Short line nymphing guide?

[James W]

Anyone have a solid recommendation for a guide who's a real pro at the Czech/euro nymphing techniques?
Preferably on the upper sac, but that's not as important as expertise.

In advance, thanks!

[TaylerW]

Guide Doug Oulette has solid euro game.....

[Bull_Dog]

Anyone have a solid recommendation for a guide who's a real pro at the Czech/euro nymphing techniques?
Preferably on the upper sac, but that's not as important as expertise.

In advance, thanks!

Hey James, Rob Anderson here. I worked with Andy Burk at the old Reno fly shop for years. We used to teach classes on the Truckee back in the early 2000's on Czech and Euro style Nymphing. Andy is no longer in the business and we have no water on this side of the hill anyway. I learned very early in my fly fishing career from friend and former Reno Fly Shop guide Jay Cockrum. Although we were really more just "High Sticking and "Short Line Nymphing back then. What Andy and I did on the Truckee was more Euro proper and Jay helped us for years.

Andrew Harris at Confluence outfitters would be a great place to start depending on what you are really looking to learn. Andrew can also put you in contact with Jay Cockrum or you can PM me and I can give you his #.

Rob

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You can put "fly fishing guide" and their name in Google to find their web sites.

Nothing like a day on the water with one of these guys......

[Ralph]

I'd second Doug Oulette. He walks the walk when it comes to Euro. http://www.calvadaflyfishing.com

[Bob G]

I give a strong third recommendation to Doug Ouellette...Doug has an absolutely unparalleled expertise!

Good Luck, Bob

[Dan LeCount]

A bunch of guides from the Truckee area were influenced by Andy Burk and his temporary obsession with Czech nymphing. This obsession started in 2003 when the Great Outdoor games came to Reno. Pete Erickson from team USA came out for the games and was a friend of Andys. They fished a bit on the Truckee. During that time Andy was practically mr bobber from his Fly Shop in Redding days, so he probably had a big fuzzy yarn indicator setup with a 90 degree drop, whereas Pete had a shortline/czech setup. Pete fished behind Andy and cleaned up. Then, in the immortal words of Lefty Kreh, Andy said to himself "I gotta get me some of this." At that point, Andy went off the deep end looking for every bit of information he could get on the subject. Andy would read all sorts of obscure European fishing mags and DVDs and pick up tricks and share them with the rest of us. Almost all of us that worked with Andy, ended up helping with his clinics at one time or another. During Andys obsession, he befriended Vladi Trzebunia, the Polish angler who is largely credited for bringing this style to competitions and also many of the Czech team at the time. Personally I think Andy liked it so much, since it was a modification of what he did as a kid, but really who knows. I do know he got bored to hell with bobbers though.

Andy managed the Truckee River Outfitters shop at the time, and all the people involved in that shop absorbed many of the techniques from him. Matt Parisi then Jason Cockrum and Arlo Townshend were the head guides at the time. Josh Bigelsen, Tim Haddon and myself worked the shop, selling gear and developing flies. Rob Anderson managed the private water programs, travel agency and online aspect of the business.( Later on he and Andy would co manage the Reno Fly Shop and Josh and I would co manage the Truckee store. ) Doug Ouellette guided and managed the fly fishing portion of "The Ghillie" a little tackle shop with lures and flies across town. Right around this time frame, Steve Korbay, a regular at the Truckee store, opened up a fly tying business, almost exclusively dealing with European materials for competition style methods called Fly Tying Specialties.


Truckee area Czech Nymph/Short line Guides -

Jason "Jay" Cockrum- A fantastic short line nympher, and a great choice if you're looking for someone to show you those tactics on the waters north of Redding like the Pit or Upper Sac, but he also guides a bunch in the Truckee area. Great sighter of fish.

Doug Ouellette- A classic short line nympher, with probably the most experience with the techniques. He's also worked with Mike Sexton from team USA and is familiar with a lot of the newer variants. Probably caught more 2 foot plus fish then anyone using short line methods.

Matt "Gilligan" Coles- Matt high sticked back in the day, and has also worked a bunch with Doug O developing short line clinics. Quite possibly the most experienced with the CA side of the Truckee, especially the canyon stretch. Many of us have got clients to hook them, but I think Matt is one of the only guides to get a client to land a 30 plus inch fish on the CA side of the river.

Arlo Townshend- Josh Bigelsen and Arlo probably czech nymph fished the most with Andy Burk and consequently probably absorbed the most technique wise. Arlo is also just a "fishy-guy." The NV side of the Truckee is his stomping ground, but hes familiar with the whole system. I think Arlo absorbed a lot of Andys exploratory nature with fishing tackle as well, always quick to try out new stuff. Arlo also has a ton of big browns high sticked to his credit. Like Jay, he also has great eyes for sighting fish.

