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Okay so late to the party but finally decided to give this tight-line/Euro/Czech nymphing technique a go. Seemed like a good plan for early in the season with high flows and cold discoloured water. Bit of online research and some retail therapy and I’m good to go.
Couple of fish to hand, couple more missed, in the first session on the water can certainly be considered proof of concept but… While its certainly effective / efficient …. Just wasn’t feeling it.
Have put in another session, with similar results and the 10’ 3wt is now relegated to the back row of the quiver. I’ll give it another go, especially given this wet start to the season, but just not for me I guess. I’m probably doing it all wrong and not appreciating the technical nuances but it seems to me that its no different to the bait drifting I learnt as a kid, effective / efficient but… yeah-nah.
The guy who taught me bait drifting all those years ago was of the opinion that his brother in law, a fly fisher, preferred casting to catching fish. I’m still pretty partial to catching the odd fish but it seems like casting to them is a larger part of it than I’d realised.
Micmac,
I can to the same conclusion a few years ago.
Luckily I hadn’t purchased a dedicated euro nymph rod unlike yourself. I have a few mates right into it, but just doesn’t float my boat. Very effective fishing method with proven results in the competition scene that catches a lot of fish.
Each to their own.
Micmac,
I can to the same conclusion a few years ago.
Luckily I hadn’t purchased a dedicated euro nymph rod unlike yourself. I have a few mates right into it, but just doesn’t float my boat. Very effective fishing method with proven results in the competition scene that catches a lot of fish.
Each to their own.
I’m of a similar mind.
Big numbers of fish caught doesn’t do much for me either. The places flyfishing takes me to are what I enjoy. Luckily we are all individuals and different things appeal to each of us or life would be boring.
‘ye olde fish shoppe’ is just down the street… so why would one bother.
euro rods should be sold with click counters and an introductory book to pinning.
they should also include a fine/jail time.
I like both kinds … maybe a few others too
Euro can be really engrossing for all the same reasons I love other styles of fly fishing , as well as efficient at the comps if thats your thing .
And if you prefer to give the fish the sanctuary of the deep water like Lee Wulff , and not Czech/Polish nypmh then I applaud you , but you can Euro nymph French/Spanish long leader style which imho has to be just about the epitome of sighted nymphing … have a read of De la Peche a la Nymph by Phillipe Boisson and tell me its not fly fishing , I’ll get Mr Skues to defend me … 😊
A curious thing to me is how much some of the new techniques resemble traditional forms of fly fishing from all over the world … long rods and all … maybe there is little new under the sun , we’re just good at forgetting 😀
Fwiw I’m a stream addict that loves natural materials , but I don’t have much flexibility on when I can get out to the water , so I take the conditions as they come and fit my approach to the day , and you’ll catch me at times clipping off my dries and tying a couple of weighted flies onto my silk&7’cane and walking them through the dropoffs and undercuts …it’s great fun 😁
If your getting excited about it,
1 either you are doing it wrong or
2 there is no soul in you.
My AUD0.02
Mark
chf is right, a lot of new techniques do resemble traditional forms of fishing, fly or otherwise. I tried tight-line/short-line fishing, drifting (bouncing?) weighted nymphs through riffles on fast section of streams like the Tyenna, decades ago before there were fancy names for it or even fancier, more expensive gear to go with it. I learned the technique from a colleague, who learnt it fishing in the streams of the Rocky Mountains. It was an effective technique, but didn’t really thrill me then or now.
Then I learnt keiryu (mountain stream) fishing from a master in Hokkaido. It’s one of many long pole/fixed long line fishing techniques in Japan, as is tenkara, bearing in mind what is practised as tenkara in the west is not the same as original tenkara in Japan. Keiryu fishing normally uses live bait of larvae (mayfly, caddis,) or grubs, but can it can also be practised with weighted artificial nymphs or wets. Bait or artificial, the two are interchangeable, the technique is the same, drifting the bait/artificial through fast water with small flags kept above the water to indicate takes. The target fish were ayu, or young yamame, iwana. I got reasonably good at it, but still a mere amateur compared to the master who would catch 20-30 to my one. Is it fly-fishing when using a weighted nymph as per Euro fishing? In my book no. While there is sport in it, the technique is primarily for catching food. The master’s yamame, iwana tempura was pretty good too. My keiryu rod gathers dust somewhere in the garage.
It is up to the individual to define what fly-fishing is to them, then go and enjoy it. Isn’t having fun what it’s all about? For me, I prefer fly-fishing where I can see the fish, by polaroiding, looking for a rise, a swirl, a charge, or that most subtle slight heave or bulge of the water by a fish lurking in shallow water. Then it’s trying to persuade the fish to take my piece of fluff, which is nothing more than a caricature of the real thing.
I agree with chf, there is little new under the sun, and we are good at forgetting past techniques. But, anglers can also be very vulnerable, or gullible to the latest sales pitch of the latest must have gear.
I fish with a single nymph, no dry fly or indicator.
Yep remember the days of watching that dimple where the mucilin greased leader meets the tippet but the eyes struggle a bit more these days so an indicator helps. That said my best fish over the last two seasons have been “old school” bareback nymphing, watching for the wink or the slightest stall of the leader.
Single nymph no indicator is fun no doubt , especially when the fish is sighted .
I think one of the strengths of Euro style is you detect more takes , both with the short line to unsighted fish and long line techniques to either sighted or unsighted .
I’m continually amazed and frustrated by the take on a nymph where the fish spits it out and the line doesn’t move at all … training myself to look at the fish signalling its taken rather than line/indicator/dry is an ongoing process and is often easier with a nude nymph where I’ve got nothing else to distract me …slow learner I guess .😊
Peter Hayes’ ( the English one ) recent ‘Getting Closer’ shows , with video evidence , how most nymph caught trout facing upstream in moving water have actually hooked themselves … they eat then try to spit the fly , most are succesful and they do this before they turn and we never realise unless we are watching the fish closely, but for the unlucky ones the effect of current on line pulls the hook into the jaw and its only then that the line moves … have a look at it , its really fascinating stuff…imho Euro is just way more effective at picking up these takes before the spit where you cant/dont see the fishes cues …we all catch the ones that make the line move ( myself included every now and then ) 😁
I’ll keep on with my shorter than 10′ rods and natural materials cos thats what I love , and have no probs adopting a few Euro tactics with the gear I have , but there’s a bunch to learn still and catching a few more every now and then is nice too ! 🙃
Just few more weeks til lockdowns over …woohoo!!!cant wait
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