Leader setup for czech and upstream nymphing

[dizzy]

Hi there guys

There we go at last.

This is my basic traditional Czech nymphing rig. On the end of the flyline I attach a braided loop, but I make the actual braided section about fifteen centimetres long. I then take some hot orange and fluo pink thread and wrap three or four bands of this bright thread onto the braid. In between the bright bands I wrap some black thread. This thread then gets varnished with Sally Hanson's.

This piece of braid acts like an indicator and should never be fished sub-surface. I suppose that you can try one of those nymph tip lines, but personally I prefer this indicator system.

From there it is very simple. The 1.2 m section of 8lbs is simply knotted onto the braided loop and the rest of the connections are all loop-to-loop. The bottom two sections are 40cms long and not 40mm as stated in the sketch.

Keep the top and point droppers the same length at about ten centimetres and the control fly slightly shorter.

The droppers are looped around (as opposed to through) the double line created by the loop-to-loop connections in the leader.

When I do mono-nymphing, then my leader is exactly the same, but I simply add a few metres of ten pound bright yellow Double X Hi Abrasion line behind the leader.

If this is not clear, then please ask more questions.

Cheers
MC

MC, what are the regulations concerning revolving droppers? Are they not illegal in competitive angling?

[dizzy]

I just noticed another mistake on the drawing. The point fly is also attached via a short ten centimetre loop-to-loop connection. This will take the point fly past the 40cm mark.

So we should make it a little longer? 45cms?

[MCC]

Dizzy

Revolving droppers are not illegal, but it is illegal if your droppers are free to move up or down the leader. We have not had any problems fishing this setup as the droppers are restricted in their up/down movement by the loop knots.

MC

[dizzy]

Cool, thanks MC.

[Gael]

Thanks for the sketch MC

MC, I see that your leader ends up being pretty short at being just shy of 7ft total length. Out of interest, when you Czech nymph, do you drift you flies directly under your rod tip?

Personally I fish it slightly away from myself and use a 9ft leader. I like the fact that by casting away I feel that you almost cover a 1m wide strip of water as apposed to all three flies drifting directly through the same path. One must be aware that this extra line I the water does create a bit more drag from the flow.

I think what it all comes down to is that everybody fishes it slightly differently and you mustn’t be scared to experiment a bit with leader lengths etc. Some guys I know even fish mcuh longer leaders while czech nymphing.

[Nymph+O-]

Thanks for the sketch MC

MC, I see that your leader ends up being pretty short at being just shy of 7ft total length. Out of interest, when you Czech nymph, do you drift you flies directly under your rod tip?

Personally I fish it slightly away from myself and use a 9ft leader. I like the fact that by casting away I feel that you almost cover a 1m wide strip of water as apposed to all three flies drifting directly through the same path. One must be aware that this extra line I the water does create a bit more drag from the flow.

I think what it all comes down to is that everybody fishes it slightly differently and you mustn’t be scared to experiment a bit with leader lengths etc. Some guys I know even fish mcuh longer leaders while czech nymphing.

Yes, Gael you are right! Every fly fisherman has his/her own method. With regards to your method, yes one does cover more of the river bed per drift but what I find sometimes is that the fish are more keen on a specific fly patterns due to the insect/creepy crawlies activity under/above the water. So at the end of the day its the same as when you drift them in a line directly under the rod tip. Personally I prefer a high stick drift as it gives me more feel and control on takes/flies - and less drag.
I once tried Czech nymphing with only one fly and some split shots to get my fly down and the amount of takes were the same, if not better than using 2 or 3 flies. I also found that I caught bigger fish with using less flies - it might just be my imagination or my luck but on a specific day out on the Vaal I caught 15 fish on above mentioned method and the smallest was 1,8kg.

[MaXiMuM]

The thing is this - if your control fly doesn't get stuck and if you don't loose a fly or two during a days fishing then you are not fishing the prime zone and you won't get as many fish. Yes, I frequently catch fish on the control fly but mostly on the point fly which is a very small 16-18 size fly for best results.

Yip, I agree... you are spot on. If you're not fetching fly's you're not deep enough... and the point needs to be free drifting and small...

[MaXiMuM]

Thank MCC, I am not a great fan of the foreign thing, but after your in-depth posts, I will revisit the process... thank you for your time and effort, it has cleared up a whole bunch of things.

But can you give us a quick run down of the fly’s and where they go??

[dar]

In general, when you guys refer to the "leader", does that include or exclude the tippet?

[MCC]

Dar

I think it varies from one person to another, but the correct way is possibly to refer to the leader as the tapered section and then the tippet gets added to the front end of that.

With Czech nymphing everything is generally the same diametre, so it does not really matter.

Cheers
MC