Fly Fishing Nymphs - Deep Nymph
Getting into medium to large water nymph fly fishing might call for different tactics. Here are few ideas on how to get the nymph fly down fast using split shot….
Rod, in my opinion, should be a 9′ 5 or 6 wt outfit.
Image
shows a simple split shot setup. It works, but when your split shot snags bottom, you can easily lose your fly and tippet. The shot jams into a crevasse, tippet slides through the shot until the fly stops it, pop, gone! The trick here is getting just the right amount of weight on.Image
, great for smaller rivers when depth isn’t a huge factor and will work on some sections of medium sized rivers. Good for sub-surface flies, but trying to get a #18 Brassie down deep, forget about it!Image
, the tag end lets the split shot slide off when snagged, saving your fly and tippet.Image
, the dropper setup. A few ways of setting this up, #1, tie on a few inches of mono, add your split shot. Or, #2 when adding your tippet material using a blood knot, leave a few extra inches to add your split shot to. You can use both tag ends of the knot, but this will increase your tangle odds. Keep in mind, the longer the tag end(s), the easier it will be to tangle.This setup works well if you keep your casts short.
Casting split shot: Casting a setup like
does not present a problem when using the right tippet size. Setup & can also be easily managed, to a point (a few light split shots). But once you start adding more weight (more split shot), casting becomes a different ball game. Setup needs to be treated carefully.For your initial cast, let your line out by roll casting down stream, once you have the rig out, 18 feet or so, flip the line upstream to the targeted area. To try and cast these setups like you would a dry fly
will only make fancy knots in your tippet.Now your fly is happily drag free drifting along. If you just made a cast 18′ upstream, try and drift another 18 feet down stream. For this down stream drift your must mend your line. At the end of the drift, let your line swing taut, strip in the extra mended line needed for the drag free down stream drift and flip your rig back upstream again.
Happy nymphing!
Rob
