Fly fishing with nymph

Small guide how to fly fishing with small nymphes and streamer A friend of mine was asking some fly fishing question about how to fish with small nymph, here is what he ask, What is the proper way to fish a very small nymph? Today I went fishing in the Fallbrook, and had zero luck. I'm in the beginning stages of fly fishing so I'm not exactly sure I was doing it right. My rod is a 9 foot 5 weight with wf floating line. I was using a very small nymph, so I put a light splitshot about a foot above the fly and had a strike indicator about 2 feet above that. I'm not sure if any of it was a good set up, but casting seemed way harder. Almost every cast the tippet would fall right on itself. Well here is some advice that could be a big help, so you can caught fish on a fly rod. So how do we fish with a nymph, Well, it all depends. What kind of water we're you fishing on flatbrook, pools, runs or riffles? What is the depth of this stream? Were there any rising fish in your travels? If I go to a new stream I will hit the riffle sections first and fish a short line and fish across current and cover all the likely holding areas. I'll use split shot only if the water is really up. You're right, casting that rig can be difficult. Personally, I never use indicators but that's always a personal choice. I don't know what you consider a "small nymph" but anything in the 14-18 range represents many subaquatic insects and if the presentation is good you should have some hits. Don't give up!! It takes awhile to learn how to work a nymph. Also, as a general searching pattern a dark (black, brown) nymph will put the odds in your favor.

Nymphing may be the most difficult fly fishing technique out there. the first fly I'd try is a woolly bugger. You can fish it all sorts of ways and catch fish since it mimics so many things. You could also try fish with streamers and save the nymphs for when you have a bit more experience. Either of these types of flies is much easier to fish.

If you want to stick with nymphing, here are a couple of tips. First of all, fishing a rig with a split shot plus an indicator is a recipe for tangles and tough casting unless you have a good amount of casting experience. Get some bead head or weighted nymphs. Second, as a general rule, you should have twice the water depth between your fly and the indicator. In slower water, you can shorten this, but never to less than ~1.5 times the water depth. In faster water, you may have to go up to 3 times the water depth (or more). Nymphs are fished most effectively when they're bouncing along the rocks at the bottom. You should expect them to hang up from time to time or else they're not getting down deep enough. In that case, you need to either use heavier flies or lengthen the distance between your fly and the indicator.