A Monumental Trip

[Michael E.]

Yall have been giving me a lot to try out, this is very helpful. But a few clarifications...

When I go fishing it's a relatively small river water about 2-3' deep. I would be open to trying multiple flies ( I have tried a hopper dropper, just not multiple nymphs) but would shallow water prohibit me from using this method effectively?

Many times when I fish with any kind of wieght my casts become very ackward as the flies bounce around at the end of my line in the air, usually resulting in a misplaced cast, discouragement, and ulitmately switching to a new fly. Any advice on how to manage my casting?

Most of you have recomended drifting "longer" and I understand the concept. But...
I have heard this makes setting the hook more difficult because you are upstream of the fish and essential pulling the hook out of its mouth. And....
Could you be more specific on the tecnique of swinging the fly towards the surface at the end of your drift to imitate the nymph rising, or "being alive" as was mentioned erlier.

I hope this clarifies my situation so you can help me more specifically,
Thanks

[flyfysher]

2' to 3' deep is fairly shallow. But the point with nymphs, as in two or more, is to get them on the bottom. Say for example you allow your dropper to float free so it rises a bit from the bottom. Yes, you can fish shallow water by nymphing.

Slow down your cast to rid yourself of flies bouncing around because of weight and pause as the line unfurls. I'm not waiving the rod several times. I put the rig in the water quickly. If you're tossing a nymphing rig like a dry fly then you'll get tangles. When I'm throwing a nymphing rig with weight then my cast is more a lob than a regular cast that I'd use with a dry fly. There is an exception when I throw cone head streamers. They also bounce around so you've got to slow down your cast.

Try setting the hook to the side rather than skywards like the Statue of Liberty. That'll put the hook in the side of the trout's mouth instead of pulling it up and out.

When swinging the fly at the end you lift the rod tip as you finish your swing. That's when a lot of strikes occur.

[kglissmeyer]

What flyfysher said

Kelly.

[flyfysher]

By the way Michael, if I'm throwing a couple of streamers together, one of which is cone or heavy bead head (usually a wooly bugger) then I don't use another weighted streamer. You'll get a lot of bounce and it's very unwieldy. You can't cast it properly. Or at least I can't and don't. I also use a heavier and shorter tippet (not smaller than 4x fluorocarbon) because it handles the streamers.

[Michael E.]

Very helpfull, thank you all.