Nymphing W/ The Big Stick

[alhuger]

All,

 

If the weather cooperates (big if there..) I am headed out to fish the last two days of next week. I plan to nymph mostly, are there any special considerations particular to doing this with the two hander? Any lessons learned or suggested configurations would be appreciated. I am also bringing out a new rod for testing it and I plan to be throwing streamers with sink tips although from reading the fishing reports that does not seem to be really productive right now.

 

-al

[maxwell]

hey al stick with your standard depths and leader setups when nymph fishing..one thing too keep in midn is with teh longer stick you can break off lighter tippet on teh hooksets no problem if u want..just ease up on the strikes and you should be fine...ive bin sticking with 3x 4x if necessary..... ive bin slammin fish on strteamers in teh earyl mornings swung and in teh late afternoon-evenings stripped........

[toolman]

Which rod/line will you be using for nymphing?

[speyghillie]

Hi Al,

I'm sure the big rod will be fine for Nymph fishing, remember the big rod can be brilliant fun for Dapping in streams and Lochs/lakes , i alway thought it would be great out of a float tube , boat or just from the shore.

Dapping is an old Scottish loch style of fishing with blown braid and allows you just to land a fly on the water nothing else, it really is the closest thing to a live insect landing on the water, you just lift the fly in the air and place it down on the water,and thats where the big rod comes into its own ,kind of like fishing a fly with a sail, a great way to fish when there is a breeze, and to see the fish come flying out of the water to take the fly is great fun, there is a couple of different styles , but in the summer months, its really effective and great fun.

I will bring some dapping floss and flies with me next month when i'm at the Calgary show, if i'm not at my stand i will be at Nile Creek stand filling my pockets.

Gordon.

[ogilvie]

What do you mean filling your pockets???!!!Thanks for the laugh..I needed that..For those of you that may have the delight to know my wife Val...she is a Brit' born within hearing distance of some Bell(Cockney),,,anyway,she has "qued" her entire life and when we first met she had me 6 hours early at the airport(last Time),anyway,we are off today and she is chaseing me about the house to leave way too early so...thanks for the laugh...of course I'm doing everything to stall...very good at that !

Life is great...have a good new year!

High Sticking is as Gordon says a great way to nymph...here on the Island we have a few places where we can do this on the larger rivers and very effective...

OPPPSSSS she's behind me..have to gooooooo

[alhuger]

hey al stick with your standard depths and leader setups when nymph fishing..one thing too keep in midn is with teh longer stick you can break off lighter tippet on teh hooksets no problem if u want..just ease up on the strikes and you should be fine...ive bin sticking with 3x 4x if necessary..... ive bin slammin fish on strteamers in teh earyl mornings swung and in teh late afternoon-evenings stripped........

 

Cool, thanks Max. You have any problem with turnover w/ the swivel? I am thinking on using intermediate sink on the streamers, sound right?

[Guest bigbadbrent]

I've used type 6 and 8 on the bow, anything more really catchs up a lot (like t-14..which is useable, but catches the bottom like crazy)

[alhuger]

Which rod/line will you be using for nymphing?

 

The rod will either be my 5/6 TF DC or my Sage Z-Axis 7wt. Either way I will be using a Delta AF 6/7 line. For the streamers I'll likely use the new Beulah and the Elixir line if I have them by then.

[alhuger]

Hi Al,

I'm sure the big rod will be fine for Nymph fishing, remember the big rod can be brilliant fun for Dapping in streams and Lochs/lakes , i alway thought it would be great out of a float tube , boat or just from the shore.

Dapping is an old Scottish loch style of fishing with blown braid and allows you just to land a fly on the water nothing else, it really is the closest thing to a live insect landing on the water, you just lift the fly in the air and place it down on the water,and thats where the big rod comes into its own ,kind of like fishing a fly with a sail, a great way to fish when there is a breeze, and to see the fish come flying out of the water to take the fly is great fun, there is a couple of different styles , but in the summer months, its really effective and great fun.

I will bring some dapping floss and flies with me next month when i'm at the Calgary show, if i'm not at my stand i will be at Nile Creek stand filling my pockets.

Gordon.

 

Hey Gordon, that sounds pretty cool. I would love to try that on the lakes I fish. Especially on the midge and sedge hatches. Looking forward to seeing it. BTW - Are you bringing VAC RACs?

[alhuger]

I've used type 6 and 8 on the bow, anything more really catchs up a lot (like t-14..which is useable, but catches the bottom like crazy)

Cool, thanks Brent. I am surprised that 8 IPS is not catching up on the bottom, good to know.

[maxwell]

hey al swivels are no problem on teh turn overs with me..ive bin using a taped leaderat about 6 ft indi to swivel....as for sink tips your intermediate will be fine..t 6 and 8 are good in swinging down and across situations in teh 9 and 12ft range ive bin messing around with if you are casting more upstream giving the fly more time too sink you may be finding bottom faster...i find it really slows down the swing fishing down with a longer sinktip tho..when im doing some stripping when streamer fishing i use 3 ft of t14 too get it down and have a nice sink on the pause, i find longer sinktips stripping generate more slack and have the flies ride off the bottom a little more....

[toolman]

Al,

I often fish a nymph/indicator rig with my Delta 6/7 line, as I did today with my Loop 7116. I used a hand tied, knotted, 6.5'- 3x Fluro Carbon leader, to a #6 Red Wire wrapped SJW, then 16" of 4x tippet to a #16 Copper John and another 16" of 4x tippet to a #18 rubber legged Pheasant Tail as the point fly. I tie off the hook bends to each dropper fly and place my indicator at the top of the leader butt, where it meets the fly line. Today the indicator was set about 5' to the first fly (SJW). I use Frog Hair Fluro Carbon, for leader materials and tippets, for all of my nymphing and most of my sub surface fishing.

