Long Line Euro Nymphing Overview - June 2010 TPO Tip of the Month

[JUICE]

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[littlej81]

Aaron,

When you are fishing upstream at the beginning of the video fly line is on the water. At that point are you using a curly indicator? If so, what are you using to keep it floating? If not, how are you detecting strikes?

I have been using the curly indicator with success the second way you demonstrate.

[JUICE]

You can use any indicator that you are comfortable with. Any floatant will work.

[sipper]

Can anyone explain the advantage of the coiled indicator. I have never seen them until a few weeks ago when i saw AJ's clients using em on the Farmington. Is there a big advantage? How do they work? How is it dif from just watching the line? do they cause drag? are they hard to cast in wind? How are they dif from a more standard yarn indy? are they kinda like training wheels for new nymphers? I have no idea and am curious bcuz all the nymph talk is repiquing my interest in nymphing and I am gonna start bringing a nymph rig and dry rig w me. I have always just focused on the line but maybe this coiled thing is worth a go.

[Magnet]

Sipper,

As you have noticed there are many of Aaron's clients are fishing this technique on the Farmington quite successfully. I am one of those guys who have paid to learn these techniques. Now you seem to be an adept fisherman and could probably glean enough information from this site to put yourself in the game. Its is done all the time here. There was recently a fellow from Pa who was an excellent fisherman in his own right. Well he banged this site with about 250 posts with each one loaded with a plethera of questions regarding all aspects of euro-nymphing. Aaron gave him a ton of information over this forum and even befriended him and went fishing with him once. When the fellow got all the information he wanted he abruptly opted out of the forum.
You are obviously not that way as I have enjoyed many of your posts. Im sure you understand what I am driving at and please dont take offense. This is a guides web site and although there are lots of free flowing information here and you can certainly ask away and find what you need here, The best learning senareo is to take a technical guide session with Aaron. Below are Aaron's guide rates:

Wading-all day (includes lunch)
$225 one person
$275 two people

Wading – Half Day Guide

$150 one person
$225 two people

Driftboat – Trips

Full Day $350
1 or 2 people

[sipper]

Thanks mag, point well taken. Anyone wanna barter a half day of Euro-nymphing guidance for a half day of midge and terrestrial guidance? just kiddin. I just may have to contact AJ in Sept when I will be on the Deleware for three days fishing a stream that I am not at all familiar with. Until then its Trico time and I want to buy a new ten foot rod before I get back into nymphing. Doing the math it looks like I gotta come up w about $800 spare to cover a guide and new rod if I wanna have the right tool for the job.
As far as mooching info and bailing out. Not me. Learning and teaching is a two way street. I really would like to know whats up w that indicator tho......

[mesanomad]

Just search "coiled sighter" and you'll find plenty of information here already.

[littlej81]

Sipper,

Search coiled sighter as meso mentioned. They are not hard to make. Once you have one construct a leader from about 4' of .017 maxima, 2' .015 maxima, put curly sighter here (I attach with uni-knots), attach a straight length of flourocarbon here, and and attach nymphs. Of course you can change this leader formula to work for the way you cast, or buy yourself a knotless leader, cut off the tippet section, attach the curly, and attach the flourocarbon.

Unless you plan on fishing competitions, don't get hung up on not using split shot. Sure you may loose some sensitivity but not that much.

I typically cast my rig at a 45 degree angle upstream and track it back towards my position (arm outstretched) keeping the curly above the water (close to vertical). At any indication of a take the curly will respond. At times its tough to explain what you see in the curly, but set the hook.

Play around with the curly and decide how it works best for you. For instance, it can be floated on the surface for longer casts.

Don't worry about the new rod. You can do the same thing with your current rod for the most part. Companies make new specialized rods to take more of your money. If you fish for fun like I do, don't waste your money. Make a car payment instead.

Hope this helps a little.

[Magnet]

Little J,
You are out there making it happen and I can tell catching lots of fish. I know you are not a proponent of specialized equipment and that you have the ability to adapt to what your needs are with one rod. I agree also that making an extra car payment is a great idea instead of an expensive specialty rod. I really respect that mindset. As our minimalist friend Adam would say,"less is best!" However, there is a lot to be said for having the specialty rod if one has the discretionary dollars. I mean, would you pound in a finish nail with a mallet if you had access to a hammar and a nail set. Likewise, many guys want to get the best instruction on the technique right in the beginning and not waste valuable fishing time with a frustratingly long learning curve which may or may not end in success. Case in point, our own WWelz is a bonefied fish catching machine after learning from Aaron. Granted Welz was an experienced flyfisherman already so he took what Aaron showed him and blended it into his own style. An experienced guy like Sipper would do this as well I'm sure. Now I am not knocking your description of the technique as it is what works for you but a backing sighter might work just as well for the technique you describe. There are some subtlies and capabilities of the coiled sighter which would not come into play there. Most of the guys in our forum comunity are not going to hire Aaron. They are here to enjoy the interaction and hopefully learn enough to up their game. Juice's vision for this site is for it to be the most informative flyfishing place on the web. I think he has succeeded beyond even his own expectations. Aaron wants everyone to succeed as well. Justin and Aaron who met for the first time on a stream years ago together hatched the concept of TPO. That concept of learning and teaching has not changed. People come and go but they are the foundational constant. With that said, Aaron's detailed interaction with our questions is probably not in the best interest of his business as an instructional flyfishing guide. But TPO kind of has a life of its own and the exchange of ideas is key to maintaining the great community we have.

[JUICE]

It's a difficult balance for Aaron between his generous spirit to share the information he has accumulated and attempting to not harm his guiding/teaching business. I don't envy the situation.

For me, I just like providing an "open space" for people to discuss things related to fishing. I hope people take advantage of it more even if Aaron isn't present to chime in. We have plenty of knowledge between us all.