Favorite Nymph Rigs

[Hoochman]

Wanted to see how everyone likes to fish nymph rigs. I usually fish a tandem rig, with the tag end for the first used to tie on the second. Split shot above the first. I've seen it done many different ways and I've used some other methods as well. Just wanted to see what you all used.

[Eight Thumbs]

I have several favorite rigs but if I had to select just one, I would use a larger, weighted nymph #10-#12 with or without an indicator (depending on how perceptive I feel that day) and a smaller, unweighted nymph #16-#20 tied off the bend of the larger fly with a relatively light tippet. I also like a standard Czech nymph set up for shorter drifts. 8T

[rusty rat]

I like to use a #18 griffin's gnat with a 1 foot dropper attached to bend with a small nymph (ribbed with red tinsel). Sometimes the big crusiers will take the gnat but mostly they hit the nymph and the gnat acts like an indicator. Tight Lines, RR

[CO_Flyfisher]

I'm with 8T on this one. The upper fly doesn't necessarily have to be larger, but I've found a beadhead of some sort for the upper fly makes detecting strikes easier.

[WarrenP]

I am a dedicated nymph fisherman, but, do not use "rigs". I, also, do not use an indicator. I watch my fly line like a hawk! I weight my nymphs when I tie them and will fish one nymph being either #10 or #12 or swing a #12 or #14 unweighted wet fly on 6 feet of tippet attached to a 7' furled leader. I make my own furled leaders from Berkley Vanish flurorocarbon in 4 pount test which sinks faster than any material I have tried. I purchase bulk spools of clear Ande regular mono in 4 pound test and 6 pound test and that is what I use for my tippet material. I use the 6 pound test for my nymphs and the 4 pound test for swinging wets. Last Sunday I fished our local trout stream and found the water very clear and I increased my tippet length to 10' and caught 37 trout. This is my style of fly fishing whether it is the "norm" or not. It works for me and I love fly fishing.

[JohnScott]

Hoochman and Rusty Rat -

This is more to say hello and extend a welcome to the Bulletin Board from SE Idaho than it is to respond to Hooch's question. Good to see new members on the BB, including CO Flyfisher who also just joined the discussion on this topic.

For most of this year I have been fishing mostly double nymph rigs on the South Fork. For that river, two weighted stoneflies have been the ticket. Either a weighted size 6 4X long brown r.l. stonefly trailing another such nymph, or a weighted size 8 2X long r.l. golden stone trailing the brown one - almost always fishing that tandem under an indicator.

Other rivers / streams call for different applications, and I don't usually fish two nymphs on smaller water. But to answer one of your questions, I do like to tie the trailing nymph off the bend of the hook of the first nymph rather than off a tag as you described, or off the bend of the hook of the dry fly if that is the set up I am using.

John

[henderson]

question for JohnScott. with the two stonefly nymphs is the heaviest one on the dropper
or is it the upper fly?

[JohnScott]

question for JohnScott. with the two stonefly nymphs is the heaviest one on the dropper
or is it the upper fly?

Generally, the heavier fly is the leading fly and the lighter fly, if one is used, is trailing.

[rusty rat]

Thanks for the kind thought. RR

[John_N]

I must confess to some confusion over which is truly the "dropper". Not because I haven't tried to figure it out over the years, but because the term seems to be used very inconsistently to refer to either of the two flies in a tandem rig. In any event, when fishing two nymphs I normally find myself either adding weight above the top fly (i.e., the fly closest to the surface) or fishing some kind of weighted/beadhead fly as the top fly.

All that being said, I'm not really sure I can offer sound rationale for that, since in my opinion it actually seems more logical to fish the lower fly as the weighted fly. It seems that with the lower fly in the water column being the weighted one, you can come closer to maintaining a straightline connection to your indicator, whereas if the upper fly is weighted, the lower one is more likely to be fluttering in the water with a fair amount of slack between it and the upper fly (and ultimately the indicator). Given the ease with which a fly can be taken and spit out before us poor saps even know it happened, it seems more logical to minimize the slack from the indicator to both flies as much as is possible/practical.