The most demanding aspect of nymph fishing is being aware of the strike quickly enough to set the hook before the trout detects it as a phoney and ejects it…You have only a second to a second and a half.
Let’s look at dead drift nymph fishing this week and we’ll explore swing nymphing next week. Since the primary requirement of dead drift upstream nymphing is being able to SEE the strike on our leader system I like to use my “Bright Butt Compound Knotted Leaders” which have 5 feet of fluorescent mono in the butt. I also place one MFS Indicator 3 feet above the nymph and a second one 6 feet above the nymph. These indicators can be seen easily several feet underwater as well as close to the surface.
When I teach this in my schools I encourage placing the line over the first or second finger of the rod hand as the line turns over on the presentation cast. Then the slack line is removed as the nymph lands on the stream or a second before. By using long slow strips with your line hand as the nymph drifts back downstream you will have a tight line on the nymph and you can instantly see the strike on the indicators or bright butt of the leader and set the hook on the trout.
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