, because essentially we’re all striving for the same thing — we want a drift that looks a lot like what the natural bugs are doing down there. (And yeah, usually that’s a dead drift.) But while the refinements and nuances between anglers are plenty, I think we can fairly group all approaches for dead drifting nymphs into two camps: tight line or indicator nymphing styles. The next question: Which one is better?
Of course, the merits of each method have been and will be argued for decades. But it really comes down to this: Which one puts more trout in the net?
The dark truth is that upgrading your fly fishing gear rarely catches you more fish. Rods, reels, fly lines, expensive tippet and overpriced hooks hardly improve your catch rate. And the marginal improvement you might see is probably a result of confidence and concentration rather than the performance of new gear.
The Dorsey yarn indy will catch you more fish.
Here are the details . . .
Nymphing is usually the best way to meet trout on their own terms. And throughout the seasons, simple nymph patterns catch the most fish. That’s especially true here in the fertile limestone spring creeks of Central Pennsylvania, but no matter where I’ve fished...
We've gotten a lot of questions, comments and reactions to a few recent articles that we published about Sighters, Tight Line Rigs and Why Fly Line Sucks. It's cool to see so much interest. Many of the questions are about the mono rig itself, and there is definitely...