This post was written by guest blogger Andrew Loffredo:
Popularized by the European competition fishing circuit, euro nymphing increases strike detection, and the number you fish you will catch! For of those of you of have high-sticked nymphed with an indicator before, this is essentially the same thing, minus the indicator.
The Basic Steps To Start Euro Nymphing
Step 1) You start by casting the rig downstream from you first, and then use the water to load the rod for the forward cast (this type of fishing doesn’t win extra style points).
Step 2) After the flies land, raise the rod tip to take all of the line off the water until the leader is at the tip of your rod (or inside the guides in some cases)
Step 3) “Lead your flies” downstream with the rod tip. This is accomplished by moving your rod tip slightly faster than the current, effectively pulling your flies along faster than the current. By moving the line faster than the current you will often times, feel the flies skip off the bottom of the river and the occasional take from a willing fish! As the flies head downstream, you want you line to look like a telephone wire (nice and tight!) and if there is any changes in the angle of the line set the hook!
Step 4) Repeat steps 1-3 until you catch a fish (and you will).
Some Other Tips To Consider:
–“Everything has a time and a place”
Although this technique is crazy effective, it is only in certain circumstances. It is not the end all be all. Look for stretches of river with nice runs, riffles, and pocket water. Not so good for your frog water dry fly sippers.
–Don’t False Cast
What do you mean you don’t false cast? Yup that right. Don’t false cast this rig. It’s a recipe for frustration and a lot four letter words. Instead, just roll cast or do the “dump technique” reference in the steps above.
–Leader Construction; 60:20:20
As with most tapered Euro-nymphing leaders follow the basic principal of 60:20:20. Which refers to 60 percent butt section (20/25lb), 20 percent mind section (10/15lb colored mono), 20 percent tippet.
This technique usually uses a monster leader of 12- 20 plus feet, this is important principal to keep in mind if you want you leader to turnover nicely and have good strike detection. A quick “life hack” to making a completion leader is using a tapered 9ft 2x leaders and tying another 3 ft of 5x off of it.
–Importance of long, light rods and Tippet
With this technique it is important for you to use a long light rod (9ft-12ft, 2-4 wts are best). You want the rod to stiff enough to drive the hook home but have a soft enough tip to protect the light tippet (4x-7x) you use while using this technique. Light tippets are used to help get you flies down to depths where the big boys live.
–Weighted Flies
As a popular saying goes in the competition-fishing world is “What often separates a good angler from a great angler is a half-ounce of weight”. Fish are lazy and want the hot dog truck to come to them, not the other way around.
In heavy runs I often see indicator fisherman fishing small indicators and a little weight. Don’t be afraid to throw on some real heavily weighted flies if the run is 10 feet deep and pumping. To catch the fish, you got to put it right in front of their faces. Period.
–“Put some UV on that S$#!”
Ultra-Violet materials have been popularized over the past 10 years for good reason. That stuff works! Trout see in ultra violet, as a way to determine food items from hundreds of small pebbles floating by their face at any given time.
UV materials are offered in a variety of colors and materials. Start experimenting with it materials, and amounts of it. When it’s super sunny outside, throw a pattern with a whole bunch of it, when it’s cloudy, throw a pattern with a little less.
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