How long do you wait

[JPY]

I am relatively new to fly fishing. One of the biggest attraction for me to fly fishing is mobility and trying different things. However, how much time do you usually fish a section before moving on and how many flies do you usually go through on a given trip. I usually fish a section for about 30-40 minutes and try about 4 different flies (nymphing) before I move on (assuming no grabs) to another section of the river. However, I see other fly fisher stay at one spot for a very long time. Should I be more patient?

John

[rrivera]

Excellent question John....

My answer is based on my personal experiences, and experiences fishing with guides every 3 months - which by the way is the most important learning resource depending on the waters you wish to learn on.

When you talk about fishing a section for 30-40 minutes ( Lets say a 40 yard stretch of a prime riffle ), the main question I have for you is how well are you drifting your nymphs..? I know I've been humbled so many times in my initial learning curb in water that everyone swore there was fish in. Only to find out later that my presentaion skills in indo & high stick nymphing were lacking correct drifts into the runs. Always make sure your leader & line are behind your indicator to avoid drag, mend upstream, and don't have your indicatior move ahead of your nymphs below.

If you don't practice correct presentation = fish may not take nymphs drifting incorrectly.

Make sure to partition your run. Nymph a riffle one lane at a time. Starting near, step in, nymph another lane and so on.

Don't be an anchor - if you present you rig correctly = no fish then move on or change flies to present somthing different. Change your flies withing the same lane your wading in. Nymph that lane, if no fish, then move on to new water. Hope this helps..... I'm sure some of the vets of the valley river systems will chime in as well. Best of luck John..!!

[rrivera]

Heya John....

In my passionate routine of coffee, bagel, and this board before my day starts in the tecky world, I forgot probably the #1 reason why people are not as fruitfull nyphing as they should be.

Nymph depth - By this I mean, some anglers (like me when I started) do (did) not put enough wieght on thier rigs to get those puppies down. If your not ticking bottom = fish can't see your nymphs if they are looking bottom to feed.

In other words if your not cursing from time to time cause your rig is stuck, you not down deep enough. Of course use best judgement if your getting suck several times in the same run. Just move your indicator down a bit, untill you feel that sweet ticking cadence..... -RR

[JPY]

Ray - I really appreciate your feedback. Fishing for me is like everything else. You listen, you learn, you try and you practice a lot. Unfortunately I usually don't have a lot of time on the river so I try to focus on one aspect of fly presentation at a time. I am currently working on my mending. However, I will definitely make sure that I am fishing the bottom if I am nymphing.

John