Tom and you are men after me own heart. I did not have anyone to teach me but I
found out that doing it this way had been real effective for me. That drift
with some twitching has taken a lot of fish when others had a hard time
catching fish. That lift at the end of the swing is deadly. I would say I
catch about 90% of my fish there when nymping or using buggers.
I am self taught and have never had the desire to use bobbers. I know I am
stepping on some toes but to me worms and bobbers go together.. LOL
Tom, any time you can come by, you are welcome, we will miss you at the Sowbug.
Tony
--- On Mon, 2/16/09, George k...@msn.com wrote:
From: George k...@msn.com
Subject: [VFB] Re: Active Nymphing was QUOTE FOR THE DAY
To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 10:55 AM
Absolutely Tom, I couldn't agree more with your observations. When I
started nymphing without a strike indicator, my catch rate increased. I have
used the same technique and have also caught fish at all stages of the
presentation.
The fly is only part of the technique, the rest is presentation,
presentation, presentation.
Keeping the fly in the water is very important, even fishing out a bad
cast can produce a catch. I can usually spot a novice by watching the number of
false casts. The fly in the water is what catches the fish, the fly in the air
doesn't.
George Vincent
From: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
[mailto:vfb-m...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tom
Davenport
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 18:34
To:
vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
Subject: [VFB] Re: Active Nymphing was QUOTE
FOR THE DAY
I learned to fly fish about 15 years ago when a friend helped me get
rigged up and taught me how to cast and fish. He was a nymph fisherman
(anyone who fishes the Weber River where I fish most often is) and he taught me
to dead drift the fly behind a strike indicator. Later I talked to
another friend who had been a fly tyer and fly fisher for years, and asked him
if he used a strike indicator and the dead drift. He said no, he always
used a shorter line and followed it as it drifted through the deep holes.
So I tried his technique and started catching more fish. Several
years later I realized what I was doing is called High Sticking and it
is still my preferred method to dig a bunch of fish out of a deep hole. It
always includes a lift at the end, and often I strip it back, and have caught
fish both ways. Also with a nymph and a swing, especially when there are
caddis hatching.
While the basic idea of the dead drift is sound, but I don't think it is
as important as some people think. Sometimes adding a little motion to the
fly is exactly what the fish need to strike. If I am fishing a long, deep
run, I will often combine them all... Maybe cast into a back eddy, let the fly
sink then strip it into the main current, let it dead drift until it comes
close
to me, then lift the line and high stick through the water next to me, with a
swing on the end, followed by stripping the line back. I have caught fish
at all stages of the presentation of the fly.
I think we spend too much time wondering what a fly represents .
Most often, it is just something that looks like food to the fish, and
movement can be a trigger.
Perhaps the most important thing is just keeping the fly in the water, and
close to the bottom.
Tom
P.S. By the way, I am officially back. My strength, energy,
appetite, are all normal. I am also making progress with the other two
side effects of the surgery. Life is good. The only downside
is that my intention to attend Sowbug this year has been derailed by $3000.00
in
medical expenses (since I was in the hospital in December and January, it get
to
pay for two years worth of deductibles).
I was really looking forward to seeing Tony again, but my son is a
trucker, and if he has a run this summer that comes within 200 miles of
Flippin,
I'll be there to visit (I'll call first).
On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:21 AM, Anthony Spezio wrote:
This called the Miracle Inch. I use it a lot and get
some violent strikes. At first I would get a lot of break offs till I
learned to keep the line loose in my line hand. I would twitch the
nymph on the drift let it swing and hold it there for a short. Then
work
it back up stream like a wounded minnow.
Tony
--- On Fri,
2/13/09, KP kpt...@btinternet.com
wrote:
From:
KP kpt...@btinternet.com
Subject:
[VFB] Re: Active Nymphing was QUOTE FOR THE
DAY
To: VFB Mail vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
Date:
Friday, February 13, 2009, 5:01 PM
I love upstream dry fly fishng and in the winter I fish my nymphs this
way too. A friend of mine just came back from a course here in the
UK
and they were shown how the masters of short line nymphing do the job.
Your books ref to the stripping the nymph
