What is this for?

[MuskieBait]

(10-03-2012 09:05 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  Congrats on the new set-up Guiga10! Time to start flying for some local panfish .

I constantly wonder how guys feel a trout pick up their nymph... and I've never seen anyone actually using a strike indicator on the river. confused...

At least the few times I've tried drifting flies, there is always slack in the line during the drift so I wouldn't feel a fish mouthing the bait. So I've stuck to dry flies so far...

Remember when we were on the river I said...

"Cast the nymph slightly upstream and just give it enough time to sink, then strip in a little to get the line tight, then swing the nymph on a quartering drift downstream toward shore."

On the swing, the line is tight...there should not be any slack.

If you were to drift a nymph naturally with the current, you can try the highstick method similar to fishing Czech nymph on a tight line (having very little fly line in front of the rod tip and basically following the nymph with the rod tip as it drift downstream on a tight line), or you can use a strike indicator...or like OT said you can watch the leader knot or the tip of your fly line. From the leader to your fly line, that line should (in practice) be tight.

Even when fishing dry flies, you should really keep as much slack line out of the system as possible...unless you are mending the line. If I'm fishing a dry fly a short distance from me, if you watch closely (observation is your best teacher), you will see that I try to keep my rod up and have very little fly line sitting on the water. This accomplish three things...

1) Reduce the drag on the line to give a better drag free drift. The less line you have on the water, the less drag is on your line.

2) This reduces the amount of slack on your line so you have a more direct connection to your fly, and ultimately the fish. The less slack line you have, the less you need to move your rod to set the hook. Sometimes you can even just do a quick strip to set your hook. With tiny trout, you often just need a gentle raise of the rod tip to set the hook. You've already seen what an overzealous hook set can do (ie...trout flying behind you into the bush...or pulling the fly out of their mouth).

3) With a more direct connection, you can get a hookset much more rapid. If you have to take up all the slack out of your leader and fly line, you have to overcome a lot of resistance and surface tension on that line before you can get it moving to set your hook. Fly line and fly leader is thick and heavy. It doesn't move as quickly as a thin 6lb mono. That prevents you from reacting quickly on the hookset, and by the time you get that hookset, you have very little power on your hookset. Most of the momentum is wasted on getting your line moving on the water surface. Not that you need to rip the lips on the fish, but you do want that little hook to penetrate...especially with a tiny hook point trying to get it in the bony jaws of trout somewhere.