The Nymphing then streamer Fishing Routine

Friday evening I tried the routine where I nymph fished for the first half of the trip and then streamer fished the last half, right before dark.

This evening the water was a little high and murky but nonetheless, nymph fishing yielded me seven fish between 5:00 and 6:30. Three were Brown Trout between 12 and 15 inches. Four were white fish, 10 to 16 inches.

I fished streamers between 6:30 and 8:00. I only caught two small browns, 9 and 12 inches. This was kind of the opposite of what I expected. I expected to catch one or two 17 to 19 inchers. But this isn’t the whole story.

In the same stretch where I nymph fished, I had a large fish hit the streamer and stay on for a couple of seconds. Then a little further downstream where I had also nymphed, I saw on large trout follow the streamer. I noticed it just as I pulled the streamer from the water to re-cast. Further downstream, further than I had nymphed, I had another large trout hit the streamer.

So the number of hits from big trout were what I expected, I just couldn’t connect with any. My thoughts are that the fish either hit the tail of the fly below the hook or they hit the head of the fly above the hook. Next time I will try a streamer that has two hooks to see if this will improve the hookups.

Sometimes the Fish Wins

Some of the best fishing memories are of the ones that got away. How big these fish were are left up to the imagination. On Labor Day I was nymph fishing a relatively shallow stretch of river. At the top of the run were the typical riffles that run over the rocks that lead into the run. On the far side of the river was a big bushy tree which gave shade to a portion of the river. My first drift through the shadows yielded no results. The river looked a little deeper closer to the bank but I couldn’t get a cast close enough to the other side because of the tree branches hanging down. I took a few steps upstream above the branches and cast closer to the far bank. Then I made a couple of upstream mends of the line, took a few steps back downstream and let the drift go underneath the branches near the bank. This did the trick. Right against the bank, tucked under the branches was the king of the run. Upon being hooked this fish took off downstream. I hurried to get the line on the reel and let the fish fight the drag from the reel. I wasn’t able to take in any line and followed the fish to the bottom of the run and past the next bend in the river. Finally it slowed down but as I started to catch up with it, it took off again. Again I followed but as I got to the next bend, the line pulled out of the fish’s mouth. I don’t know what I could have done differently. Sometimes the fish wins.

The next stretch upstream from where I hooked this fish had a deep hole where I expected to catch a few trout. After working my way through, I only caught one white fish.

 In the shallows above the pool, however, I hooked a nice brown. This fish did not tear off downstream but allowed me to fight it in the same stretch in which it was hooked and didn’t run downstream into the big hole I had just fished. After netting this fish I took the time to measure it, 18 inches. This made up for loosing that first fish.

I love It When the Trout Cooperate

Sometimes a fishing trip works out perfect. I took Tom and Ron to the Weber River Wednesday evening.

The temperature was in the mid seventies, sunny and no wind.

After donning our Gore-Tex waders, we waded across the river. The water was clear and at normal level. After getting Tom and Ron rigged up with their poles, I flipped a cast out to demonstrate a drag free drift. Immediately a small brown hit the fly, re-enforcing the concept.

OK, second cast. This cast was to demon-
strate mending the line. Again, second cast and another brown trout. It doesn’t get any better than this. Or does it? These first fish were rather small. Let’s cast a little closer to the grass lined bank where the water is somewhat slower.

This is what I’m talking about, an 18 inch brown. This fish jumped several times, and put up a tough fight. I kept it in the faster water to tire it out and didn’t allow it to swim down past the riffles into the next deep hole. After I could tell it was tiring I coaxed it off to the side near the shallow water and scooped it up in the net.

Tom took a great picture of it with his cell phone. We all ended up hooking a few. Ron even caught three of the rare cutthroat. What a gorgeous evening.

Fluorocarbon

I love to see advances in technology. The fishing industry has seen a lot of advances. One of my favorite advances is in waders, going from rubber to neoprene and then to Gore-Tex. Or with rods going from fiberglass to graphite. Another major advancement is in fishing line.

Fluorocarbon fishing line has been available the past few years and I have taken advantage of it. Fluorocarbon has several advantages;

1) It is stronger than mono-filament. This means that you can increase the pound test of the tippet you use by switching from monofilament to fluorocarbon, e.g., 4X monofilament with 6 lb test to 4X fluorocarbon with 7 pound test.

2) It has the same refractive index as water so it is virtually invisible underwater and doesn’t reflect light in the water. This means you can get away with a thicker leader. If you are used to fishing a 5X mono leader because of selective trout, you can get similar invisibility with a 4X fluoro leader, giving you an advantage of a stronger leader.

3) It has the same density as water. This is an advantage if you are fishing below the surface. For nymphing or streamer fishing this would mean that the leader won’t be causing the fly to float. This would be a disadvantage for dry fly fishing where you want the fly to float.

4) It is more abrasion resistant. This helps when the fish is trying to lose you in the structure of rocks or sticks or when the huge brown you have just hooked has sharp teeth.

5) It doesn’t disintegrate in the sun’s rays. This means that it won’t become weaker as it is outside being used in the sun. The downside to this is that if any is discarded along the stream, it won’t biodegrade. So be careful to discard properly any scrap of fluorocarbon.

One disadvantage is that it is quite a bit more expensive. When you consider how valuable your time is or how much you have invested in other equipment or the gas for the trip, I feel the extra price is well worth it. You might as well use any advantage that is available.

Knowing the properties of available leader materials allows you to use them to your advantage. If you are dry fly fishing, use the monofilament line which will stay afloat. If you are nymph or streamer fishing use the technologically advanced fluorocarbon leaders.

Let me explain how I construct my nymph fishing leaders. Since I want the top section of my leader to float, especially the part above the strike indicator, I use a tapered monofilament leader. This is usually a 9 foot leader tapered to a 1X, 2X or 3X. I cut the last two to three feet off the tapered leader and tie on fluorocarbon leader for the tippet. For example, I will tie two feet of 4X fluorocarbon to the 2X monofilament tapered leader. I will then tie the fly onto the 4X fluorocarbon. Any droppers I may use are also tied on with fluorocarbon.