Skip to content

Rivers

All riversHatch chartWhite River, ArkansasDavidson RiverPenns CreekLetort Spring RunFarmington RiverPere Marquette RiverNorth Umpqua RiverDeschutes RiverSan Juan RiverFryingpan RiverYellowstone RiverBighorn RiverTraun RiverBeaverkill RiverRío GrandeGreen River below Flaming GorgeRiver WharfeHenry's Fork of the SnakeSoča RiverAu Sable RiverTongariro RiverSouth Platte — Deckers and CheesmanRiver TestMadison River

Insects

Brown troutRainbow troutMountain whitefishBrook troutCutthroat troutSteelheadEuropean graylingMarble troutSea-run brown troutResident brown trout

Techniques

Reading waterMatching a hatchNymphingDry-fly presentationStreamer fishingSwinging a flyCatch and release, done properlyTying flies you will actually fish

About

AboutContactPrivacyTerms
RiffleRiver ledger
English 中文
Techniques
White River, ArkansasDavidson RiverPenns CreekLetort Spring RunFarmington RiverPere Marquette RiverNorth Umpqua RiverDeschutes RiverSan Juan RiverFryingpan RiverYellowstone RiverBighorn RiverTraun RiverBeaverkill RiverRío GrandeGreen River below Flaming GorgeRiver WharfeHenry's Fork of the SnakeSoča RiverAu Sable RiverTongariro RiverSouth Platte — Deckers and CheesmanRiver TestMadison River
Brown troutRainbow troutMountain whitefishBrook troutCutthroat troutSteelheadEuropean graylingMarble troutSea-run brown troutResident brown trout
Reading waterMatching a hatchNymphingDry-fly presentationStreamer fishingSwinging a flyCatch and release, done properlyTying flies you will actually fish

Technique · Any time nothing is rising, which is most of the time.

Nymphing

Getting a fly to the bottom and knowing when a fish has taken it.

By The Fly Desk

Depth before pattern

Most nymphing failures are depth failures, not pattern failures. If you are not occasionally snagging the bottom, you are not fishing where the fish are. Add weight or lengthen the tippet until you tick bottom once every few casts, then back off by a third.

The take is a change of rhythm

With a tight-line rig, the indicator does not stop — it changes speed, twitches, or hesitates for a quarter second. Strike on any interruption in the drift's rhythm, in the direction the line is already moving, and keep the rod tip low so the hook sets in the fish's jaw rather than pulling the fly out of it.

Fish the full drift

The most common wasted opportunity in nymphing is picking up early. The last two metres of a drift, when the fly is rising off the bottom, is where the largest number of takes happen. Let the drift run until the line is directly downstream of you before you lift.

Rivers in the ledger where this applies