Nymph Poll Number Two

[The Patriot]

If trout were always rising and you could consistently catch fish on dry flies, 24/7/365, would you still choose to fish nymphs?

[The Fisherman]

I'm going to assume you mean that the number of fish taking nymphs = the number of fish taking dries. :-)

[SloNDeep]

If trout were always rising and you could consistently catch fish on dry flies, 24/7/365, would you still choose to fish nymphs?

You mean like on the Farmington; where trout are always rising somewhere and you can always catch fish on top?

Heck yeah, I'd still fish nymphs. It's a more satisfying experience.

[The Fisherman]

I should also add that I believe I'm in a vast minority who thinks that dry fly fishing (from a technical standpoint) is far more difficult than nymphing. I love them both, and those who fish with me could tell you that I'm pretty good at both, so it's not a matter of, "oh, I hate that I have to fish THIS way now..."

I dunno....nymphing just came easy to me. Probably the extensive bait background. ;-)

[SDH]

i voted sometimes most likely i'd be fishing a dry and dropper during those situations

[Kierran]

All methods (i.e. dries, wet flies, streamers & nymphs) have their time and place. One should not be stubborn and neglect a method that is out-producing another though. The dry fly elitists that won't fish if there are no rises are ridiculous. The trout are still feeding!

That being said, if I could only use one method on the stream for the rest of my days, nymphing would be it. To me there is nothing like dredging the bottom for big trout. Pick your poison.

[Rich Strolis]

of course I would, I cant put always because that is way too definitive, I go through phases myself...but always find myself chucking a pair of nymphs...

[ANeary]

I do fish nymphs more because I have to(to be succesful) than I want to. Sometimes the fish just aren't up enough to support dry fly fishing but I do have to say I am a very visual fisherman and enjoy watching a fish take the fly and that most often occurs with dries. It can happen with nymphs under certain situations but not often enough for me. Of course in the salt you can still fish a streamer under the right water conditions and see a great take by a blue,striper, Tarponor bonefish. So bottom line for me it's the visual aspect that makes me determmine technique.

[nympher1]

I'd always choose to fish nymphs given the choice, more and bigger fish are always feeding under the surface.. and I have to disagree with the Fisherman's assessment of the technical difficulty of drys vs. nymphs... let me suggest you try dead drifting nymphs without a strike indicator or any other gizmo that has been invented to make nymphing easier.. heck if you're going to use a strike indicator you may as well fish bait..IMHO of course...

[cirrus]

You mean like on the Farmington; where trout are always rising somewhere and you can always catch fish on top?

Funny you should say that Slo. As tonight a former fishing buddy and i were talking about this and he said to me..."dude...why dont you try learning to nymph on river that has fish in it and not on these small streams you fish all the time that have so few fish or they spook so easy".

So tonight I did just that....hit a section of the Farm for an hour that I knew had alot of fish. Caught and released 5 nice sized browns in that hour on a pheasant tail nymph. Though that bobber I used might have had something to do with my success. ;)

[Ghostrydr]

"Often, I really enjoy fishing with nymphs"

This reminds me of a bumper sticker posted in the Upcountry shop :twisted:

[Jon]

I'd always rather fish dry if fish were always on top. They aren't, and (as per the other poll) I therefore enjoy the muti-faceted nature of the sport.

Someone said it above - there's nothing better to me that seeing a fish take a fly from the surfece, not of course that this is confined to the dry fly....

The dry fly just comes with that visiual realization that you've fooled the fish, whereas nymphing is necessarily more hidden.

To my mind this is a great thread! To get to this level of detail amonst a majority of anglers who return the bulk of their catch is most refreshing. The old country hasn't begun to tackle this fundamental issue. I visited the flyaddict equivolent in the uk recently - almost all the pics were of dead wild fish. You guys have it down.

K

[The Patriot]

I'd always choose to fish nymphs given the choice, more and bigger fish are always feeding under the surface..

I hear what you're saying Nympher1, but I think you miss my point... if you got IDENTICAL RESULTS from fishing dry flies, every day, all day, as you do using nymphs, would you still then choose to fish nymphs.

In other words, would you CHOOSE to fish nymphs if you didn't HAVE to fish nymphs.... and still got the same results, ie size and numbers of fish....



