Bounce Nymphing

[agbff]

Reading an old issue of Fly Fisherman and they have an article on bounce nymphing. Basically the fishing technique is the same but with a different strategy of rigging up. The rig they have sketched out is a indi with a leader that is three times as deep as the water you are fishing. Then they are tying on nymphs perpendicular to the line with tippet 2"-5" droppers. Below the droppers on the leader about 12 inches below the bottom nymph they have three spilt shot tied on at the end of the leader. So your splits are "bouncing" along the bottom, with your flies suspended jsut above. I have never heard of this technique before and wonder if anyone uses it on the bow? I feel that the spilt shot right on the bottom would be picking up cabbage left and right. Also, if your fishing 6 feet of water then you need and 18ft leader.... seems like it would be really hard to see a strike with that much leader. What do you guys think?

[DutchDryfly]

This year I saw a guide in Austria fish like that. He used it to get deep quick but there was another, more important, reason.

I found out why he used this setup after about one hour. I lost 25 nymphs in that hour and he was still fishing the same nymph.

If he got stuck on the bottom, happened a lot as there were some kind of woven mats I did not know about, all he lost was his splitshot.

He just applied new splitshot and he was fishing again.

Unfortunately he caught nothing and I did.

[SilverDoctor]

This year I saw a guide in Austria fish like that. He used it to get deep quick but there was another, more important, reason.

I found out why he used this setup after about one hour. I lost 25 nymphs in that hour and he was still fishing the same nymph.

If he got stuck on the bottom, happened a lot as there were some kind of woven mats I did not know about, all he lost was his splitshot.

He just applied new splitshot and he was fishing again.

Unfortunately he caught nothing and I did.

 

I use that method fishing close in for high sticking at one time. It was popular years ago Moved on to other methods though.

[Brownstone]

Ive seen lots of videos from the US where they nymph those bounce rigs, (minus the 3 times leader). I use that same set up without the indie with a shortline to fish deep fast runs usually with lots of weight >3 BB splitties, works great but I seldom run anything longer than a 12 foot leader, I can;t imagine that set up being to friendly to cast/fish, with a leader 3 times your depth. As for picking up cabbage, thats where the fish are and thats where you want your rig to be, I find weight on top of your rig better than below, then you know all your flies are near bottom.

[lonefisher]

Can't say I have used exactly what you have described there but 2 techniques that are very similar. What I do I would not really associate with fishing nymphs UNDER an indicator....more like fishing nymphs adjacent to an indi. Kinda more like fishing a tight line... but with the tight line between the indi and the flies not all the way from fly to your hands.....

 

Its not a technique I like/use on all waters but I do really like it in certain situations and currents...... Tough to explain that but i'll try. When fishing a slow hole it can leave to much slack..... when fishing picky trout its not a great dead drift...... when fishing a major current seam or eddy the fly and the indi are rarely going to drift in a complimentary manner...... BUT when fishing a fast rocky bottomed run especially one that curves around you creating slightly slower current closer to you it can work pretty well. Its kinda like active nymphing in the fact that there is tension on the leader...... (there kinda has to be as otherwise you would not detect the hits due to slack in the long leader) but its not totally like active nymphing as you are not always trying to impart extra movement on the flie's.

 

There is one prime place on the bow where I often use this kinda setup. Its a nice fast curve that transistions from a couple feet deep on the inside of the curve (where I am) to several feet deep out farther into the faster part of the curve. The bottom has a lot of large bouldery rocks that create nice lies for the trout well out into the fast water which warrants fishing a relatively large area as opposed to just the inside seam. This typa rig lets you rig once and fish the entire corner. To fish it in this place I cast up and accross immediatley mend downstream (somewhat counter intuitive) the mend establishes the tension in the leader. This tension keeps the flies and weight from really settling down into the rocks and snagging but the long leader and abundance of weight does keep it deep. The indi is led somewhat faster then the current around it because of the downstream mend and for most of the drift leads the flies thus retaining the tension. The curve of the rivers flow in this case masks the un-natural tension . The flys which are farther out in the fast current are partly being led by the indi while at the same time swinging around it. The tension in the leader makes the hits immediately noticable. The fast water also gives the fish less time to be picky which I think helps and the indi is far from being directly above the flies so is less likely to spook the fish...... In this spot and others where I use it there are times when this seems to be superior and times where in the same spot a more normal nymphing setup works better.

