Control. Options. Precision. These are the most attractive aspects of fishing a tight line system, and the sighter is the key to it all.
A sighter is more than a strike indicator. It also shows depth, angle, speed and contact. It points to our flies and takes away the guesswork. For an angler who learns to read all of this on the sighter, that colored line above the water provides a most significant advantage to the underwater game . . .
When I start wondering why the fishing seems slow, I first check my distance. Have I started creeping the cast too far beyond that perfect baseline? If so, I reel in a couple turns. I wade closer, staying behind the trout and being cautious with my approach.
Mike had landed on a common phrase that usually triggers a response from me. It’s one of the myths of fly fishing, and it carries too much consequence to let it go. Hook sets are not free. There’s a price to pay. Oftentimes that cost is built into our success. And other times, the costs of too frequently setting the hook pile up, stealing away our limited opportunities . . .
Fly distance restrictions unnecessarily limit the common angler from taking full advantage of tight line systems. If you choose to fish under FIPS rules, do so by choice, with your eyes wide open and for good reason. Take a fresh look at why you are choosing your flies, your leaders, your fly rods and your tactics. And be sure that you’ve thought through both the benefits and the consequences inherent.
Eggs drift slowly. They roll over the rocks with a neutral buoyancy of sorts, ready to rest and settle on the rocks, but easily transported by whatever currents pick them up . . .
Playing it safe will have you cautiously trying to keep your egg pattern from sticking and hanging up. And you might get really good at bringing that little morsel through the strike zone, without touching and snagging up at all. But you won’t catch trout . . .
For effective, convincing underwater presentations of flies to a trout, the tight line advantage is the cornerstone concept. Nothing else is more important.
Because a river is composed of changing and moving seams, defeating that unwanted drag is the nymph angler’s ongoing battle. How do we defeat that drag? With the tight line advantage. Watch this video to see it in action.
Choosing the right indicator is the first step to setting up and effective system. Balance between indy and weight is the key.
Show up on time, do your job and have a little fun while you’re at it. Then go home and do it all over again tomorrow. That’s a blue collar worker. It’s a Pheasant Tail with a CDC collar. It has a little disco for the rib and a hot spot collar. It’s simple, reliable and effective . . .
We’ve let the fly drop on a free fall, now we help it drift by leading it. Stop its progress downward (don’t let it drop anymore), and guide it downstream. Help it drift.
Remember two things that a nymph should do when it hits the water, and separate them into two actions with your fly rod. Let it drop and then help it drift. That’s great fishing . . .
I don’t like using a rig that forces me into a water haul as my only option. I’m happy to use the water haul as the occasional problem solver, but for day-to-day casting, no thanks.
Presenting natural, convincing or looks-like-real-food drifts is the responsibility of every angler. Whether the flies are light or heavy, whether we’re drifting weighted flies, drop shot or split shot, it’s our ability to adjust, to refine and endlessly improve that keeps us wading into a river anew with each trip.
It’s why we love the nymphing game . . .