Tiny-nymph Tactics
Time and again we’ve been told that up to 90 percent of a trout’s diet consists of subsurface food items. When you consider the myriad mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies that constitute most of this subsurface fare, you’ll realize that most of them are small and best imitated with a #16 to #22 pattern. Baetis, Paraleps, and Tricos are good examples, but even insects that are larger when they hatch live a portion of their lives as tiny nymphs that are available to trout between hatches.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, there are many streams with an incredible diversity of tiny flies. With the appearance of the #18-#22 Baetis as early as mid-February, I look forward to seeing other small mayflies, including Paraleps, Sulphurs, various Blue-winged Olives, Chocolate Duns, and others. Scattered in the mix are tiny tan, brown, gray, green, and olive caddisflies plus little brown, black, and yellow stoneflies. Add to this the small scuds and cressbugs inhabiting many waters, and the importance of small flies becomes apparent and significant.
One key to fishing tiny subsurface imitations is having a good knowledge of the insects that inhabit your home waters. Knowing what flies are active at various times of the year and what patterns effectively match them takes much of the guesswork out of choosing a fly. There is no substitute for the knowledge gained by lifting rocks from the stream bottom and examining the inhabitants. Whether you’re fishing home waters or a new stream for the first time, check the rocks frequently and study the tiny nymphs on the rocks. Then match them with accurate imitations that incorporate movement.
Tackle for Tiny Nymphing
The rods and lines for fishing tiny nymphs must provide the best possible advantage for casting, managing the drift, and responding quickly when a trout takes the fly. While many 8- to 9-foot rods are adequate, I prefer 9-footers with a medium-fast to fast action, because these can reach out to manage the leader’s drift, and they transmit the striking action to the fly with the least amount of effort.
Lines in the 2- to 4-weight range are best for fishing small flies. I use weight-forward lines because they allow me to switch quickly and easily to surface flies if conditions change and I need to fish fine and far. Versatility is important; the less I have to change in my terminal tackle, the more quickly I can adapt to different situations.
Vari-Colored Leaders
The most important tool necessary for successful nymphing is the leader. Most leaders are designed to be of low visibility to fish and are nearly invisible to us. But the leader I use makes it easy for anyone to detect strikes to tiny unweighted or lightly weighted nymphs.
When I first fished tiny nymphs in the early 1970s on Big Hunting Creek in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, I hadn’t heard of strike indicators, and those of us who fished nymphs were a minority. I used the tip of my fly line as my strike indicator because my eyes were naturally drawn to the point of contrast at the fly line and leader connection. Any interruption in the connection’s natural drift was an indication that a trout had taken my fly.
Unfortunately, the line-to-leader connection frequently was too far away from the fly to allow good strike detection. To confirm it, I located some wild brown trout, and after making a stealthy approach, cast a small nymph upstream of them. I saw three different trout take and reject my nymph through the drift, but there was no visible hesitation in the drift of the fly line end. It was a humbling experience, and it taught me that the closer the strike indicator is to the fly, the greater the likelihood of detecting a strike.
Early in my nymphing experience, I was fortunate to spend valuable fishing time with a few great nymph fishers. We constantly experimented with leaders, and a consensus formed among the group that we needed to have something closer to the fly to aid in strike detection. From this came an early design in a high-visibility vari-colored leader. With a little alteration, this design is still my leader design of choice today. I take no credit for the choice of materials, only for the taper formula.
I don’t like to change leaders for different fishing situations, so this leader is designed to roll over easily for small nymphs as well as dry flies. The butt sections are fluorescent clear-blue monofilament with two sections of fluorescent yellow mono, one about midway down the leader and the other 21/2 to 4 feet from the fly, depending on the tippet length. The entire leader measures from about 11 feet to over 14 feet, depending on the tippet used.
For casts of up to 30 feet, the leader’s four points of transition from one color to another quickly draw my attention after the leader settles on the water. They are easy to see and follow throughout the drift, and they indicate strikes very well with noticeable twitches. The fluorescent-yellow section closest to the nymph allows easy detection in shallow water (1 to 2 feet), and the yellow section midway in the leader is great for moderate depths (3 to 4 feet). In deep water, the yellow material is not visible, but the fluorescent-blue material is easy to follow at the point where it enters the water.
In most situations when I’m fishing small nymphs, the vari-colored leader serves me well. But in poor light conditions or when I am fishing a longer line, other types of strike indicators provide a higher degree of visibility. The smallest indicator that provides good visibility also creates the least disturbance when it lands on the water. A piece of fluorescent yellow or orange fly line 1/2- to 3/4-inch long (with the core removed) is an effective indicator for normal to low-water conditions. This type of indicator only works on knotted leaders because it is held in place by sliding it onto a leader knot. For knotless leaders, a small yarn indicator or any small indicator (cork or foam) with a hole in it (so you can secure it to the leader by inserting a toothpick tip) works well. It can be moved to any spot on the leader with minimal effort.
Regardless of the type of indicator you attach to your leader, the distance from the nymph to the indicator should be about 11/2 to 2 times the depth of the water, with deeper water and faster currents requiring the greater distance. You must reposition the indicator frequently to adjust for changes in depth or current speed if you want to catch more fish. Apply floatant to the indicator and the leader above the indicator to keep them both on the surface, where you can see and control them more easily.
Attention to Details
Fishing tiny nymphs effectively requires the same technique as in any nymph-fishing situation You must present the nymph in a natural manner at the trout’s level (about 3 inches off bottom). The fish won’t move far to take a small food item. Consequently, you must pay attention to details when fishing tiny flies. The chuck-and-duck, shotgun approach to nymphing may work for fishing large flies, but when you fish small imitations, it’s more like target shooting. Analyzing the subtleties and variables of currents and stream depth is critical to achieving good presentations.
The heads of pools and the softer areas in pocketwater created by depressions or the breaking of current as it flows around boulders are excellent holding areas for feeding trout. In moderate runs, depressions and slight drop-offs appear as darker areas of the stream bottom, and the softer currents are good holding places for fish. All of these water types are great areas for small-nymph tactics.
When you fish these places, study the surface and its current lines, vees, and ovals. The lines are created by distinct seams of current, and the vees and ovals are the outlines of the softer water between the currents. These target areas are usually well defined.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
Comments