fly fishing- nymphing for beginers?

Question

the river I want to fish has varying depths. Its roaring river MO. I mainly want to know how to set up my strike indicator to the right dephth if the depth changes all over the stream.

here are some photos of the water I'm going to be fishing so please look at the river so i know how I should nymph fish it.

http://community.iexplore.com/photos/journal_photos/Dscn2482.jpg

http://www.ozarkchronicles.com/waters/MO/roaringriver(tp)/roaringriver2.gif

http://www.missouritrout.com/roaringriver.html

http://www.missouritrout.com/roaringriver.html

http://www.roaringriverstatepark.com/rapids.jpg

http://image51.webshots.com/51/6/8/70/2070608700049217838Akfpwv_fs.jpg

so here sre som photos of a river i want to start nymphin on, can anybody give me sudgestions on what i should do?

Answer 1

Yes, beginning fly fishers can nymph fish.

If you use the strike indicator method I described in an earlier question, the one thing about that outfit is it has a lot of 'hinge' points on the line. A hinge point means that the normal transfer of power is slightly different than on a clean or uncluttered fly line. For instance, the strike indicator is a hinge point as is the point where you attach your split shot, then there is the first fly, that is the third hinge point.

What all those hinge points mean is you do not want to do hardly any false casting and you really don't want to cast the traditionally desired tight loop. That would only spell disaster as in a big birds nest in your leader. You actually want a big wide open loop to reduce the risk of tangles, however, you will still get them, no matter how good you cast.

What you do is after the fly has completed its run, you strip in a 6 or 8 feet of line and start to raise your rod then pick up your fly line off the water with a back cast. You will be changing direction by about 90 degrees, so usually there will be 1 or at the most 2 false casts as you rotate then you cast out your nymphing rig back upstream.

If you are standing on the shore or wading in the river, what you need to realize is the actual small space in which your fly is really doing the job you want, down on the bottom of the river.

When you release the line casting upstream, the first thing you need to do is throw in a mend, upstream, after the fly and strike indicator hit the water. I literally mean just as they hit the water, not 5 feet down stream.

When your fly and strike indicator first hit, naturally they are still really close to the surface of the river, hence not very likely to catch a fish. You need to toss out a mend right as they hit the water. The mend allows the fly and indicator to travel downstream drag free because the faster water between you and the fly is dealing with the extra line in the mend and not pulling on the fly directly.

Once you make your big mend, and possibly a very small one really close to the fly rod, you leave the line alone. Don't make another mend. Every time you apply any pressure on that line, you are lifting the flies off the bottom and if they are off the bottom you will not catch fish.

So, you have made your cast, tossed your mend, and for the next 5 to 10 feet the flies are dropping down towards the bottom. As the outfit is just about opposite you but slightly upstream, that is when the flies are really where they belong. They will travel that way for around 10 feet and then as they get downstream of you just a little bit, they will start to rise off the bottom because you are no longer drag free. Let them make a full swing towards the surface, sometimes you can pick up a fish at that point, but not very often. You want to have the nymphing rig near the surface anyway before you start your pick up so let it swing upwards.

You won't be casting a long distance, do the best you can and you will slowly reach out farther.

When you are casting, cover the whole area in front of you in stages. First cast upstream in a line that will cause the fly to drift just a few feet in front of you. Do that a couple of times, then you need to cast out a foot or two farther, and do that a few times, then farther yet. Now then, if there is a seam in the water, a place where several currents come together and form a line, sometimes with bubbles or foam being caught in it, that is really a good place to work for a number of casts. Fish love seams as they capture insects and move them down the river in a given line, easy pickings for a fish. Also, if you can see a ledge or a drop off or hole, work those really well.

After you have covered all of the water, move about 10 feet and start over again.

Hope this helps.

Larry