Nymph Question

Fishing Warm water Forum
1

all i kno how to fish is dry flies, where u just let them float on the surface and move w/ the natural forces that may push them. but my question is how do u fish a nymph/wetfly in a lake?

2

Welcome to FAOL David!

You’ll learn a lot here. I know I have.

Here is a link from the site that describes how to fish nymphs.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/101/part31.html

It will be worth your while to just read through the whole beginners archive. There is a wealth of information there.

Welcome and enjoy the ride!

Regards,
Terry

3

Depends on species, water temperature, water depth, fish location and all of those good things. Right now with the very warm water I’m letting them sink for several seconds into deeper water for gills before starting my retrieve. Most of the time I use whatever people call that figure-8 hand-twist retrieve, sometimes I do very short strips. As soon as I say that the fish may ask for a longer, more even strip. For spring crappies I’ve done very well with a hairy-looking NZ nymph called a Hare n Copper, which may be the same thing as a Hare’s Ear. No one has told me if they’re different. Regardless, letting them sink for a few counts then using a long, slow but even strip seems pretty successful. JGW

4

Hey thanks guys! so how about a wet fly?

5

It’s about the same with them all. Let them sink into the feeding zone and experiment with retrieves until you get a strike. Them remember what you did when you did. This isn’t real complicated. Your jig-like flies (Clousers, Gill Busters, bead-heads) are pretty effective with strips that cause them to, well, jig. Streamers you try to imitate minnows. Bugs bugs. Crawfish crawfish. It isn’t real complicated. And I’m talking about stillwater fishing. Pond or lakes. TerryB had a good suggestion. JGW

6

thanks everyone. now…how about a streamer…like a black nosed dace? :lol:

7

David,

Same thing with a black-nose dace. Cast it out. Let it sink to whatever depth you want it to run. Bring it in at whatever speed, or combination of speeds, you think might work.

Joe
“Better small than not at all.”

8

how do u get a steady retrieve?

9

You really don’t want a steady retrieve. Fish don’t swim that way. I use varied techniques. Sometimes its a full arm (1~2 feet) other times its smaller 3~6 inches. Sometimes its pull…pull… pull… other times I try pull…pulll.pulll.pull… Someone said they retrieve to a cha-cha beat. Thats a great way too.

jed

10

okie doke! :mrgreen:

11

Hi White43,

A Hare & Copper is basically a very simple (and highly effective) nymph which is constructed by a thick dubbing of hare’s fur wrapped with copper wire. A tail of Hare’s fur is sometimes included, and lead wire may be included to weight the fly. tying thread is usually black. The final overall shape is roughly cigar shapped, and very hairy.

A gold ribbed hare’s ear, is typically more thin in the abdoment, but has the bushy thorax. The rib is typically flat gold tinsel, rather than copper wire, and it usually sports a wing case.

I tend to think of the H&C as a hare’s fur version of a caddis nymph and the GRHE as a mayfly nymph (i.e., a pheasant tail nymph but made out of fur).

Regardless, both are excellent nymphs, but they are different patterns.

  • Jeff
12

thanks guys, that really helped me too!!! and im one of david’s best friends and fishing buddies and we were both wondering about this, so thank you!!

13

Hi

Check out the Lakes/Stillwaters feature and read some of Marv Taylor’s articles on lake fishing. Tons of good data on nymphs, wets and other tactics for floating in a tube waving a stick.