The 6.5' Fluro leader I tied, is made up of roughly ... 2.5'-16lb./ 2'-12lb./1'-10lb/1'-8lb., using 3 loop surgeons knots, then tie a Perfection loop in the Butt end of the leader, for an easy loop/loop connection with your fly line.

The type of water that I usually fish in the winter, is slow to medium speed, medium depth (3'-4'), with shoreline and subsurface structure, often very close to the shoreline, so be stealthy and High stick whenever you can, to get the best drag free presentations, with as little line disturbance on the calm flat water. I never wade in the winter, always Spey casting or high sticking from the shoreline.

For swinging flies, same type of water, using mostly unweighted/lightly weighted streamers, on type 3 tips for water that is medium speed and depth (3'-4') or I'll occassionally use a type 6 in the deeper, faster water (5'-6'). An intermediate is good for swinging in the slow, shallow water. I was using an intermediate recently, swinging a #14 Royal Coachman through the slow frog water that got a lot of grabs. Also, try swinging a couple of Midge Pupa on a 10' intermediate tip with a few feet of 4x-5x Fluro tippet to your first fly.

[albannachxcuileag]

(Speyghillie @ Dec 29 2007, 01:33 AM)

Hi Al,

I'm sure the big rod will be fine for Nymph fishing, remember the big rod can be brilliant fun for Dapping in streams and Lochs/lakes , i alway thought it would be great out of a float tube , boat or just from the shore.

Dapping is an old Scottish loch style of fishing with blown braid and allows you just to land a fly on the water nothing else, it really is the closest thing to a live insect landing on the water, you just lift the fly in the air and place it down on the water,and thats where the big rod comes into its own ,kind of like fishing a fly with a sail, a great way to fish when there is a breeze, and to see the fish come flying out of the water to take the fly is great fun, there is a couple of different styles , but in the summer months, its really effective and great fun.

I will bring some dapping floss and flies with me next month when i'm at the Calgary show, if i'm not at my stand i will be at Nile Creek stand filling my pockets.

Gordon.

 

Hey Gordon, that sounds pretty cool. I would love to try that on the lakes I fish. Especially on the midge and sedge hatches. Looking forward to seeing it. BTW - Are you bringing VAC RACs?

 

A little word on dapping.

 

I used a 17 ft telescopic dapping rod from time to time on the lochs back in Scotland and the fun you have with this set up is excellent. You have your main fly line and instead of a leader you have about 10 - 12 ft of Blow Line - this is a floss like material knotted every couple of feet and from this a tippet / leader of about 4 - 6 ft and a large bushy fly on the end. As said you let the breeze take this out and allow the fly to skip on the surface, takes when they happen are fast and savage and if you are not careful can result in break offs if you fish with too light a tippet material. The weather you need is a slight breeze because if the wind gets up too much it keeps the fly off the surface, a nice ripple helps a lot for this method.

Ireland used to be famous for dapping the live mayfly and daddy - kids would collect these from the banks of the loughs during the hatching season and sell them on to dappers for a good profit! Irish anglers would either hook a single mayfly or a couple at a time and dap these on loughs like Conn and Mask.

 

I will dig mine out and post a photo of the rod and the Blow Line to let you see what it looks like.

[speyghillie]

Hi Al,

I will have Vac-rac's with me at the show, all the different models, got some dapping rods and line in Vernon so will bring them with me to Cow Town.

Hope to have a bit of time for Steelheadin too.

Gordon.

[maxwell]

sounds good gord..them dapping lines sound cool...will u have the guide model in teh vac rac with the magnets?

[speyghillie]

Hi Maxwell,

I hope to have a few sets of the guide model, some one has asked for a set already can you guess who ? , will check how many of those i have ordered and if there is not that many will take one for you, just let me know which one, and i will put it aside for you.

www.vac-rac.com

Gordon.

[maxwell]

sounds great dude.. the double combo rack was the one i was looking at.... http://vac-rac.com/rack04.html

[dino]

Just curious, how much are these racks?

 

Dean

[speyghillie]

Hi Dino,

The cost of the Vac-rac's depends on which model, the standard model is around $120.00 to $180.00 for the double pro model, thats a slight increase on last year due to the Canadian dollar being as strong as it is, and the increase on import duty.

Gordon.

[Harps]

Hey Gordon, that sounds pretty cool. I would love to try that on the lakes I fish. Especially on the midge and sedge hatches. Looking forward to seeing it. BTW - Are you bringing VAC RACs?

 

 

If you can't wait, go buy a 50ft roll of flat dental floss... It works great for dapping, I've got trout, and all sorts of sunfish with it.

 

Floss, twice the length of the rod (I just tie it on my line), followed by a short section of tippet.

Let the wind toss the fly around and dance it on top of the water, its great to watch the smaller fish chase your fly around everytime it lifts off the water.

 

 

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthr...t=floss+dapping

[alhuger]

If you can't wait, go buy a 50ft roll of flat dental floss... It works great for dapping, I've got trout, and all sorts of sunfish with it.

 

Floss, twice the length of the rod (I just tie it on my line), followed by a short section of tippet.

Let the wind toss the fly around and dance it on top of the water, its great to watch the smaller fish chase your fly around everytime it lifts off the water.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthr...t=floss+dapping

 

 

Sweet, thanks Harps.