On my beloved River Wandle a couple of days ago, & as the time for dry flies seems to be long gone (or is it?), tried a Czsech style set up with a superweighted cream/amber nymph hanging under an old fly of mine, 'the Woodlouse'. Waded fishing my way across using only very short leader & hardly any fly line out. As usual the fish were shoaled on the Merton High Street side, and as soon as I reached them I got a chub. Few 'casts' later, another, then a roach - who says fish of a feather flock together? (noone actually).

Having spooked the rest in that pool, I moved upstream and during the afternoon managed about another 1/2 dozen chub. Late afternoon though, the sun came out & fish were showing at the surface. I couldn't resist putting on my favourite fat sedge fly & taking the best chub of the day off the surface (at around one pound it was no record breaker).

Two points about Czech nymphing:
1. Its surprising how close you can wade to the fish if you're stealthy about it.
2. If your super weighted nymph hooks a snag in 3 feet of water do you reach down for it, soaking your clothes (bearing in mind the temp. drop at dusk) or snap it off? Tricky.
Dave.

Well done blainey! never had much luck czech nymphing for coarse fish probably because I was in the wrong place. Do you catch many fish on this method and are you using a fine leader?
Would like to try this method more often now its colder, apparently it can be very effective for most fish.

Sorry Paul I haven't looked at the forum for a few days & didn't realise anyone had replied. I don't do that much Czech nymphing because I'm primarily a dry fly man - its the excitement of seeing the take that gets me. Having said this, I've caught far bigger fish with wets/nymphs during my fishing career. When (if?) this awful weather clears up, I'll certainly try again, but I do lose quite a few nymphs doing it; urban rivers like the Wandle are full of snags, & Czech nymphs by their very nature sink to the bottom and get caught up. Been looking at Frenchflies posts today & I'm especially interested by the barbel fishing - the Wandle contains some great ones, & Jed the baillif in Morden Hall Park had a 15lb + one sometime ago (on a ledger I think).
Yep, can't wait to try again.
Dave.

Thanks Blainey. You say you are primarily a dry fly man, can a dry fly be fished in winter on a river even if there are no rises? Will this bring fish up to the fly and what is the deepest water they will rise from?
I ask this as a few grayling have been caught from the river I fish.

I find dry fly very unproductive in the winter. During mild weather though (like what we're getting now) a touch of sun in the afternoon sometime prompts flies to hatch/become active, and if the fish start rising for them, I snip off my nymphs and put on a dry. As its mostly coarse fish (haven't seen a Wandle trout for 2+ years now), don't seem to have to 'match the hatch' like you would for trout. Which is lucky as the flies in winter are mostly tiny midges, & using a match for those gives me eye-ache, they're so small. I got out one day last week on the River Lee with my Czech-style, but no takers, so I tried the canal with a slow retrieve instead (well, you can't wade in there!) but all I caught were small perch when I accidentally pulled too fast> They were in beautiful condition however & I will try again this week probably targetting perch with a nippy retrieve & a deep-fished lure.
Dave.

Thanks Blainey I will try your advice with the dry. If it helps I catch perch on dog nobbler style lures twitched erratically so they duck and dive. Gold bead on the head perch love em. Pheasant tails and hares ear nymphs with gold beads also work well. (something about the gold beads I think) let me know if you catch!