The above is from an interview of Johnny Gomez in Paul Arnold’s little gem Wisdom of the Guides.
( Sorry about the rather awful pix. They’re the best I could do. )
When I used to fish the South Fork of the Snake down in SE Idaho, and it was my home water at the time, a dark brown rubberlegs stonefly nymph was pretty much a staple for winter fishing. It was quite common for mountain whitefish, and there are a lot of them in that crick, to hit the fly just at the end of the drift when it started to lift, or when it was picked up mid-drift. Lifting the rod tip and tugging the line a bit during the drift became something of a habit when fishing primarily for whitefish.
Trout on the South Fork would occasionally hit the big ole stonefly nymph when it was intentionally moved, but not often enough to think about doing that when strictly fishing to trout.
Moving on to Western Montana and Northern Idaho, especially Northern Idaho, I started noticing more trout hitting the big ole rubberlegs when it was being picked up or intentionally moved - “agitated” as Johnny Gomez called it.
Then I started fishing the extended body JARS and the action on an agitated nymph became more pronounced. To the point that the technique is now incorporated in my approach to fishing the big stonefly nymphs. It is more of a soft water technique than something to do under random circumstances, but it definitely has it’s place in fishing freestone rivers in this neck of the woods.
I think extended body nymphs, whether furled or articulated, offer some advantage over regular nymph patterns in that the flexing body movement accentuates the tail movement as well as providing action to the body of the nymph, more suggestive of life than when the fly’s entire body is tied on a regular hook, and especially when an extended body nymph is agitated.
John
P.S. Johnny Gomez was a guide on the San Juan at the time Paul interviewed him. The last comment he made on this subject was that he fished nymphs on the San Juan “About 316 days a year.”
I agree. While a dead drift is a great starting point and generally necessary to get the fly deep, some agitation is often helpful to induce strikes. Of course, the old “Leisenring Lift” is the classic method of agitation. George Daniel in his book “Dynamic Nymphing” talks extensively about leading flies through the drift and advocates leading them slightly faster than the current. He also talks about using a line loop to create drag and accelerate fly movement. I start with the dead drift, but usually try a lift at the end and / or twtiches when the fly is deep. I have found “agitation” to be particularly helpful when flies are hatching and when fishing larger nymphs like mayfly drakes and stoneflies.
Never heard the term, but wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with those euros dragging their nymphs downstream. Gomez is a classic on the San Juan and inventor of the Johnny Flash, a real staple of the small fly fisher. Gotta try it.
Hmmmmm!! I called it Jinking or twitching!? I was the only one to catch a trout one day on the Elk River and it when Jinking, Twitching or Moving an olive soft hackle. One afternoon Warren and I accounted for over 200 Browns using this method. He did hook up 2 Rainbows!! Arm got tired!!
My 2 cents worth, meaning it isn’t worth much, but…I prefer a dead drift approach. Let’s face it, the river itself will be adding a lot of action to the fly. The choppy surface water, the various currents the line has to travel through, the bouncing along the bottom, the action of the water coming off the rocks along the bottom pushing the flies up or sideways, yes, plenty of action is given to the flies while you try to maintain a dead drift. I always let my fly swing up at the end of the drift and I must say that it is very seldom that I get a hit at that point, but I do it anyway, just in case. The vast majority of my fish are caught on a dead drift of the nymphs. Some of the takes are so soft that you must maintain a perfect dead drift just to be able to see them. Again, just my 2 cents worth. But then I remember when 2 cents would buy a lot of candy. However you fish the flies, as long as you are having fun and catching a few fish, then life is great. Larry —sagefisher—
Everyone’s got an opinion, and I figure mine is worth as much as anyone’s, so… I will keep fishing the way I have for 36 years and counting, catching fish as I go.
The things you describe which will give some action to the nymph are less likely, maybe much less likely, to happen in soft water, for which the agitating technique is recommended. Depending on the crick you are fishing, such a condition might not exist or only be a small percentage of the water you are covering, or a significant part of it.
What you are describing would be included in the “random circumstances” where intentionally moving the fly would not impart much more, if any, action than the forces in the water column.
Just to be clear - I’m not advocating for this technique, just describing it in terms of my own experience on several cricks and relating the experience of one guide on one river.
“Analyzing” it and doing a bit of experimenting with it and describing it here is just a way of creating possibilities for others who might be interested in trying something that is new and different for them. The technique may have limited application, but sometimes it’s the small things that lead to big advances for a particular individual.
It may be irrelevant to most, but prove very relevant to someone whose time on the water is more enjoyable for knowing about it, and using however it suits their situation, purposes, and skills.
