12-04-2012, 09:23 PM
lastly:
[center]DRAG
[left]Maintaining a natural drift is as important as having your flies in front of the fish.
Drag impedes the natural drift of a nymph pattern, especially since water speeds change from the surface down to the bottom. Drag is much more obvious on a dry fly than it is on a nymph. Water is fastest near the surface
and slows the closer it gets to the bottom----a natural phenomenon called velocity gradient. Fish and insects often live in near zero-velocity area along the bottom called the boundary layer. Living near the bottom allows them to expend less energy fighting the current while collecting food. You want your nymph to drift at the speed of the water down deep, not at the speed of the water on the surface.
Knowing this you need to adjust your presentation to counter the velocity gradient through the water column. It's not as simple as just mending your line to get your bobber to drift naturally. You must mend the strike indicator itself to adjust the angle of the leader below it. A small roll cast or large mend upstream of the flies, preventing the indicator from pulling the flies downstream. With the indicator upstream of the flies, you remove tension on the leader, allowing your flies to sink much more quickly. Without moving the indicator upstream of the flies, it will almost always be downstream of the flies, pulling them along. While your indicator may be floating at a dead drift, your flies are likely off the bottom and moving along at the speed of the surface, which is much faster than insects near the bottom. This relationship will only get more pronounced with deeper presentations, making regular mends more critical.
Knowing how to balance the three dimensions of presenting nymphs will help you catch trout more consistently. Understanding the interaction of depth, weight, and drag is the key to making more effective nymph presentations---even if you don't use indicators.
Adjusting your leader length, managing weight, and learning to mend consistently will keep your flies in the strike zone longer, leading to more hookups
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[center]DRAG
[left]Maintaining a natural drift is as important as having your flies in front of the fish.
Drag impedes the natural drift of a nymph pattern, especially since water speeds change from the surface down to the bottom. Drag is much more obvious on a dry fly than it is on a nymph. Water is fastest near the surface
and slows the closer it gets to the bottom----a natural phenomenon called velocity gradient. Fish and insects often live in near zero-velocity area along the bottom called the boundary layer. Living near the bottom allows them to expend less energy fighting the current while collecting food. You want your nymph to drift at the speed of the water down deep, not at the speed of the water on the surface.
Knowing this you need to adjust your presentation to counter the velocity gradient through the water column. It's not as simple as just mending your line to get your bobber to drift naturally. You must mend the strike indicator itself to adjust the angle of the leader below it. A small roll cast or large mend upstream of the flies, preventing the indicator from pulling the flies downstream. With the indicator upstream of the flies, you remove tension on the leader, allowing your flies to sink much more quickly. Without moving the indicator upstream of the flies, it will almost always be downstream of the flies, pulling them along. While your indicator may be floating at a dead drift, your flies are likely off the bottom and moving along at the speed of the surface, which is much faster than insects near the bottom. This relationship will only get more pronounced with deeper presentations, making regular mends more critical.
Knowing how to balance the three dimensions of presenting nymphs will help you catch trout more consistently. Understanding the interaction of depth, weight, and drag is the key to making more effective nymph presentations---even if you don't use indicators.
Adjusting your leader length, managing weight, and learning to mend consistently will keep your flies in the strike zone longer, leading to more hookups
Quote:Martin Koenig is an obsessive angler with a master's degree in fisheries. He is currently working as a biologist in Boise, Idaho.[/left]
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