What sets good Czech nymphers aside?

[Chris Shelton]

Firstly i'll say this, I have never Czech nymphed in my life yet, so please forgive me if my question sounds dumb or naive, but from what I have heard about Czech nymphing, it sounds pretty unchallenging to me.

I doubt if bouncing one's fly on the bottom at rod tip distance in a 360 degree arc all around you is all there is to it, but if it is, surely this is something anyone can do with their eyes closed? Where does the skill come in? Is there such a thing as a good or bad Czech nympher? If there is, then what set's you guys apart?

Please enlighten me guys!

[chris williams]

An ability to speak English..

Will answer in more detail later my humble thoughts!

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Hi Chris,

I'm not making myself out to be an expert so I won't go there.I can only comment on what I've seen and use myself.

I don't think there's good and bad,I think the biggest problem is people don't even know what it is.

I mean lets name the tecniques and call it by their names;CZN,Mono nymphing,shortline nymphing,High sticking,other.

Having watched Jiri Klima and if his tecnique is anything to go by,he uses quite a lot of flyline with a very short leader setup.2 nymphs only.

With quite a high rod angle(In his dvd)and he covers sh#####t loads more water with this tecnique rather than just having 6ft of tippet sticking out covering a whole lot less.

I've seen SA pro's fishing with only about 6ft of tippet sticking out in front of their rod and according to them,that is czech nymphing.

Since using Klima's tec which is a high rod angle,quite a lot of flyline out,6-9ft of leader/tippet setup I can honestly say my catch rate has gone up.

Don't like fishing 3ft infront,360 degrees around me.There's so much more water to cover.

Hey,maybe I've got it all wrong.So is there someone out there to help with some clarity.

Thanx

G

[Chris Shelton]

Hi Chris,

I'm not making myself out to be an expert so I won't go there.I can only comment on what I've seen and use myself.

I don't think there's good and bad,I think the biggest problem is people don't even know what it is.

I mean lets name the tecniques and call it by their names;CZN,Mono nymphing,shortline nymphing,High sticking,other.

Having watched Jiri Klima and if his tecnique is anything to go by,he uses quite a lot of flyline with a very short leader setup.2 nymphs only.

With quite a high rod angle(In his dvd)and he covers sh#####t loads more water with this tecnique rather than just having 6ft of tippet sticking out covering a whole lot less.

I've seen SA pro's fishing with only about 6ft of tippet sticking out in front of their rod and according to them,that is czech nymphing.

Since using Klima's tec which is a high rod angle,quite a lot of flyline out,6-9ft of leader/tippet setup I can honestly say my catch rate has gone up.

Don't like fishing 3ft infront,360 degrees around me.There's so much more water to cover.

Hey,maybe I've got it all wrong.So is there someone outthere to help with some clarity should there be a need.?

Thanx

G

Why cant one just fish with a whole lot more line out, as we do with normal nymphing.........or is it the short line thing that defines Czech nymphing?

[Scythe]

Hello Chris the fuzzier,

For my money there is good and bad CZN.

Most guys today don't practise 'true' czech nymphing anyways, it's a mix breed of techniques.

Admittedly CZN is the lazy man's easiest way to catch SmallMouth on the Vaal (and yes there is really no challenge to CZN) however It's not quite as simple as lobbing your flies in an arc around your person and waiting, you will see guys doing that and still blanking. I think it comes down to 2 things mostly;

1) Technique & Skill

By this I'm referring to how in touch you are with your flies. If you are ever fortunate enough to fish with GGY on this forum, he fishes primarily directly underneath his rod tip in a more or less straight line.

What makes him do exceedingly well at CZN in terms of technique is how sharply he is connected to his flies, the current, line and rod. He picks up fish with even the subtlest of takes without an indicator where most guys would not even have noticed the take with an indicator. He knows where his flies are in the water column, where they're moving, how deep they are at can get himself into the zone and be in touch with his flies while in the zone to a much greater extent than most other competitive anglers I've had the priviledge of watching.

Being able to accurately detect even the subtlest of takes iis what makes CZN so effective.

2) River craft

You can swing flies like a master, if you're not tuned into what's coming off the water you still won't catch anything (granted in most situations in the Vaal context you won't be fishing to extremely selective fish, but then again you can CZN gin clear streams with more selective fish too)

To be highly effective at CZN you need to know what invertibrates are moving at what specific level in the water column and adapt your fly selection accordingly.

To take GGY as an example again, he has an extremely analytical mind (bordering on OCD really) and is forever looking at what's going on around him, trying different approaches and varying his technique based on the environment he finds himself in.

I'd say that on the average day on the Vaal, a guy using indicator will catch say 10 fish, an intermediate CZN fisherman will catch 20-25 fish and an expert CZN will catch anything upwards to double that. Granted, I havn't seen guys like say MCC or (heaven help us) FIGJAM in action, but I'm pretty sure same would apply to them.

Disclaimer:

NO I'm not Gary's press agent
NO I'm not sponsored by Stealth (or Flytyer or Stroft)

[Chris Shelton]

Hello Chris the fuzzier,

hehehe....just remember one thing, it is only by exposing our weaknesses that our questions can be answered. A bright spark on paper never impresses me much. I think that generally too many guys are afraid to ask questions lest they be seen as cr@p fishermen........or even worse, dumb-asses! I on the other hand couldn't give a sh1t what people think

[FIGJAM]

C.S
Come spend some time with me and I will enlighten you to C.N
How and Why and what flies. You will learn more from W.P F.F than
from a bunch of 1 dimensional Vaal F.F who can only fish the Vaal and do only what the other guy next to him is doing.

There are many ways to skin a yellow and I will be happy to show you. You have an advantage to those toppers.. you can fish a crystal clear Cape stream.

[Scythe]

Oh dear *** talk about a stuck record:

"Nobody can fish unless they come from the Cape streams"
*blip*
"Nobody can fish unless they come from the Cape streams"
*blip*
"Nobody can fish unless they come from the Cape streams"
*blip*

Does anyone else see the obvously clear signs of delusional syndrome of the grandiose kind ?

Actually I was thinking, does it still technically 'qualify' as CZN when you're sightfishing or does it merely become fishing on a shorter leader.

[Chris Shelton]

C.S
Come spend some time with me and I will enlighten you to C.N
How and Why and what flies. You will learn more from W.P F.F than
from a bunch of 1 dimensional Vaal F.F who can only fish the Vaal and do only what the other guy next to him is doing.

There are many ways to skin a yellow and I will be happy to show you. You have an advantage to those toppers.. you can fish a crystal clear Cape stream.

That is an offer that I will gladly accept Leonard, thanks. I'd love to give it a bash. It is a pity I was not in touch with this kind of fishing 10 years ago when I did the first of many Orange river 4x4 trips. I never caught a damn thing and would usually give up after an hour of trying.

[Korrie]

C.S
Come spend some time with me and I will enlighten you to C.N
How and Why and what flies. You will learn more from W.P F.F than
from a bunch of 1 dimensional Vaal F.F who can only fish the Vaal and do only what the other guy next to him is doing.

There are many ways to skin a yellow and I will be happy to show you. You have an advantage to those toppers.. you can fish a crystal clear Cape stream.

as they say in Afrikaans" Ja-nee, maar stadig oor die klippe"