Before I was a fly fisherman I was a spin fishermen. I think that’s the story for most. Very few start with the fly rod, and I’m glad I didn’t. I caught my first trout when I was 5 years old according to my dad on a ball of power bait on a local stocked water known as Hockockson Brook. It is hardly a trout stream, but still to this day, when I am driving nearby I choose the long way home to drive over the bridge I caught that fish at and many others when I was a young kid. Local waters, and your first taste of this sport stays with you, and if nothing but nostalgia, forces a level of respect upon you for that place regardless of the water’s legitimacy as a trout stream.
As I got more into the sport with age, I eventually turned to the fly rod. In doing this, the first approach I focused on was nymphing. A couple years into flyfishing however the water I fished changed from local NJ streams to the Catskill Rivers, where bug life was far more dependable and provided reliable dry fly fishing. Being impressionable as a learning new angler and being in the heart of dry fly country via the Catskill Mountains, I took to the dry fly approach. At first, I enjoyed dry fly fishing because of the art of the cast and the feeling you got when you made the right cast to a rising fish. However, over time I think I fell more in love with the hunt for the nose. I love looking for fish rising, and seek out those sneaky noses that are easy to miss. That for me is the thrill and remains so to this day.
Despite being a dry fly first type of fisherman, I remember the day I decided I had to stop being so one dimensional. I was about 15 years old and was floating with a buddy and his cousin Tim- who was a great all around fisherman. The conditions that day required just that, as the water was slightly high and was set up nice for streamer fishing and/or nymphing. The river was high, but not too high, so there was a shot at some rising fish as well. I clearly remember that Tim was rigged and prepared with three rods for each method. As we drifted down, Tim made use of his time and the water we passed through switching methods methodically, and picked up several big fish on all three methods. The defining moment I remember specifically was late in the day he picked up the streamer rod and was covering some water as we were rowing through late, and nailed a big 22’’ brown on a streamer in water I would have not even fished let alone taken a fish out of. As far as myself, I had a dry rigged all day and threw at a couple of fish, and landed maybe 1 or 2. I was limited and I hated the feeling that day. I decided that I had to at least become better at other methods beyond the dry fly. The only problem was- how do I stop wanting to look for rising trout all day?
KEEP AN OPEN MIND AND USE YOUR DOWN TIME TO BECOME BETTER AT SECONDARY METHODS
There is nothing wrong with having a preference when it comes to method and most anglers do have a preference. That said, it’s important to strive to at least be decent at methods you don’t favor as your go to method. Don’t be the fisherman that folds his arms in frustration on the bank if he doesn’t have a perfect set up, the water is too high, or too low, or just not perfect for the one way you want to fish. Be adaptable, albeit slightly disappointed when you are forced to fish in a way that you hadn’t hoped for or planned. The middle of the road will never hurt you. While I adamantly believe that there is no such thing as someone that is the best nymph and dry fly fisherman at the same time, I think it is important to be open to and continue trying to become proficient at all method. Why? Because you never know where you may use those skills down the line. I hated indicator fishing until I started nymphing for steelhead. I started this late in my fishing life but suddenly when the fish was measured in pounds, not inches I started to like nymphing. I drew upon what I knew from nymphing for trout and added on that with new experience as I continued to learn what to me was a new fish. I also think I became a better nymph fisherman for trout after nymphing for steelhead, since the new found commitment steelhead fishing generated for me as a nymph fisherman was very much applicable to trout fishing. Steelhead fishing upped my game as a nymph fisherman period. And with each method, river, and fish you pursue, you learn something. With each fish, each rod, each line, each set up- You become “fishy”.