....and I have to disagree with the Fisherman's assessment of the technical difficulty of drys vs. nymphs...

I agree with you.... dry fly fishing is very simple... two dimensional fishing where everything happens in plain view.....



let me suggest you try dead drifting nymphs without a strike indicator or any other gizmo that has been invented to make nymphing easier.. heck if you're going to use a strike indicator you may as well fish bait..IMHO of course...

Easy on the judgemental elitism... ;) :D

Seriously though, I have nymphed both ways, and they're both fairly difficult, at least compared to dry fly fishing. I found it difficult to get the weight and indicator position correct, and like I said, still can't read any indicators except those Sierra Pacific Pop Tops.

And when I high stick without an indicator, it may be harder to get your drift right, but strikes are unmistakeable.... the ones you detect that is.... ;) I'm quite certain that in both methods we miss many more strikes than we detect... the fish's ability to inhale and reject a fly, undetected, is truly amazing....

Nymphing is alot of work, but it is challenging and rewarding, and it definitely feels good when you've put it together and done it right and are consistently catching fish....:)

[The Patriot]

You mean like on the Farmington; where trout are always rising somewhere and you can always catch fish on top?


I disagree.... even on the Farmington, trout aren't always rising somewhere, and you can't always catch fish on top. Otherwise, I would probably never have forced myself to learn to fish nymphs. It was necessity that forced me out of my comfort zone. Too many days spent driving from pool to pool, looking for bugs and rising fish, without any luck..... too many hours spent standing on the bank waiting for something to happen....

No, even on the Farmington, fish are not always available on the surface.

That said, there are certain times of the year, like lately, when that is the case, but not day in and day out, year round. This year, during the Hendrickson hatch, I only caught fish nymphing, until the spinners started. Then we get the Mothers Day doldrums.... and often, in June, you have to wait till the evening sulphur hatch to find fish on top.

This has been an exceptional year, particulary this summer, for surface feeding fish, in my humble opinion and limited view. But like I say, what you see depends entirely on where you are and when you're there. Most of us can't be on the water every day, all day....

[nympher1]

Ahhhh. 3 weight, the proverbial hypothetical question..." if results were identical" .. but of course they aren't..

however, I think I still would prefer to fish nymphs..in fact I often fish nymphs or soft hackles during a full blown hatch.. I think it has to do with the mystery of it.. there's something quite special about getting your fly to drift naturally under water, when you can't see it, and then almost like a sixth sense you don't really feel the take or even see a hesitation but for some reason I can't really identify, you lift your rod and feel pulsing life.. it is the coolest thing... I especially like it in heavy pocket water where most people think the water is too turbulent for a fish to hang out..

[Rich Strolis]

nympher,
fact of the matter is that there are definatley 2 factions of fly-fisherman out there, those who nymph, and those who dont...And most of the guys that dont nay say the practice, and the only reason I truly believe they do so is because they have only done it with limited success. Most guys have a tough time grasping the concept of nymphing and everything that goes with it, and due to their lack of success and shortcomings they take the low road and talk trash about it...I am with you on the pre-hatch/hatch nymphing tactics. It can be equally if not more deadly, and more often than not produces the bigger fish day to day...

[SDH]

.. there's something quite special about getting your fly to drift naturally under water, when you can't see it, and then almost like a sixth sense you don't really feel the take or even see a hesitation but for some reason I can't really identify, you lift your rod and feel pulsing life.. it is the coolest thing...


Dont you just love that no better feeling in the world then not detecting a strike and lifting up and the rod and feeling the fish

[nympher1]

SDH..

amen..

[hacklehouse]

"Real men fish wet"
We fish nymphs more that 75% of the time. It's the way we always seem to have more success. (Probably because we do it more than 75% of the time!!!) It seems that those fishermen who don't nymph at all, are the one's who have tired it and have had limited success, so they are reluctant to learn how to do it properly.
Recently while in a local shop, two fishermen came in and asked the owner what the fish "were taking." He told them what was hatching and than asked me what I had caught fish on that day. I named the nymphs. One of the men got very close to me and said something to the effect that he would not fish at all before he would not "dredge a nymph" to catch a fish. I responded (to my surprise, politely) that I always see fella's like him standing in the river above or below me with their rods stuck up their ...... waiting for a fish to rise while I'm catching fish on nymphs! For some reason, the conversation
ended, they bought some flies and left.
This points to a closed mind regarding fishing. No one technique will work all
the time. We all know this to be true! If you feel that your nymphing skills
are poor and you need direction, keep trying nymphing until you start to have some success, or ask someone who you feel is a good nympher to give you some pointers. Someone told me once that there are 3 techniques in fly fishing, dries, nymphs/wets, and streamers/bucktails. Don't be 1/3rd of a fisherman!!!! Branch out, develop your skills in the other 2/3rds!!!! It's all good!!!!

