Sight nymphing

**Clema74** · 03-24-2010, 10:03 AM

Hello guys,

just a little question which came on my mind reading the post here.

You never talk about sight nymphing.
I was wondering why...

is this technique used in USA? And if not why?

I was wondering because here that one of the preferate nymphing technique.
" french nymphing when you must, sight nymphing when you can"...

what do you think about this technique of sight nymphing?

**tim_y** · 03-24-2010, 11:04 AM

Hi Clema,

When you say sight nymphing, you mean actully spotting the fish in clear / shallow water and then watching for the take? I do that quite a bit on some Catskill streams, but I find that technique is greatly limited to the conditions at hand. For every couple spots where possible, there are a ton more that you can fish indi or euro. It is great when it works, but in my experience, you'll be walking over a lot of fishable water if looking for areas to sight nymph.

**Clema74** · 03-24-2010, 11:12 AM

"you mean actully spotting the fish in clear / shallow water and then watching for the take?"
yes exactly that.

It seems this technique isn't so popular there.
Of course this is very depending of water type and light condition. But for me it's a very exciting fishing...
Euro nymphing is very efficient but not so exciting.

**Troutastic** · 03-24-2010, 12:42 PM

The tailwaters here in Colorado are VERY clear in most spots, and during the low water in the winter you can definitely do this. I'm still rather novice at the technique, although sometimes on sunny clear days I'll take the indicator off.

I must admit, it is extremely exciting, very much in the same way that dry fly fishing is, to stalk a fish in the shallows, present your fly to the fish and watch for any flashes/movement to set the hook. I've caught a few fish this winter by sight fishing, and it is bar-none the best kind of nymph fishing there is.

It is definitely dependent on the conditions though. Low light is not so good, as the fish are harder to spot. Also, any wind creating ripples or breaking up the flatter, calmer waters make it almost impossible. It gets windy around here as well so there is usually only a short window each day (during the winter) that this can be accomplished.

Even on a sunny day, sometimes I'll leave the indicator on. I will still be sight fishing, but use the indicator more as a point of reference as to where my flies are in relation to the fish I'm watching. Wintertime = micro nymphs, and I definitely cannot see them drifting under water 99% of the time (unless I have a bright egg pattern on or something like that). It allows for more accurate hook setting.

Like I said, I'm still somewhat of a novice at this, so I'm very interested to hear about others' techniques and how successful they are at this tactic.

**AaronJasper** · 03-24-2010, 10:20 PM

I agree Colorado is sight nymphing paradise. However, we do have some great opportunies for sight fishing to trout here in the east. The Delaware offers excellent opportunities, but it's no like Colorado where certain rivers have pigs all over the place! Troutastic and sherpab are very fortunate to have that type of fishing right in their backyard?

We might have good sight fishing opportunities on the Farmington this summer.

There are few things as exciting as watching a trout, especially a large one that is feeding on nymphs, open his mouth abd take yours! It's easily as big a rush as a fish taking a dry, or whacking a streamer!

**Clema74** · 03-25-2010, 05:04 AM

Oh if it's possible on Farmington river in summer, that's a good new!

I'm surprised because I didn't see any post concerning sight nymphing.
So I was wondering.

Some good anglers are able to sight nymph in many conditions, with different colors of polarizing glasses.

Of course this depends a lot of conditions.
Perhaps here the rivers a most adapted (see the picture of la Bienne in my other post), clear and slow water.

Troutastic, I don't understand why you use an indicator for sight nymphing... Personnaly I just follow the circle done on the water by the falling nymph. As I can see where is my nymph and the speed it goes... And after focused an the fish behavior.
But I'm not a specialist.

We've got some paradise for that here: la Bienne, l'Albarine, la Loue, etc...

Before trying, I didn't understand why people was so addicted to this technique. After catching my first fish... I understood. It's an incredible emotion: hidden like an indian, seeing the fish feeding, focused on his behavior.
With dry, there's no comparing emotion. You're right Aaron.
But this could turn you mad. it's not so easy finding the right nymph, right size, right weight... in clera waters the trouts are more selectives...

What kind of leader do you use for that? especially the tippet lenght?
For me a 2m long tippet quite thin. In order the nymph could sink naturally.