Boyzie - what's most likely happening is that when you strike, you're pulling the fly out the fish's mouth as they are basically facing you. Better to start from downstream of them, cast your nymph(s) upstream of the fish and let them drift down towards them. You should try using a sight indicator in the fast water and then strike at anything unusual that the indicator does. It can zip away, it can stop, it can twitch or bobble - just lift the rod immediately, as very often it will be a fish. Don't pause to think if you might be getting some interest - shoot and ask questions later!The key difference with this method is that when you strike, you're pulling the hook into the fish rather than out of it. Also, if you approach fish from downstream, you're less likely to spook them.
If you want to fish more downstream, that's OK and a good method is to fish with say a goldhead nymph on the point and two north country spider patterns on short droppers. In a fairly moderate flow, cast more or less square across the river, throw some slack into your line so that the line isn't taught (this would swing your flies very quickly in an unnatural manner) and let the flies trundle down with the flow. Track the path of the line with your rod and then let them swing gently around in the current. You will get a lot of takes doing this and your main challenge will be to convert takes into hook ups. Basically unless you prepare yourself, fish will bounce off or even break the leader as everything is quite tight so you need to cushion the takes. You can do this by keeping your rod high so that there is some slack line between you and the flies, or if you find this difficult, hold your rod at an angle so that the fish is going to pull against the rod rather than straight down the line. A softish rod like a mid-tip action will help. Some recommend powergum loops which act as shock absorbers but I've never tried them and frankly, haven't really felt the need.
This is a good method to start out on. You can cover a lot of water and it's a nice relaxing way to fish. You can make a couple of casts and let the flies fish, move down a yard and do it all again and so on. You will definitely get good results with this method, I will say though that you will tend to catch the better fish in the stream on the upstream nymph method.
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