Hopefully, someone will answer your question who is in the know. Here is what I think they mean and I could be wrong which I usually am. Instead of mending your line upstream, so you get a drag free drift, you would mend your line downstream or ahead of your indicator (if you are using one). In my mind, that would put “a line loop ahead of the indicator”.
I don’t know about the indicator part, but I think Daniel’s line loop refers to line sag from the rod tip to the point at which the line enters the water. There is NO floating indicator as you think of it. There may be a bright fluorescent inline monofilament sighter that acts as a visual indicator.
The rod tip is downstream of the flies. The sagging line means that gravity is pulling the line down towards the water surface and since the line is sagging and at a slant, this slant causes the line to pull the flies down stream. The degree of the sag determines the line tension pulling the flies downstream. The tighter the line and the more parallel the line to the water surface, the greater the downstream tension. So the angler, by controlling both the elevation and motion of the rod tip downstream, can control the degree of downstream tension.
Modifying my post to address what Warren has said, Gomez’s loop downstream is a downstream mend. The loop is both downstream of the rod tip and the flies. Since the loop is on the surface of the water which is flowing faster than the sunken nymphs, this will drag the nymphs downstream and up. Basically this is analogous to a wet fly swing.
I think Warren has suitably described how to do it.
That is not something that I have tried to include in my approach to intentionally moving nymphs during the drift. I just lift the rod tip ( and I always have it quite low and close to the water when nymphing, except when mending line ) and / or give the line a bit of a tug. Either or both of those actions together will impart some movement to the nymph outside of its “normal” drift, whatever normal means on a particular piece of water. And neither one depends on whether the line is upstream or downstream of the indicator.
Also, I don’t think in terms of moving the nymph downtream faster than the current, but in terms of moving it out of a dead drift, whether that movement is upstream ( slower ), downstream ( faster ), or across the current. When I catch stonefly nymphs to examine and then return them to the water, they are as likely to move across the current as they are downstream with it.
When fishing nymphs in moving water, for the most part, I let the river/stream current provide the action.
When in still water I allow the nymph to sink (even to the bottom) and sometimes I’ll get a hit as it sinks. Then begin a retrieve with an agitation action simply by stripping in the line in however quick or slow that works for the fish.
Oh, I see we are to agitate the fly! Well yes, when we understand how different nymphs act while rising to the surface of the water.
How many just drift to the surface? I don’t know. I do know some swim very actively and must be fished that way. Some swim lanquidly
and must be fished that way. Naturally the water flow will always be a consideration. The fish will know the difference and eat your artificial accordingly. It’s a kinda cat and mouse game, and the way you try to imitate the natural is the game.
Really good nymph fishers know how to manipulate the fly or to let it dead drift. I bow to the ones who can figure that out and fish their fly accordingly.
Been fishing the little buggers for over thirty five years and am still trying to figure it all out! Get lucky occasionally or some bit of fly fishing
lore kicks in and I actually catch many fish with nymphs…I did say occasionally.
A big tip of the hat to those that hook up with nymphs on a regular basis!!
Leonard M. Wright Jr., Flutter, Skitter and Skim (formerlypublished as Fishing the Fly as a Living Insect), 1972. Chapter 3, TheSudden Inch, pg. 38, “And now, for the first time, some of those bafflingexperiences from my earlier fishing days began to make sense. Those times whentrout took only at the end of the float, just as the fly started to drag, wereexplained to a certain degree by the effectiveness of the twitch.”
Fran Betters: Fly Fishing and Fly-tying Patter Guide, 1986,pg 72. Quoting Bill Phillips: “Now the real value of the Usual is that ifyou do not hit the right feeding lane, you can skitter the fly to the rightfeeding lane without a drag effect. When the fly is in the right lane, feed theline from the reel until it passes where the two currents converge. Generallythe tautness and weight of the line will cause the Usual to go under thesurface, and then I return it slowly as one would a nymph. I don’t worry aboutdrag; I use it.”
I think it is a good idea to move a fly/nymph/bug like a struggling natural, and so do many before us.
I believe the loop a head of the indicator is the same as down current mend. I agree with JohnScott it tends to be a softer water technique.
I use it near the end of most drag free drifts twitching the flies slowly as they come off the bottom. It can be simply deadly just before an emergence.
You can also get long drifts on midges when your line is straight down stream from you by letting out a little more line and then tightening up ,letting out a little more line and tightening up…etc. I typically use a midge with a little flash when i use this technique but it is extremely effective when conditions are right.
Sometimes i drift streamers and mend a little harder and more frequently than needed for a drag free drift to give the streamer a little movement . I think of it as a struggling dying minnow. I don’t know what the trout think but I do know they like it
All of this said, dead drifting is still the core of most of my presentations.
