The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Not long ago I had a client on the river, a most pleasant older gentleman. He had fished for years on many of the best rivers and with the most knowledgeable guides. When I told him we would be fishing mostly with nymphs he made a face.

But he was enough of a fisherman to know that, when it's time to nymph, you nymph.

It only took a few minutes of watching him fish to understand why he, like so many other fisherman, had an aversion to nymphing. He had never developed the same sensitivity for a nymph that he had for a dry fly. He fished with a heavy fly and a tight line. He banged the nymph along the bottom, striking every time it hesitated or hung up, constantly setting on false strikes as the over-weighted fly dragged through the gravel.

While I will not argue with the effectiveness of this style of nymphing (I know many practitioners who are extremely successful) I can certainly see why someone might find it a dull and insensitive way to fish. I prefer to fish more delicately, with lighter flies and a little more technique.

The first step in becoming more attuned to your nymph and its performance is developing a better understanding how nymphs sink and why. Galileo years ago, when he dropped all that different stuff of the leaning tower of Pisa, proved that objects of different mass all fall at the same rate. Ergo, a quarter-ounce sinker and a BB split shot will arrive at the bottom at the same time. But wait a minute - everyone know that's contrary to fisherman's logic.

Science is saying one thing while practical application says quite another.

To resolve this conflict we need to take a look at the other element involved: resistance.

A feather falls slower than bowling ball. The feather has resistance; its large mass and small weight cause it to be slowed in its decent. In fly fishing, puff on the line is the most critical source of resistance. This pull, much more than the weight of the nymph, is what affects sink rate. Even the slightest, seemingly insignificant pull will effect the performance of your fly.

Once the simple truth about flies, weight and resistance is understood the focus of your nymphing will change. At the start of each drift, in order to sink a lighter fly to the bottom you want to "release" the fly - slack the leader in order to remove all resistance.

You can use a tuck cast - a simple overpowered cast that drives the weighted fly down and under, tucking or slacking it from the tip of the line. Or, you can mend the line, simply lift the rod and throw a little a little slack out toward the indicator and the tip of the line. Either method works.

The fly, on a slack leader, goes to the bottom like a brick.

Once the fly is sunk, small resistance on the line will not affect it as dramatically. Still, you should try to fish the fly through the drift with a minimum impact from the line. Watch the indicator for the take rather than trying to "feel" the fish on the line.

Once you start to focus on tension on the line rather than weight of the fly as the key element, nymphing will suddenly become a lot more fun to do. You will feel the fly along the bottom more, have fewer hangups and your fishing will be more skilled and elegant.