I will be interviewing Rick Hafele sometime towards the end of June to discuss entomology and nymph fishing techniques.
I would like to open this thread up to questions you as fishermen and women may have on these subjects. Rick will do his best to answer your questions.
Depending on how many questions we have, he may get to all of them, and he may not, so please don’t feel left out if we don’t have time to cover each and every one.
I’m really looking forward to this podcast. I think it will be a very helpful and informative podcast that is going to open up a new world to those of us who don’t understand the significance of entomology and nymph fishing.
TT.
P.S. Please don’t forget to add your suggestions for people you would like to hear interviewed. You can do so by clicking on the ‘Sound Off’ forum and adding your suggestion to the podcast idea thread.
I sat in on one of Rick’s classes in Albany, Oregon at the Fly Tyers Expo. He knows his stuff and puts on a great stream fishing class.
One question: Does he prefer to use a weighted nymph or use split shot on the leader a couple of feet above the fly when fishing a deep (8 to 10 foot) nymphing rig?
One of the clasic debates is between the guys that go for very realistic nymphs, and those that are more interested in movement and go to suggestive patterns. Where does Rick think that the balance point is on this issue?
Excellent choice for an interview! I sat in on his class recently in Maupin and would recommend it for anyone.
I would ask him this, because it came up after the class. It is similar to Gandolfs question. When would you fish an imitative nymph and when to switch to an attractor style?
What does he think about using flash on wing cases vs not? Some folks would rather have a fuzziness on their wingcases feeling it is more natural…e.g. not coating a turkey feather wingcase.
Q: What are three things the “typical” fly angler fails to understand about aquatic entomology?
Q: Has the increased use of more accurate imitations resulted in larger populations of highly selective trout, or are my angling senses on a downward spiral?
Q: Of size, shape, color, and presentation, what are the two most important areas to address when fishing a hatch?
Is there a relationship between the size of an adult to the size of the emerger and nymph/pupa one fishes for the same hatch? For example, for a size 14 adult mayfly or caddis, should one fish the same size nymph or pupa to imitate the immature aquatic form of that same hatch? Or is the immature insect smaller or larger?
I’m wondering how he discusses stream entemology at the most basic level without getting lost in a ton of qualifiers. When I try to tell someone why I tied a fly a particular way it seems that I have to stop and throw in something like sometimes,usually, in this case etc. several times in a simple sentence. I shudder to think how bad it would get if I wasn’t really fairly ignorant.
I would really like to hear his thoughts on the use of a throat pump. Should it be used at all? What is the correct method? Who better to ask than a bon e’ fide entomologist.
