Critical Nymphing Concepts #6 -- Line on the Water
Feb 18, 2024
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Austin Dando joins the host to discuss the benefits of keeping line off the water while nymphing. They explore strategies for managing line, maximizing drift, and the tight line advantage. The episode covers nymphing techniques, effective presentations, and the importance of line control in fly fishing.
Laying line on the water strategically enhances drift efficiency and maintains presentation quality in specific scenarios.
Treating the cider as a placeholder in float techniques ensures natural fly drop and effective contact for quick strike detection.
Transitioning from floating to tightlining requires precise line management, peeling off excess line for smooth drifts and increased strike potential.
Deep dives
The Concept of Laying Line on the Water with Intention
For certain scenarios where maintaining stealth and getting clean drifts are crucial, experts introduce the concept of laying line on the water with intention. By keeping more distance from the fish and using a light approach, this tactic allows for a strategic drift without unwanted drag. It works well in flat water, promoting efficient progress without compromising presentation quality.
Using the Cider as a Placeholder in Float Techniques
When utilizing float techniques with a cider, anglers often treat the cider as a placeholder rather than a suspender due to its limited capacity. By letting the cider land gently and maintaining slight curves in it, the cider acts as a placeholder, allowing flies to drop naturally while ensuring contact and strike detection when fish strike before influencing the cider.
Transitioning From Floating to Tightlining for Enhanced Efficiency
An effective transition from floating to tightlining involves precision and timing as anglers float the cider to a specific point before peeling it off the water. By ensuring that the cider lands in a single lane to match the fly's drift, followed by peeling off excess line as needed, anglers can facilitate a smooth and efficient drift leading to increased strikes and successful fishing outcomes.
The Strategic Use of Indicators in Casting Techniques
During long indicator casts, expert anglers strategically use the portion of line on the water, building slack to maintain a natural drift and prevent drag. As the line returns towards the angler, it provides an opportunity for a second drift by feeding slack back out to the indicator. This technique ensures constant contact and enhances strike detection, especially in challenging scenarios.
Fine-tuning Techniques for Floating the Cider
When floating the cider, anglers should focus on intentional turnover, maintaining a single lane for the cider, and controlling the speed to match the nymph's potential drift. By minimizing excessive line on the water and adjusting the slack carefully, anglers can optimize the placeholder role of the cider, leading to improved drifts and heightened strike potential.
This episode is about tension and slack. It's about how we manage fly lines and leaders on the water while nymphing.
Remember, each of these episodes — all of these concepts — apply to all styles of nymphing. So we might choose to lay line on the water with an indicator rig (and sometimes mend it) just like we might choose to float the sighter with a tight line rig.
My friend, Austin Dando, joins me to walk through the tight line advantage of keeping line off the water and what happens when we give that up. Fishing greater distances often requires laying line on the water, and how we manage that line, how we plan for it, makes all the difference between a great drift and a poor one.