I just read a great article on leader construction and nymphing by Gary
Borger. He sets it up like this: A 4ft butt of .018 or .020,(the larger for
6wt and up and lesser for 3,4,5wt rods) Then a one ft. section that is his
tapered section!! and is .011 or .012 To that attach a 4ft section of .010.
This is a very simple leader construction and designed to guarrantee slack.
Now, on a nymph settup, you attatch an 8" tippet(that is all) Always us a
split shot for your wt. just above the 8" tippet section. That ANCHORS your
nymph from having the flyline pulling the fly upwards. It also results in
the fish pulling against the wt. in a short time frame from the time it
picks up the nymph. Place a strike indicator, which to Borger is an
inaccurate discription because it is not a strike indicator, it is a nymph
indicator. It tells you that the nymph is down where it should be. The
indicator should float less than the surface speed of water otherwise the
nymph will be pulled upwards because the bottom currents are slower than the
surface currents. Put the strike indicator 5ft. above the nymph, or just
above the 4ft section knot. When the fish pulls against the split shot,
then the strike indicator acts jerky and you can further set the hook. When
you want to dry fly fish, just cut off the 8" nymph tippet and add a 2-3"
section of the appropriate tippet and your in business. He likes this
leader construction for its versitility and it incorportates "S" waves that
help prevent drag and allow a drag free drift when dry fly fishing. Of
course, when you are nymphing just under the surface, you are fishing just
as you would when dry fly fishing. The upstream, lift the tip, let the fly
pass and drop the tip and follow (Leisering (sp) lift is a good way to deep
nymph, or up and across at a 45 degree and mend when necessary are his
preferred methods of nymphing. In the Leisering method you must gather in
line as the fly returns down toward you and just out front and then let it
out as you drop the tip and follow down stream. The reason for using
leaders that taper more aggressively is a result of needing to "turn over" a
leader that has little energy in the cast. In the old days, when many of
the charts were formulated for leaders, casts were very short, waters fished
were often small. Nowdays, we often fish bigger waters, apply more energy
into the cast and make longer casts. However, leader construction of
Borger's type demands that you are a fairly good caster and employ good
machanics (ie) tight loops. When guiding, I am often faced with anglers who
can't cast very well and the more pronounced the tapered leader, the better
the chance they have of turning it over. These above described leaders are
for trout type fishing. He has other shorter leaders and longer leader
construction for specific types of fishing. For instance, if you were
casting, as say Leland does in the salt, you may want a fast tapered leader
and one that will combat wind better and straighten out all the way because
on the first strip you want the fly to move. Hope this helps, Jere
----- Original Message -----
From: Sean Ransom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 11:45 AM
Subject: Nymph Fishing
> Another question:
>
> I am finding nymph fishing to be the most frustrating type of fly
> fishing I have encountered. Basically if the fishing are not hitting
> dries I do not catch a thing. Anyone have any tips or better yet a good
> book they could recommend? Thanks much for the help and for enduring my
> constant barrage of basic questions.
>
> -sean
>
>