Steve Korbay- Steve is a czech/polish nymphing addict and has probably done this technique with the most consistency over the years. For a long while it was almost the only way he would fish. I'm not sure if he guides, but he used to periodically teach euro style clinics.

Mike Sexton- Former team USA member, Mike came to Reno around when Andy was fading out of the fly fishing business. Mike probably has the most familiarity with the straight up euro/competition styles and can catch pure numbers of fish as well as anyone anywhere, which is perfect for competitions. Mike works for the new Reno Fly Shop, which is a completely different business and ownership from the old one.

Dave Stanley- Although Dave hasn't used the straight euro or comp styles as much, Dave nymph fished a long time before bobbers. It seems like those that didn't learn on bobbers, have a natural knack for short lining(like DougO) Plus Dave's been fly fishing constantly for over 50 years, nuff said.

[Spicytuna1]

Dan,

Can you please go into more detail.

[James W]

Dan,

Can you please go into more detail.

Maybe not, that was an awesome response!! Now I've got some work to do and some great leads to follow . . .
THANK YOU ALL!!

[cdevine]

Maybe not, that was an awesome response!! Now I've got some work to do and some great leads to follow . . .
THANK YOU ALL!!

Dan, that scouting report was off the chart! The Truckee is a great river to learn czech style nymphing. So much pocket water and little runs. Very effective. We just need water!!!! Doug and Matt are the 2 guys I'm most familiar with. Can't go wrong. Arlo is a legend as well. I'm sure all of these guys are great.

I just got a 10ft 4wt SAGE ESN. Please snow this winter!

Just as a word of advice. Doug O is really good at this too. You need to get very comfortable with wading especially on the Truckee.

[Dan LeCount]

Dan,

Can you please go into more detail.

Sure Dave. lol

Czech nymphing was actually first brought into competitions by a Polish angler, Vladimir "Vladi" Trzebunia. The Czechs used a similar style and seemed to have their name attached to the method for some reason. Catchier name? Better marketing? Who knows.

Its actually a variation of a near 100 year old method used in northern California, developed by a native American (Wintu tribe I believe) named Ted Towendolly. He taught Ted fay, and Fay taught Joe Kimsey. The similarities to the Euro style are fairly remarkable, multiple heavily weighted flies, cast upstream on a short line, with a short leader and led through slots and along seams, generally in faster, turbulent rivers.

Its hard to determine if the Euros learned of the short line method from somebody from the states or if they evolved down a similar path just out of necessity. I'd have to double check, but there are probably some quasi obscure books from the states that might have discussed the methods and then been released in Europe like "Fishing the Nymph," by Jim Quick or one of Charlie Brooks books or maybe it's as simple as a traveling angler brought the styles back with him. Who knows.

[Bob G]

Hey Dan -

Your historical overview was the best. As always, thank you for your very solid and objective contributions to this Board!

Sincerely,

Bob

[Frank R. Pisciotta]

I concur; for sure Doug knows his stuff.

Additional, Local, Truckee, Pre-2000-Czech-Nymphin,“Shop” Guide”, History

Dan----Good stuff on the history of Euro/Czech nymphing in Europe/USA. Thanks. Also, a nice mention of post-2000, local history of Truckee “shop” guides. You are remise not mentioning any independent guides who started operating on this side of the CA/NV border prior to 2000. Some are still active.

You only mentioned post-2000 “shop” or “stabled” guides that operated exclusively out of the then Reno Fly Shop owned by Dave Stanley. If I recall correctly, that seasonal, satellite store-front shop opened in Truckee during the spring of 2000 and was called Truckee River Outfitters. The draw was Andy Burk. After several years he minimized his appearance in Truckee working out of the Reno Fly Shop. IMO, that is when the store-front lost a lot of its credibility because Andy was not present and possibly, a reason why it may have closed. (my guess only). At the time opening a fly angling shop in Truckee on the main tourist drive was very good business strategy; plus superb timing having been the first year of the new special regs on the Little Truckee. The exception to those post-2000 guides you mention is Matt Parisi and maybe Matt Gilligan.

Here is a shout-out to the pre-2000 independent guides:

Randy Johnson, John Marcacci, Joe Heuseveldt, Dax Messett, Ralph Cutter, Joe Cerniglia and those of the original “Guide Network”, (Truckee Guide NetWork); Brian Slusser, John Roberts and myself. During the late-80’s and into the ‘90’s Jon Baiocchi lived here but was not guiding here, now he does.

