Lessons learned Euro Nymphing the Norfork River

**wwelz** · 04-05-2011, 10:22 AM

I have been fishing the White and the Norfork for about one month. Lately I have been focusing on the Norfork because they are not running much water here . This run taught me a few things.

The Water is not deep in this section maybe three feet at the deepest point. The flow during low water release periods is very slow. I was having trouble with this spot until I found the problem. Fish in this water are hypersensitive to current speed. Presenting your nymph at the exact speed of the current is critical here. I found this out because I weigh all my nymphs . I caught many more fish when I switched to a nymph that was .20 of a gram lighter. I have not had much luck speeding up my nymphs or slowing them down by leading the fly more aggressively. I find I do much better when the nymph is the proper weight for the current and depth of the water I am fishing. I do better than most of the people who indicator nymph here because they suspend their nymphs matching the top current speed but not getting the proper speed for the deeper currents. Sometimes the indicator guys do kick my butt .

Beadheads are a good for getting your fly down deep quickly but in water like this I like to tie my nymphs with just a little lead and a lot of bulk . The goal is to have a presentation that is a long drift in slow current with the nymph obtaining a sort of neutral buoyancy at the appropriate depth.
I ignore good advice as we all do . Aaron told me a while ago that sometimes you just have to go to 6x. I tried it on the Norfork and my fish count went way up. I did loose a nice Cutthroat however when I was too lazy to switch back to 5x in some faster current.

I ran into Davy several times down here and I would like to thank him for his very helpful suggestions. He helped me with the caddis hatch and gave me a better understanding of how the river flow is regulated.

I managed several Grand slams. That is catching all four species of trout in the same day.

**Magnet** · 04-05-2011, 10:48 AM

One thing on the indicator guys you mention. When the rig is optimally set up, the indicator moves slower than the surface current and the flies are moving at the proper velocity given the depth of the presentation. But one can see your point about the minimal adjustment needed in the weighting of your flies. Nice report Bill. You sure get your fishing in.
PS Billy... Did you have to include that Brookie pose? No luv for that one. Keep up the reports though. Hope you be back for the TPO get together in May.

**whheff** · 04-05-2011, 04:16 PM

Nice report. I will have to try your suggestions. Thanks.

**wwelz** · 04-06-2011, 08:33 AM

Magnet - You are absolutely right on two points. One -that was a lousy picture of the Brookie . Two when an indicator rig is set up properly it goes slower than the current. The suspension technique mentioned in my post is method of indicator fishing that I have not seen before. The fly is hung about 8 to 12 inches below the indicator without any weight. Sometimes they use a big fly like a woolly bugger with a heavy beadhead. The presentation is directly downstream. The nymph drifts with the current for a distance until then the fishermen stops the drift. The nymph or wooly bugger is held in this position for a time and the process is repeated. This tactic can be deadly at times if the fish are not hugging the bottom current. I am posting this picture of a Cutthroat I caught on a size 22 Blue Winged Olive to compensate for the crumby Brookie Pic. I am not very good at dry fly fishing but I have resolved to work hard on that this year.