Nymphing on the bow
 

I'm looking for someone to teach a guy nymphing techniques on the Bow. Anyone interested or know someone that would be ? I've flyfished for a number of years but want to shorten the learning curve for the Bow

I have very limited success on the Bow until I decided to treat myself to a walk & wade guided trip a number of years ago. The set up we were using was floating line and an indicator with a 9' leader directly to a large (say #2 or #4) copper wire wrapped san juan worm with a dropper fly. The weight of the copper san juan eliminated the need for split-shot, and the distance from the san juan to the dropper should usually be about 2'-3'. I found this set-up to be easier to cast with less tangles than I would have if I had been using split-shot.

The key take-away for me was learning how to mend my line so that the flies were bouncing drag free along the bottom of the river. As long as your indicator is going down from time to time you know you should be on the bottom. We'd keep the san juan for the weight and also because it's a productive year-round fly, and try different dropper flies. If you can't find anyone to take you out in person, try YouTube for some advice on line mending.

Thanks for the reply Scott. Who did you use for your walk and wade ? I thought somebody on here would be willing to teach a guy and make some $$ but i was wrong.

Rig up a light rig like small wire worm and a bead head prince.Set indicator about 7-8', cast up stream and drift it back. Always work the shallow water before you wade in.Then add length and weight as you fish out deeper.

PM me if you want some free company and a little advice from 20+ years on the Mighty Bow :)

Why would you not just use a spinning rod with a bobber?

Fishing a wet fly,nymph or streamer with a fly rod is, for many if not all fly fishermen the most productive method. A spinning rod works well if you cant fly cast or don't wish to learn.

Using multiple hooks with more than one line off the end with split shot is really a lot closer to spin fishing than fly fishing. When you are trolling on a lake with a flyrod I don't really consider that fly fishing either.


If it's all about being productive you may as well put maggots on the end too when its legal.

What do you consider fly fishing then? Dry fly only?

multipost

No body cares what you consider what is fly fishing and what isn't, these guys are out to have some fun catching fish and learn new techniques.
you understand back in the good ol' days fly anglers would regularly use live hoppers

My Father was a dry fly guy.He loved the spot and stalk method of casting to a rising trout(preferably a brown)on a small stream.

For him it was fishing in its purest form. I think most fly-fishermen/women would agree its more fun casting to a rising fish.

As I said in my previous post though,fishing wet is on most days far more productive.

Exactly what Jayhad said. Contrary to what Lannie may think, nobody actually cares about his condescending opinion.

Thanks everyone for your tips/advice.

Before you go out with heavy nymphs, practice casting in a field somewhere. Trust me, at first it will feel like your casting a freight train.