I spent Saturday morning on the Farmington River with Aaron getting some instruction on Euro nymphing which is something I have been wanting to do for a year now - thanks to this site and reading all the posts on Euro Nymphing I decided it was something I just had to try.

Previously I only used an indicator and had some success with it, but I seem to have more problems than success. Many of my attempts at indicator nymphing would lead me skunked and normally frustrated in trying to figure out what I was doing wrong only to switch over to my trust wooly bugger to catch fish in spots I just nymphed through with no sign of a fish. I think most of my problems to date have come from concentrating way to much on my indicator verses my flies which was causing me nothing but problems with my line control so I was really excited to try out the euro nymphing techniques and an inline sighter as I felt I would have much more control over my fishing with this method.

I must admit that it didn't take me long to get the hang of it and I truly felt I had much more control of my flies as well. Now it may be all in my head, but production was way up for me with this method. Ofcourse having Aaron around to instruct me and bonk me on the head when needed was probably the real factor in my success. ;D

I was amazed at how much casting I was actually doing as opposed to lobbing my flies and indicator into position. The long leader threw me off a bit with my casting but I got it figured out some (I only hooked one tree). I really got a work out for sure. What I really liked is that with the inline sighter I always had a true indication of what I was doing, where my flies where and ofoucrse I liked having contact with the flies and not only could I feel what was going on I could see every little tell tale sign with that coiled sighter. I do a lot of dead drifting with my buggers when fishing so this method just seemed more natural for me. There were times early on Saturday just starting out when I caught myself thinking ....set the hook...but I didn't set the hook. It was funny but I think that was due to the lack of success I've had indicator nymphing so it took a few drifts for me to change my mind set and realize this was actually working, but once I did I was hooking up much more often.

I'm really glad I booked time with Aaron to work on this and I probably should have done the same for my indicator nymphing but seeing that seemed easier I just rolled on my own there. Aaron was very patient, spent plenty of time answering my questions and helping me not only learn euro nymphing but also fix any other bad habits I had created over the past few years. Even with the rain and dogging the lightening we had a great day with plenty of fish, many of them landed and a few lost (I lost a beauty - can't believe I didn't get thrown in the river on that one) and plenty more just plain missed. I can't wait to continue my euro nymphing on my own and I'm am certain I will be booking Aaron for a followup lesson, that is if he can put up with me again.

Aaron has all the pictures so I will post a report in the Connecticut section later. Aaron, thanks for an incredible day and for your patience and instruction. It is guides like you with a passion for this sport and desire to teach others that I got hooked on fly fishing 4 years ago.

Jim