Be assured all were familiar with and practiced the Nor-Cal, classic short-line and/or high sticking popularized by Ted Fay on the Upper Sacramento. The aforementioned, this side of the CA/NV border, IMO, set the stage, established the lore of the regional CA fisheries around Truckee for those succeeding them. Some are still active, others have established fly angling schools, no longer guide and/or guiding very selectively with long-time repeat clients or previous attendees of their beginner clinics.

All the aforementioned were “pre-bobber” fly anglers. Bobbers appeared; discounting the foam Palsa or corkie indicators when? My recollection was, at the earliest, mid-‘90’s when the yarn, balloon and plastic indicators became popular. It was interesting to me observing that a lot of the post-2000 fly anglers became enamored with C nymphing because of Andy Burke’s sudden fascination and writing about such. I don’t believe post-2000’s anglers and guides were aware (…or even fly fishing at the time) of the Ted Fay method. Some of those newly arrived guides were known pejoratively amongst long-time, Truckee area fly anglers as “Andy Groupies”.

Personally I had to comment on this thread because, to me, your researched info and commented “in the day” history in Truckee area seemed to imply not much happened in the Truckee fly angling scene prior to 2000. Rest assured there were important players; both fly angling and fishery conservation-wise who set solid ground-work prior to 2000 for all of us to benefit. Everyone, low-profile fishery activists, old and new guides, has paid their dues in the Truckee area; some more than others. As for the past and present local Truckee guides; each possesses different skills and talents. Some will fade other will not.

A major influence that has occurred since 2000 is the Internet; most especially Social Media via blogs, websites and bulletin board such as this BB.

Frank R. Pisciotta

[TaylerW]

I love this post! So much good history!!

[Dan LeCount]

Sorry if you felt slighted or left out Frank, wasn't the intention. In case you missed it, the OP was asking -


Anyone have a solid recommendation for a guide who's a real pro at the Czech/euro nymphing techniques?
Preferably on the upper sac, but that's not as important as expertise.

In advance, thanks!

Frank, I know we've guided together and fished together a few times, but I don't think I've ever seen you short line or use euro style tactics in person. I'm sure you do, like many of the guides up here do.(and maybe you're fantastic at it) The people I listed I've seen use these styles in person with great effect, so that's why I gave them an endorsement. I also put up a little of the history as to why there's a bunch of people in the Truckee area that are familiar with Czech/euro styles. Although very similar to short lining, there are some differences, primarily in the rigging and flies. I didn't go into the entire history of guiding the Truckee, well because that wasn't what the conversation was about.

[Dan LeCount]

Well Frank, you're giving me an idea. It seems like folks are enjoying the history lesson, lets have some fun and hi jack the thread. Let's keep it good spirited and fun.


Classic Truckee guides

Joe Heuseveldt- Joe's schoolyard. Right off hwy 80, Joe would teach his clinics where Prosser creek dumped into the Truckee. A fan of simple flies and good technique, he usually had a birds nest or a humpy attached to his line if anything. Joe would sometimes hire me to do custom orders of humpies since he felt the commercial ones were too long. Joe was the favored guide for the guests of the San Francisco Fly Casters for many years. As true of a gentleman as they make, he is also a fantastic ballroom dancer.

Dave Bryans - Dave was a long time Reno resident, and one of he original guides when Dave Stanley started ownership of the Reno Fly Shop in 1982. He started guiding the area in the early 80s(81/82 ish) and was one of the earliest guides on the Little Truckee. A big fan of CDC dry flies and glass rods for light tippets. Dave has affected a lot of my tailwater and spring creek tactics and is one of the deadliest I've seen with a dry fly. Dave has long since retired from guiding. If you'll find him anywhere, its most likely in the tailout of the 610 pool, with his Lamiglas 4wt and white cowboy hat stuffed full of CDC dries and emergers.

Randy Johnson - Randy was one of the longest running guides in the area. He also had a part time job working for Joe Fisher at Fisher fly rods. Randy designed a bunch of high sticking rods, his favorite "the Schlong" was a 10' 4weight and was years ahead of its time. His hing-it nymphing setups were also pretty clever, allowing anglers to detect side strikes better then a traditional bobber. When Fisher closed doors, Randy bought out a ton of Joes old inventory. I picked up a few Fisher glass blanks off Randy just last year in fact. Nowadays Randy spends a lot of his time selling and making rods and chasing salmon along the lost coast.

