Fly Fishing Advice

sniper83

Well lads, im relatively new to fly fishing so I am hoping someone can help me a little. I got out yesterday with the fly rod on my local river. Managed to catch and release a nice 3/4 lb brown trout on a beaded head hares ear nymph:D.
Here's the problem, i found it awful hard to fish as the river is fast flowing and 4-6ft if not deeper in places.
To my surprise there was a lot of activity on the surface as well with fish rising, I stuck with the nymphs tho, as I was only there for a short while. I was using a floating line with about 10ft leader and 2 nymph fly's.

My question is what would be the best and most simplest set up for fly fishing in this situation to increase my chances of catching fish? would ye use floating/sinking line, wet fly's or nymph or one of each ??

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It all depends on what works locally. I currently use an intermediate line. A beaded hare's ear nymph is working well this week. I had an iron blue dun fly on the dropper and it worked as well today: taking about 40% of the catch with the nymph on 60%. Usually I would expect some success with a pheasant tail nymph at this time of year but so far nothing.

The other fella

As a beginner myself, i find the easiest way is to cast a single fly down stream towards the bank and let it swing across to the middle...Tangle free and effective.I also use a floating line.

Fly choice is something i should be looking for advice on rather than giving advice on though!

fiacha

You could add a heavier point fly to get your cast down quicker. Presentation is always going to be tricky, because even a sinking fly line will tend to drag the leader.

Google Klink and Dink. Basically dry fly with a nymph below. You can fish it with a floating line. A bit of mud from the river on the tippit below the dry will help get the nymph down.

I've been playing around with Tenkara gear over the last couple of seasons. Long rod, and nylon main line connected to tip. I can fish wets or dries using this, and keep all the line off the water so presentation in fast water is excellent. I tend to fish wets and dries upstream.

You can try similar method with a long fly rod. I think French and Czech nymphing are the names of this style.

SeaFields

This is a "how long is a piece of string" question`as everyone who fly fishes will have a different opinion - probably based on their own preferred methods. Personally I would stay as you are for the moment until you get a summers fly fishing under your belt and build up your experience.

As srameen says tho, local knowledge is key. Talk to others on the river and see what fly patterns work for them. And try to match the hatch by observing the river, while not fishing, and seeing what flies are hatching on the water.

One thing worth looking up (youtube it) is how to mend the line. If you are fishing a fast, deep river, mending the line will slow your flies down a good deal to make it swim a bit more naturally.

sniper83

Good suggestions lads, there was defiantly a few duns about, so I should probably give them a go. I have a few seasons of fly fishing under my belt but still pretty green. From looking at videos I defiantly need to mend my line and improve my presentation. Actually hardly anybody fishes the river in question, which is good for me I guess. I must also try a dry fly and a nymph together as I have being wanting to try this method for a while.

Any good recommendations for a rod to cover both nymph and dry fly fishing? Don't want to spent a fortune max €150.
I'm currently using a 10ft #7 which i know is way to heavy so need to make a purchase on something more suitable.

BrownTrout

sniper83 wrote:

Any good recommendations for a rod to cover both nymph and dry fly fishing? Don't want to spent a fortune max €150.
I'm currently using a 10ft #7 which i know is way to heavy so need to make a purchase on something more suitable.

Vision Vipu 10ft #4

BrownTrout

sniper83 wrote:

My question is what would be the best and most simplest set up for fly fishing in this situation to increase my chances of catching fish? would ye use floating/sinking line, wet fly's or nymph or one of each ??

Every day will be different. Let the river tell you what to do.

If there are fish rising, fishing nymphs makes no sense as your flies will be below their feeding level.
The opposite is also true, no point in fishing dries when there's nothing rising.
Just because a fly works one day, don't expect it to work the next, fish may be after switching to a different food source to what you're imitating. For rivers, a floating line should cover 99% of situations, except maybe when fishing streamers when a DI3 might be more preferable

sniper83

Cheers BT, I actually had 2 hours spare yesterday so I went down for a cast. No sign of anything rising so went with the nymphs and had some serious sport, landed 5 nice trout the biggest 1lb, lost 2 at the bank and missed a few takes as well. It really does pay to take a close look at the river to find out what the fish are doing and try to establish what way they are feeding.

rtc

fiacha wrote: »

You could add a heavier point fly to get your cast down quicker. Presentation is always going to be tricky, because even a sinking fly line will tend to drag the leader.

Google Klink and Dink. Basically dry fly with a nymph below. You can fish it with a floating line. A bit of mud from the river on the tippit below the dry will help get the nymph down.

I've been playing around with Tenkara gear over the last couple of seasons. Long rod, and nylon main line connected to tip. I can fish wets or dries using this, and keep all the line off the water so presentation in fast water is excellent. I tend to fish wets and dries upstream.

You can try similar method with a long fly rod. I think French and Czech nymphing are the names of this style.

Hi fiacha.I got a tenkara rod a few years ago and have had some good sport on small rivers with it.My young lad outfished me 4 to 1 on the easky last year.We both used the same flies but he used the tenkara rod and I used a 4wt fly rod.I never really appreciated the importance of presentation until then.I have used it on the dodder fishing nymphs and it is vey effective.You can't beat casting a flyline though...

BrownTrout

rtc wrote:

Hi fiacha.I got a tenkara rod a few years ago and have had some good sport on small rivers with it.My young lad outfished me 4 to 1 on the easky last year.We both used the same flies but he used the tenkara rod and I used a 4wt fly rod.I never really appreciated the importance of presentation until then.I have used it on the dodder fishing nymphs and it is vey effective.You can't beat casting a flyline though...

Is there much of a difference between fishing tenkara and French Leader?