Fly Fishing Tips

Czech Nymphing - The Essential Fly Fishing Technique

80% of trout food is found on the river bed or just off it!  So, Czech nymphing is an essential fly-fishing technique.  

Czech nymphing was introduced to the UK in the 1990 World Championships. The Czech team beat the UK International teams on the Welsh River Dee. The Czechs caught grayling in numbers from places that were thought impossibly fast or deep previously. This sent shockwaves through the world of competition angling. The technique is today considered to be pretty much a standard - an essential part of every grayling anglers armory.

Tackle

A 5 or 6-weight rod will be sufficient, 9' to 10' is ideal for better control of the flies. Leader should be about 9' in length, NOT tapered as they are counter-productive as tapered leader won't sink quickly enough. Just use something like 6lb down to the top dropper, with 4lb from there down. Use two 5-6" droppers, one about 18" above the point fly, the other about 18" above that. The true Czech method is to fish the heaviest nymph on the top dropper so that it helps carry the other flies down to the correct level. To help ensure rapid sinking of the flies, degrease the leader. You will be looking for takes on the end of the flyline, so depending on your eyesight, you may wish to use some sort of strike indicator.

Tactics

The water will be fast, streamy water, normally considered unfishable on the fly, probably 18" - 3' deep.  You'll want to get your flies as close to the bottom as possible. Do not fish with more than about 3'-4' of fly line outside the tip ring. This is difficult to do, as the fly fisherman's natural tendency is to shoot a bit of line. 

This is extremely short range fishing.   Fish will be close to your rod!  Do not cast conventionally, there is not enough line and the nymphs are far too heavy - the nymphs provide the casting weight.  Use a flicking action to throw the nymphs upstream at an angle of about 30°. Done correctly, the "flick cast" will extend the leader so that the nymphs lie in a straight line upstream. They will immediately start to sink rapidly as the current brings the flies back down towards you.

To stay in touch with the flies, don't retrieve any line, just track around with the rod, raising and lowering the tip as appropriate. Watch your indicator very closely! Any hesitation, draw, stutter, or check - strike it...  immediately. 

Because of the fast nature of the water, grayling and trout will have little chance to closely examine the fly and will hit quickly. Fan cast the water ahead of you and, if no action, take a pace or two upstream and repeat. This is fast fishing.   Each cast is fished out in 5-10 seconds and you're straight on to the next one, a lightweight rod helps the weary arms. Often, it is useful to let the flies come down below you and allow them to fish for a few moments as they come around the bend and onto "the dangle".

Keep the rod tip above the indicator and steadily "lean" downstream, dropping the tip as you do so. This can be a particularly effective tactic, taking one or two more fish out of water that has already been worked.

Obviously, with this technique, you do not need to restrict yourself to Czech nymphs.  The key is to use heavily weighted flies.   "Matching the hatch" is not a priority with this fishing! This is an active searching method and, as such, technique is more important than a specific pattern.

Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com 

Andy is a passionate fisherman and always looking at new materials and flies and their effects on the quarry fish.