Naked Nymphing

I had just read a nice article in a flyfishing magazine and it had to do with strike indicators.you here a lot of guys talking about indicators to use , but if you read this article you might think differently.Basically what it said was by using an indicator,it acted as a buoy allowing you to fish predetermined depths.By fishing without one gives you more contact with the fly and you can feel strikes better.And one of the most important things is that nymphs do swim and you cannot get this movement with and indicator.

If the devise is able to ‘float/hold’ the nymph at a set depth, it’s a bobber. If it is so small that it allows the nymph to work the currents, it’s an indicator.

Most places around here people would definitely frown on anyone nymphing naked.

Of course, in the backcountry, probably wouldn’t be anyone around to notice.

John

i have a hard time believing that people can actually feel the nymph “swimming” at the end of a tippet in a river current doing 2-3 mph.

naked or unnaked!:wink:

  1. I don’t believe everything I read. In fact, I believe very little of what I read.

  2. I don’t read flyfishing magazines.

  3. What I know about flyfishing I learned, for the most part, on the water and not from book larnin’. What the author said in the article might work best for him, but that does not mean it will work best for anyone else.

  4. I catch more fish nymphing with indicators than without, usually.

  5. Therefore, I will keep using indicators, even if it annoys other people. Well, especially if it annoys other people.

I thought this thread was going to be about Ray Troll’ s art

I do most of mine without with an exception for steelheading. I don’t believe czech nymphing uses the bobber type indicators but does use the colored line type. I find I do ok without them on most of the smaller streams I fish.

Personally, I have never used a strike indicator and I’m concerned it may also attract or scare off fish since they’re often made of hi-vis colors. If I’m using a hi-vis color I tie it in on the fly as a parachute-style indicator. When nymphing I’m either in a tub or crawdad over a small mountain lake and can control my depth by estimating how deep the fish are before they start to hit and can let out the appropriate level of line. In a few hours I managed to catch about a dozen brookies on princes, damsel nymphs and even a water-logged elk hair caddis I was stripping below the film as an emerger. In effect, I and my tube become the “bobber” as Castwell put it.

I have only been along a few streams and rivers deep enough where nymphs made a difference and the current was strong enough to where the nymph’s descent was delayed by the rushing water. Timing it just right was everything, as often the nymph would go right past the massive rainbow and it wouldn’t even see it.

Nymphing, a great way to catch fish.

Nymphing is a great way to catch fish. Naturally, if the fish are really working the surface then fishing a dry or an emerger is also a great way to catch fish. But, much of the time the fish are not on the surface because all of their attention is on the nymphs down on the bottom of the rivers and streams.

I am a firm believer in using a strike indicator when fishing our larger and deeper western rivers. It is a very effective way to fish and to catch fish.

Nymph fishing without an indicator requires a different set of rules and methods. When fishing without an indicator, then you are going to be fishing close in and using short casts and high sticking it type methods. That can be a very effective method of fishing but it has to be in rivers that allow you to wade out fairly far, or you will only cover a very small section of the river.

People should learn how to fish using many styles, because there are times when that style may be the best and most effective method to catch fish. To limit yourself to just dries or just indicator fishing or whatever, then you are going to miss out on a lot of great fishing.

Larry :smiley: —sagefisher—

I thought we were talking about nymphs and strike indicators, this looks like a wet fly to me. :wink:

That guy and his girlfriend are fishing the “NUDIST” “Fly Only” section of what river?
Doug

I did a little experimenting this weekend - sometimes nymphing with an indicator and other times using just the ‘hot butt’ leader. Seems to me they both have their place. If I could get close enough to the place I wanted to fish, I high sticked with just the leader. Hooked up on a good number of fish and caught most of them. For work a little further away where I couldn’t eyeball the leader well I used the indicator. Also hooked up with a fair number of fish, but lost more of those. Not sure if it was coincidence or something about reaction time, distance, and a looser line.

I quit using indicators a couple of years ago. Between my furled leader and my fly line I like to use a line product called amnesia. It is bright red and makes it easy to detect strikes. The nice thing is that it does not spook fish when your cast lands on the water when fishing over spooky fish.

I am an indicator/bobber girl, but I also fish allot of stillwater! Rivers is usually dry dropper, but run off…come on indicator/bobber and San Juan.:cool:

I use a ‘bobber’ for depth control. There are times when this is more important than simple ‘strike detection’. Harder to spot strikes and hook the fish, but better some to miss and some to have than…yopu know the rest…

It’s ‘easier’ to detect strikes WITHOUT the float, unless you have stone hands and/or have no clue to what your fly is doing…some folks ‘need’ an indicator for those reasons…not good or bad, just how it is.

Czech Nymphing with a short line needs WEIGHT, not any ‘visibility’ on the line…If you have enough weight (most folks use WAY too little), strikes are obvious…some feel like the rod is going to be pulled out of your hands…if you can’t feel a fish while doing this technique, perhaps photography or bird watching?

Buddy

I fish predominantly with dries but when I do nymph, I would say that 90% of the time, I don’t use an indicator other than watching the point where my line enters the water. I find that I can usually feel what is going on with the nymphs. I usually have a large stone or other “tool” fly on point and then a smaller (usually a green rock worm of some sorts) as a dropper. I’ll give it a light set with every pause in the line…if I’m not setting the hook several times during each drift, I’m not catching fish. Then, at the end of the drift, I’ll let the flies swing up and then give it one more good set. It doesn’t happen all that often, but I have caught some pretty nice fish on that last upward swing. I just find that I stay more in tune with what’s happening when I fish without an indicator/bobber than when I use one…

~Randy

Well I hope he’s practicing catch and release:shock:

Buddy,
I have to agree with this…the good fisherman… all have a clue…
“or have no clue to what your fly is doing”.

I would think shrinkage would be the greatest peril of naked nymphing.

Whew,
I thought I was going to have to avoid the streams this summer. I’ve seen some of you guys fully dressed with waders, hats and vests and it was traumatic enough. The thought of walking to the stream and seeing a bunch of fly fishers naked, well, let’s just say I’m hoping the nightmares won’t come back.

Jeff

Another reason to fish barbless!