GETTING BETTER AT DIFFERENT METHODS MEANS HAVING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR THE JOB
When I decided I was going to commit to becoming a better all around angler, the first lesson I learned was I was not using the right gear when I did try and fish alternative methods to dry fly fishing. With streamers, I never used sink tip lines and usually fished just a short, cut back leader which wasn’t getting down and presenting the fly properly. When I started using a sink tip line, sure it was initially awkward feeling but I got used to it. This opened up a lot of options for me as a fisherman and allowed for a far more diverse set of flies, presentations, and water to become viable options for taking fish. Becoming a better all around angler means having the right tool for the job. Don’t try to have an all in one set up- it doesn’t exist.
I now keep a sink tip streamer rig in my boat at all times along with a floating line, because you never know, but the benefit of experience and different water has taught me and shown me when to use both.
The same goes for rods. If you are a small stream guy, don’t be the dude that rolls up to a large river with your 8 foot 4 weight and then claims the wind is preventing you from casting. Be prepared and anticipate the conditions that are likely to be present on the new water you are fishing, and adjust. If you are used to fishing shorter rods on smaller water, I get that a 9 foot rod or even a 10 foot rod might seem overkill or out of your comfort zone. But give it a shot. You will soon become comfortable with that equipment, and more than likely enjoy using it to the point that you soon are justifying a new purchase for the next time you return to that water. Whereas you wont ever be back after the big river kicked your old 8 foot 4 weight’s ass and left you wanting to return to your comfort zone.
Lastly, the importance of your leader cannot be overstated. You don’t need to be the madman that is experimenting with leader formulas in your basement, but you do need to add the appropriate tippet and build out your leader to suit the situation. Don’t just add 14″ of 5x and call it a day if the situation requires more than that. Specifically with nymphing, paying more attention to my leader set up really helped improve my success and helped me go from bad to decent and I had strived for. By lengthening my leader so that I had more thin diameter line beneath my indy, which sinks faster than the heavy butt section of the leader, I started getting down in deeper , faster runs that I previously was struggling to fish effectively, and was getting down without using much weight which I find to be effective. I also found that having a wide range of weighted flies ranging from heavy tungsten beads to unweighted nymphs helped solve the problem of getting down , without using split shot which for me made nymphing the clunky unenjoyable method I hated in the first place. Less to no weight on the leader made casting more enjoyable, and in turn nymphing more enjoyable. Again subtle tweaks that help you go from bad to decent.
YOU CAN BE GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT AT EVERYTHING
Many fisherman treat the word and practice of nymphing like it is an inferior method. I disagree. Its skillful just entirely different than what a dry fly fisherman seeks. A nymph fisherman applies theory guessing where the fish is and putting a fly there to test that theory. A dry fly fisherman already has that variable established- there is a fish there- all they have to do is make that cast. So In reality the dry fly fisherman has it easy. The fish is known to be there.
The truth is that some fishermen get off by sight fishing, which leads them to the dry fly. For that reason, I am a dry fly fisherman. I am also a flats fisherman, and pursue other sport fish but all of them have one thing in common- I see the fish before I cast my fly. I like putting a fly on my target.
The nymph fisherman by contrast usually reads water and fishes a location based theoretically on where the fish should be. The attraction and goal here I think is the thrill of proving a theory to be correct. There is also the practical fact that most of a trout’s diet is consumed subsurface, but the dry fly angler in me counters that by saying I just need to find the fish that is eating the other 20% of his diet at any given time to find action. There are always fish rising somewhere. These contrasted approaches cause you and really force you to commit to certain types of water, and involve such different mindsets that I believe You cannot be a GREAT dry fly angler and nymph angler at the same time. It is impossible. The two methods have entirely different water types, philosophies, and methods by which you seek to catch a trout. The dry fly angler is thinking tail out for garbage feeders when there isn’t a major hatch going on, while the nymph angler is thinking hit the riffles where they are unlikely to see heads and probably aren’t even looking because they are so tuned in on their line or indicator. Two polar opposite approaches. But you can pick your spots. Take the time to experiment with methods you know you are weak at, and you may be surprised particularly when it comes to streamer fishing. It’s not your thing, until it is.
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