Josh Stephens fly fishing the Nantahala River
Learning to nymph fish is a smart choice for any fly fisher who wants to increase their catch! Another article on nymph fishing can be found here on the site. Nymph fishing has seen many improvements over the past few decades. Innovation has come in many forms regarding rigging, yet many old-school techniques remain effective. The biggest determining factor for your success will be how quickly you adjust to the behavior of the fish on that given day. The beautiful Smoky Mountains town of Bryson City, NC offers some of the best trout fishing waters in the state!
Be prepared for your adjustments to change throughout the day, as conditions rarely remain the same. What do proactive methods mean to you? Many anglers use suspender devices (bobbers come in many shapes and sizes) for all their nymphing. There can be a time and place for this technique, but it is not the only productive method. The very best anglers I have met over the years have a huge arsenal of different techniques on the water. Below, we'll discuss various methods for becoming more proactive on the stream.
Observation of Trout & Activity
The puzzle is not difficult to solve in most circumstances: trout either hold tight to the bottom or suspend to feed higher up in the water column. Observation should tell you these clues rather quickly by studying the water and watching the fish. Fish moods change often, along with how far they are willing to move to eat something on a dead drift versus how much they will chase.
When fish are willing to chase recklessly, they become very easy to take advantage of on the stream. Learning to nymph fish enables you to capitalize on the various behaviors of the trout you pursue. There are times when the feeding is so heavy that very few things pass by without the fish sampling your offering. These times tend to be the greatest activity.
Be Proactive & Make It Happen!
What does it mean to become more proactive on the water? Do you dead drift, swing, jig, slow lift, induce a strike, and pepper the water in grids—to name a few? These are methods for being more in tune with solving the puzzle on the stream. Dead drifting and bobber fishing tend to be the most popular approaches here in America. Dead drift simply means allowing the flies to flow with the current. The swing implies the line has a curve on the water and moves the flies across the current.
Suspender fishing (bobber) may limit opportunities because it is fixed at a set distance. However, it offers advantages for fishing far away (over 35 feet). These other methods can be much more effective for fishing close (under 35 feet). Jim Leisenring is credited in America with writing about lifting flies through the water column in the 1940s. There are times when nymphing where the only way to induce fish to eat is by lifting the flies through the water column.
David Woody, from Andrews, NC, is one of the best I know at jigging flies through the water column. I learned this technique from him many years ago, watching him move the rod tip in small circles as the flies straighten well below him. This imparts small, forward, erratic movements to the flies as they ascend. His style of jigging flies has influenced many anglers in and around western NC.
Corey Roberts with a nice Nantahala brown trout nymphing a run in February
Induced Strike Method of Nymphing
The induced strike works best when there is heavy feeding on the stream and the fish take the flies on the descent in the water column. I use a countdown, usually between one and five seconds, and then go straight into a hook set or backcast and throw right back into the area. I learned this in the early '90s on the Nantahala River when nymphing short. When large numbers of fish were in a run, I could witness the flash of the fish heading away after feeling the hook.
This flash meant I was too late on the hook set because the flash is usually the head shake of the fish returning to its feeding zone. There are times when this occurs very quickly. I dealt with this rejection by using a countdown, and the number of hookups exploded!
Wet Flies for Droppers
Fishing wet flies is the most overlooked technique I see throughout the country. They can cover vast amounts of water quickly, enabling you to find fish in a hurry. Wet flies are usually tied without additional weight on the hook when fish are active. Often I prefer two unweighted wets on the droppers. Sometimes a brass bead wet fly on the point can be just the ticket for more strikes.
The right choice really depends on the situation. Folks tend to think of wet fly fishing as quartering casts across and downstream. More advanced wet fly anglers use line control at great distance to sink the flies by mending line upstream, then mending downstream when the flies are in a likely fish-holding spot—a cut bank fished straight across the stream, for example. The angler sinks the wets through line control and lets the line become taut, which raises and swings the fly where the fish holds.
Colored Strike Indicators
Using colored mono tied into the leader can be much more versatile on stream. Colored mono has its place for certain methods like French, Polish, Spanish, and Czech nymphing. The retrieval rate of the drifting flies, along with the rod angle held during the drift, enables you to fish varying water depths with the same nymphs. This allows you to solve the puzzle on stream quickly.
The method you choose on a Delayed Harvest program here in NC, like the Nantahala River, or a wild stream in Great Smoky Mountain National Park really isn't that different in terms of your process. When trying various techniques, use the six-cast rule of presentation. Usually, if what you're doing is the correct rigging and presentation, you should have plenty of strikes. If you don't, then move on through your "tactics quiver" because it won't take long to have the trout dialed in on the stream.
One thing is certain: it will change often! Light conditions, water clarity, barometric pressure, wind direction, moon phases, water temperature, and many other factors ensure things stay interesting. Keep a journal if you want to learn how these elements influence fish activity. Most importantly, have fun with the journey of learning to nymph fish!