"Sawmill" Joe Cerniglia - Joe ran a private lake on Northstars property called Sawmill. He would stock it full of big rainbows and charge rod fees like many norcal private water fisheries. After ice-out, every year Joe would come into the fly shop and have me and Josh Bigelsen scout the lake and see what the fish were biting on. They would eat anything, I think Joe knew that, I think he just liked seeing how fired up us young fellows would get when we got the chance to fish his lake. Almost every morning during the summers, Joe would let clients into the lake, then do his rounds; visit Stefan McLeod or Matt "Gilligan" Coles at Mountain Hardware, then visit the fly shop and sit and talk in his favorite chair for an hour or two. During those early years, he picked up a little lab pup named Cooper. Cooper is a hefty, venerable old dog now, with soft glassy eyes.

[Frank R. Pisciotta]

Dan---Good stuff, I like it!....fodder for an article you can write.

But, I haven't the time to devote to the high-jacking the thread. I simply have no time. Probably best to get back on topic.

Frank R.Pisciotta

[cyama]

Back to the original question about the upper sac. The top guides up there have been high sticking probably before most of the Truckee guys. Look up Wayne Eng, Steve Bertrand, Rick Cox and Craig Nielson. Based on Tayler's blog he is also guiding the upper sac and mc cloud this year. Ted Towendolly an indian started it all around 1920. Here is a great article on how Ted Fay promoted it with the Bomber. Very effective on the upper sac and the Truckee. http://www.tedfay.com/newsarticle.html

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We have some amazing people on this forum....thanks for taking your time to share with us.



You did mention the Upper Sac first off so I would highly recommend guide Fred Gordon for a good day up there.

On a normal water year the Upper Sac is very good in June but in a drought it would be May......then again around Oct/Nov.

.

[Frank R. Pisciotta]

cyama---Agreed, the fellas you mention do practice the fine art of high-sticking.

My propensity at "Ancient California Fly Fishing History" again:

My recollection they appeared on the scene starting in the early '90s. Bill mentions Fred Gordon; he along with Joe Kimsey preceded the above along with Ron Rabun. Regardless, all the fellas you mentioned are well-respected and have paid their dues. I guess when you get a bit long-in-the-tooth as I; one feels that the "old-timers" should be remembered for their contributions to our mutual passion.

Prior to building my first home in Truckee in 1979 I fished the Upper Sac, McCloud and Pit Rivers for 10 years ('70-'79) about 6-7 weeks per year. I was very familiar with the method popularized by Ted Fay. I never had the pleasure of fishing with him but have met his daughter and grandson through my in-laws who have been living, hunting & fishing the area since the early '60's. My bro-in-law taught at the College of the Siskyious (?) starting in 1963; when it opened in the town of Weed.

Frank R. Pisciotta

[Terry Thomas]

One of the best threads on this site in a while. For those on the board who can't book a guide soon and want to know what this is all about, I would recommend George Daniel's book, " SHORT LINE NYMPHING TECHNIQUES." Dan is from the east coast and usually heads out this way once a year and teams up with Doug Ouellette.

[steelyman]

Sure Dave. lol

Czech nymphing was actually first brought into competitions by a Polish angler, Vladimir "Vladi" Trzebunia. The Czechs used a similar style and seemed to have their name attached to the method for some reason. Catchier name? Better marketing? Who knows.

Its actually a variation of a near 100 year old method used in northern California, developed by a native American (Wintu tribe I believe) named Ted Towendolly. He taught Ted fay, and Fay taught Joe Kimsey. The similarities to the Euro style are fairly remarkable, multiple heavily weighted flies, cast upstream on a short line, with a short leader and led through slots and along seams, generally in faster, turbulent rivers.

Its hard to determine if the Euros learned of the short line method from somebody from the states or if they evolved down a similar path just out of necessity. I'd have to double check, but there are probably some quasi obscure books from the states that might have discussed the methods and then been released in Europe like "Fishing the Nymph," by Jim Quick or one of Charlie Brooks books or maybe it's as simple as a traveling angler brought the styles back with him. Who knows.


Dan is 100% correct. There's an article on the GRANITE BAY FLYCASTERS articles page here (http://gbflycasters.org/articles/)- top left - with the full story of the origin of short-line nymphing on the Upper Sac. It preceded Czech Nymphing by 60 yrs. This is an expanded version of the same article in the April 2015 Cal Fly Fisher.

[Ralph]

Necessity is the mother of invention. I've watched indigenous anglers on the Sungai Sunap river in Borneo and in the headwaters of the Orinoco River in Venezuela use "short line nymphing" techniques very similar to "modern" Ted Fay or Czech nymphing. For anyone to hang their name on the technique is simply a display of ignorance.