Anothe Great Weekend

Yes the rain and cold are gone away for a few day's long enough to give us a great weekend tomorrow and Sunday. We have a diehard bunch of die hard fly anglers that rain wind sleet or snow don't bother when it comes to fishing for the trophy trout below the park. During the cold rain yesterday which would chill you to the bone they were out catching some 20" Bows and browns.
Nymping was what was catching the fish for them. European style nymphing is catching on big time here. A longer rod is the choice a 5# 10 to 11' rod is used the bottom bounce the nymphs then lift them back for another drift without having to cast. A tungsten bead head nymph rigged with a Fish Pimp indicator. It is a simple and productive way of drawing the fish out into the feed flow of the stream. The presentation is directly down stream in the mane flow off of the shoal break. The fish take the nymph most of the time at the beginning of the drift or just as the current lifts it off the bottom. This presentation will also give you the option to drift the fly in a more natural drift. in places you can't with a normal cast.
The Copper John, Zebra midge, Hares Ear, Silvey's BH Pupa, Prince BH, Zug Bug, BH Palomino caddis, Pellet Fly, & M's Biotic Nymph are great little guy's to fish in this way. When your drifting the fly in this manner you will have more control of the fly in the drift and easier hook setsYou control the drift from the rod not the line. The size flies should be #18-20-22. Depending on the clarity of the stream tippet should be 5X to 7X floating weight fordward line works best for control of the drift.


This system of nymphing was first introduced at the World Championships of Fly Fishing by a Polish fisher, Wladyslaw Trzebunia in the mid 1994. When he won the World Championships by the largest margin in history. The Czechs copied his method and the methods became known as Czech Nymphing.

The difference between high sticking and European nymphing is that the rod is kept low and is not raised as the nymph comes toward you as the in high sticking does. There is no mending in European nymphing. Instead, the nymphs are led and, if necessary, gently pulled downstream. This maintains a tight line to the nymphs and the rod leads the flies. In high sticking you try to keep a drag free drift, mending as needed and the rod does not lead the flies, but is kept directly above the flies. The rod is gradually elevated well above your head (hence the name - high sticking) to keep the line off the water as the flies drift toward you. The high rod position is then lowered as the nymphs pass you and go downstream from the angler's position. In European nymphing the nymphs do not pass the anglers position but rather the rod is picked up with a wrist twist at that point and another cast is made. The drifts are very short, 5 ft. long at the most, whereas the high sticking attempts to prolong the drag free drift as long as possible by casting well above the angler's position and extending the drift well below the angler.
This is a great way to to fish a shallow clear stream like the Current River, & also a relaxing less stressful method. So get out and enjoy this way to catch some trout this weekend.