 

I'm not really sure whether this is much like the article you read or not but it might be similar and like any technique used in the right spots at the right times it can be deadly.

[toolman]

This nymphing technique is known as Spanish Nymphing, using what is sometimes refered too as a Bolero rig...(sp?).

The point fly is usually the heaviest, but some fisherman use split shot instead of a point fly. (I don't)

I've had success with this method using 20' leaders, during hatch season, when the trout are willing to sit/feed higher in the water column, using emergers on the top droppers and a heavy SJW/Clouser/Stonefly nymph as the point fly, ect. But, if the trout have their noses stuck in the rocks, then that's where all of the nymphs need to be as well and you will lose a few flys. The differences between many of the European nymphing techniques often appear to be very subtle, but when used in the appropriate situations, for the correct water type/conditions, they are very effective.

 

http://www.bluequillangler.com/BQA-Univers...nish-Nymphing_2

[FlashGordon]

it would be a great way to put emergers 'up' in the water.....and the weight would slow the drift

 

also you could almost get away with not using an indie....kinda high stick a tight line

[DonAndersen]

Hot Damn - there is a name for everything.

 

Used this technique about 50 years ago fishing with maggots for whitefish on the Highwood. For the bottom weight, I originally used 3 nails captured by a rubber band. The band broke when I hung up. Graduated to using speedometer cables in short lengths. Found that they would "snake" through the rocks. After speedometer cables got hard to find, I used steel clothes line wire. Nobody in the neighborhood was safe.

 

As a brief aside, steel is a lot less damaging to the stream and downstream users than lead shot.

 

catch ya'

 

 

Don

 

[toolman]

LOL...Yeah, there's been a lot of re-inventing the worm, over the years, Don..

[Jayhad]

it sounds as if this technique is nearly identical to how west coasters "bottom bounce" roe sacks...... minus the roe sacks

[monger]

Don, your technique works great with a piece of coat hanger instead of nails. This is "Bowness nymphing".

 

Back to weights on the bottom:

I know a guy who fishes like this, but he uses a heavy, full sink line. He usually fishes a streamer and a worm above his string of split shot. He fishes this set up on the swing (he's from the East Coast). I'm amazed how many fish will chase after a worm on a fast swing.

It's kind of like guys who troll in lakes with chironomids. I gave a guy some chironomids at Bullshead one summer. The next day he comes and tells me now many fish he caught trolling with his electric motor on his pontoon and a full sink line using a #16 Chironomid. Sometimes the fish just haven't read all the proper technique books.

[tgo]

I used this method (sort of) last year for a bit, mostly in the faster deep stuff, but in most situations I wouldn't use it. I do love how the split slides off when you snag as opposed to losing the fly, it does get it down nice and fast too. I also liked it because it was easy to cast with more weight at the end of the leader. I never used 3x the depth though, can't imagine it would be easy if you're fishing 6' of water.

[SilverDoctor]

The method has been around. I remember reading a method like it in a book by the legendary angler Lee Wulff quite a few years back. It's also talked about in the book the "Curtis Creek Manifesto", circ. 1978 (hilarious book) and I remember reading about it in much earlier books also. I'm sure it's one of those thing that gets re invented under another guise, perhaps with a twist and then found to be "original". Kind of like changing a small thing on an original fly pattern than having 4 pages dedicated to this radical new fly in a fishing magazine.

 

This is one of a number of ways of presenting a fly close to the feeding lanes. to Lots of great methods out there, including this one. Everyone should give it a try to see if it fits you way of fishing.

 

Humm must try Don's speedometer cables, but 8 feet of speedometer cables must be hard to cast.