Still water Nymphing tactics

[Andre s]

Interesting read. thanks Korrie

[4kolfish]

gee thanks guys, sure you all will help me change my name soon...

[smallstreams.co.za]

gee thanks guys, sure you all will help me change my name soon...

We can't - ask an Admin ....

[Korrie]

Another interesting and very helpfull technique that I have encountered awhile back, when searching for fish is to fish "thru the layers"

Fish normally stay in a specific depth.
By using various methods, you can get your flies to move up and down thru the depths to find the fish.

Methods include a floating line with different weighted flies, as you retrieve, the floating line will lift the flies thru the water column.
Reverse can also work with a sinking line on the bottom and a booby on the point.
With the different retrieving methods, the flies will move either up or dip down thru the water columns.
a very important point is to concentrate on WHEN the fish took your fly, so that you identify the right depth.

[gkieser]

Another interesting and very helpfull technique that I have encountered awhile back, when searching for fish is to fish "thru the layers"

Fish normally stay in a specific depth.
By using various methods, you can get your flies to move up and down thru the depths to find the fish.

Methods include a floating line with different weighted flies, as you retrieve, the floating line will lift the flies thru the water column.
Reverse can also work with a sinking line on the bottom and a booby on the point.
With the different retrieving methods, the flies will move either up or dip down thru the water columns.
a very important point is to concentrate on WHEN the fish took your fly, so that you identify the right depth.

Airflo make a line specifically for this - they call it the Sweep and it is basically a sinking line that is not compensated to have the tip sink first. The Di7 has a Di5 tip and the Di5 has a Di3 tip - this causes it to sink in a bow and so the flies travel down for the first half of the retrieve and up for the second half - it is then important to concentrate on which portion of the retrieve you get takes on.

These lines have helped me a lot when searching for trout through the layers....

Someone asked about stillwater nymphing books? Look for anything by Brian Chan. He is the Chironomid king.

[Monster]

Awesome thread, thanks for all the info Korrie

[Korrie]

I had a very interesting chat with a young fly fisher.
He said, that he was told he needed only a DI5 line for drift boat fishing.

For a large part of fly fishing in SA, the dams are not very deep. Yes, and most insects do not occur much deeper than 2 or 3 meters in the water column.
But in the summer months, the fish are deep and there are a number of dams that are deeper than 6 meters.
With a steady wind blowing, you cover a lot of water and you want your flies, as deep as possible for as long as possible.

In 6 meters of water, a DI5 line will take 47 seconds to reach the depth of 6 meters.
A DI7 line will take 34 seconds, that is a difference of 13 seconds. When sitting on a drift boat, you cover a lot of water, if you are pushed along with a steady wind. That is time that your line in not in the "Zone" or Depth.

The same applies if you are fishing from a dam wall or cliffs or on drop offs.

I read an old article by Ian Barr, one of the best still water fly fishers, that his biggest mistake the first couple of years was that he was not fishing at the depth he thought he was fishing. When he rectified this, his catch rate escalated.

It is very important to know the inches to cm and the sink rates.
there is 39,37 inches in a meter. or work with 40inches to a meter, easier to remember.

1 meter of water will take the following times to sink thru
DI3 13 seconds
DI5 8 seconds
DI7 5 seconds.

I have made a little simple rhyme to remember the sink rates in 1 meter
13 is an unlucky number. 8 + 5 = 13

Make sure your flies are at the depth you think they are.
Fishing from the bank, it is not so critical, but fishing in a drift boat over deeper water, you fish a lot of fishing water.

[smallstreams.co.za]

Korrie, how would the "drag"/drift of the boat and movement of the water "wind current" (for lack of better description or knowledge on the matter) influence the sink rate? I'm assuming that the above sinkrate counts would be if everything is static? Would the 2 factors as above be negligible?

[Korrie]

If you are being pushed by the wind, and the fly line is being pulled behind you, it will all depend on the speed that you are moving.
I very seldom if ever fish with the fly line being pulled behind me.
I almost always fish with the wind "pushing me" onto the line, then I think it is very small if not negligible

[smallstreams.co.za]

Cool, thanks - looking to do the tube/boat thing this winter, was wondering about sink rate vs "drag" (y)