How do you approach fishing it?

maybe with sink tip lines?

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It really all depends on just how fast the water is...

I would suggest fishing upsteam with a heavily weighted nymph, maybe a size 10 or 12?

to do this you would use a floating line. I personally use between 10 and 20 foot of tippet, tapered leader after the fly line. If the water is very fast, then there is really no need for a long tippet.. maybe 10ft will be fine?
U can use an indicator a few feet above the nymph, although i personally don't use indicators. Just keep a close eye on the end of your fly line. If it does something it shouldnt then strike.. Best of luck and i hope this was of help.

cheers
JJ

I'm with JJ, it depends on how fast and generally what are the fish looking for that day.

If nymphing is the likely tactic, I'd fish it upstream or preferably upstream at about a 45 angle with an indicator.

Now here's the part that I think is essential, but very few anglers use. I almost always use split shot when nymphing. Sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot, but I always use some. When nymphing, IMO, you want your flies spending absolutely as much of the drift as possible in "the zone", that being the bottom 2 feet of the water column.

Adding shot gets the nymphs down into the zone much, much faster then just the nymphs alone. In fact, in fast water, I don't believe most beadhead nymphs will EVER get into the zone on their own. The drag of the leader and the line "planes" them up so they won't ever get to the bottom.

So in fast water I'd start with about a #64 (1/64 of an ounce) or a #32 (1/32 oz) on the leader about 6 inches above the first fly and then add shot from there. Basically, if you're not hanging up at all, you're not in the zone. If you're hanging up all the time, you have too much weight on. The major mistake is almost always not having enough, err on the side of having too much.

Other tactics: If there is activity, try flymphing in the fast riffles. How the fish can see the fly is totally beyond me, but it works.

Also, throw a woolly bug ger or streamer rig as close as you can to the far bank and swing it.

Grouse

Hey Grouse.. I agree with you regarding getting the flies down..

To to this i often use a double nymph rig.. A size 10 and a size 12 maybe 10 inches below the top nymph.. both heavily weighted..

I have had amazing success trailing a heavily weighted size 10 nymph with a size 16 ten inches below...

I have never actually used split shot, but i do know that it works well.. Id just rather use 2 nymphs. I've never caught much on a split shot

cheers
JJ

Cheers
JJ

Also, don't be too quick to write off dries. If you can stand up in it there is a good chance that fish will take a dry. They will need to be good floaters and visible but the fish will come for them.

If you need to get a fly down another way of weighting the leader is to use lead putty spread along an inch or so of the leader rather than shot concentrated in one place. It doesn't distance cast well as it tends to fly off but for short lining it works pretty well and putting it on doesn't weaken the leader.

I was taught the technique by a Spanish guide fishing in very turbulent Pyrennean streams.

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“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

Try a big Klinkhamer

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Roy

Lots of potential variables there.

Is there structure or is it just deep and fast. Are there shallower sections ? Have you spotted any rises ?

For fast water a klink is often worth a go but if it's very fast, deep and narrow you may need to be getting down to the slower deep layers of water in which case you will need weight. I don't think a fast sink line would be enough in this case, I would use heavy flies on a long length of tippet (the thin diameter offers less resistance in the current than fly line). You could use shot for this, but it's not necessary since you can use flies with tungsten beads (4mm or medium shrimp back = 1/64th oz, large shrimp back = 1/28 oz) , I tie a multiple beaded cased caddis imitation that uses 7 beads that weighs in over 1/4 oz ( 7 g ) if you need lots of weight and fish can still take this as well. Another option for quickly changing weight is to add a bit of tungsten putty.

Joel

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Not to discount your success, but I consider weighted nymphs and shot nymphing to be two separate tactics.

For dead-drift indicator nymphing, my theory is that it's an advantage NOT to have the nymphs laying directly on the bottom as weighed nymphs do. Rather the shot placed above the top nymph causes the nymphs to flare off the bottom and roll along in a way that I believe to be a more natural presentation.

I've tried tungsten and lead-weighted nymphs (lead only where it's still allowed, obviously) and for whatever reason the shot nymphing techniques always seem to work better for me. YMMV, of course, and I don't disagree, there are times when actual weighted nymphing is the better choice, but fast water isn't one of them and that's what the OP asked about.

Re the use of weighted putty, I've found that stuff to be completely useless for the reason SB states, it keeps falling off or slipping. Also, to get the equivalent of a #32 shot, you need to big glob of it which I think disturbs the water too much on impact.

One addition, the OP doesn't define "fast water" but if it's a fast section, but with a still surface, I'd also try a mouse pattern in the high summer. It sounds funny, but here's the deal: You won't get a lot of fish, but the fish you DO get will be whoppers. Think about it, a fish has to be pretty confident in his fighting weight to take on something the size of a mouse.


Grouse