[Catch 22]

One should not be stubborn and neglect a method that is out-producing another though.


So if you're not doing so well on nymphs one day, and the guy next to you is catching them one after the other using powerbait, are you going to switch to powerbait? :)

Seriously, though, why shouldn't I be stubborn? I like what I like, and numbers of fish mean very little to me. Within reason, of course. I do like to catch fish. It's not any kind of snobbery. In fact, the person I fish with most often nymphs 95% of the time. Kind of a to-each-his-own deal I guess.


most of the guys that dont nay say the practice, and the only reason I truly believe they do so is because they have only done it with limited success. Most guys have a tough time grasping the concept of nymphing and everything that goes with it, and due to their lack of success and shortcomings they take the low road and talk trash about it.


I really haven't noticed anyone here taking the low road or talking trash about it. As far as limited success, I can only speak for myself, not others. But I actually do pretty well when nymph fishing. In fact, I probably catch more and larger fish while doing so. It's just that I prefer the other methods of fishing, for whatever reasons. I'm not sure I can explain it, other than I prefer the visual of a fish hitting, instead of the visual of my line stopping, or an indicator dipping.

Jeff

[Kierran]

So if you're not doing so well on nymphs one day, and the guy next to you is catching them one after the other using powerbait, are you going to switch to powerbait?
Jeff

Ha, I guess I should have specified what 'methods' I was referring to.

I did witness a spinfisherman catch & release trout after trout during a 'meal worm' hatch the other day, while I tied on rig after rig struggling to figure them out.

You said it brother...to each his own.

[Rich Strolis]

K,
wasnt referring to anyone here with my statement, just referring to some gents who frequent the Farmington who on more than one occasion have referenced nymph fishing as the same thing as "dunking worms with a bobber".....those gents know who they are, no worries. But then again I have run into hundreds of different folk over the years, and those who state the above are few and far between now adays...

[The Fisherman]

Coming back to the thread late...like I said nympher1 and 3weight (in terms of difficulty) I'm in the vast minority. ;-)

Someone referenced a nymphing bumper sticker in UpCountry. You probably mean the flybin signs, the orange ones glued to plywood and attached to tree sections? I did those. Wrote them, anyway, and creative partner and fellow flyfisherman Paul Kingsford did the art/layout.

The copy on that particular sign reads, "Admit it, you get a charge out of telling your wife you're going nymphing."

:-)

[The Patriot]

I hear what Defeatist is saying, about some anglers naysaying nymphing, and comparing it to bait fishing. I do that in jest, mostly in response to my frustration with nymphing, or after being seriously outfished by Housy Dave. :D

My fishing partner and original mentor, that I mentioned above, is one of those who shys away from nymphing, and "talks trash"... not in a nasty, snobby, or elitist way, just that he says it's too much work and more trouble than it's worth.... but I disagree. I have worked very hard to improve at nymphing, and it has paid off.... I still have a long way to go, but I have improved, gained confidence, and know that I will continue to improve as I continue to practice.

And my partner/mentor falls into that category that Defeatist is talking about... they talk trash and naysay nymphing, some even turning up their nose at it, but they've never really mastered it. (This is in no way directed at anyone here, least of all Catch22).

My buddy very rarely nymphs, and when he does, he uses a single bead head hares ear, not even a gold ripped hares ear, no split shot, no indicator, and basically does a wet fly swing/Leisenring lift sort of thing. He catches a few fish, but really, that's not what I call nymphing.

Anyway, like I said, I have to agree with Defeatist, that there are those anglers out there who really look down their noses at nymphing... and I would agree too, that more often than not, it's because they haven't really put in their time doing it, and haven't had much success.

I still don't "like" nymphing, compared to dries.... but I'll do it.... just like I eat my vegetables.... it's good for me... :D