hey everyone, just a quick question to help a newbie.

I have been fly fishing for almost 4 months now and have had some good success at meadow fishery on cats whiskers and gold head damsels.

I was looking up info on usig a nymph the other day and iwas wondering the best tactics while using a nymph.

When i saw someone using a nymph they seemed to just let it sit in the water by the reeds rather than retrive the fly, is this the right tatic to employ ??? or am i mistaken ?

im trying to find out as much as possible before my next visit as im keen to masterall fly types.

thanks everyone

hi dulux.
Im certainly not gonna claim to be the master of the nymph here!!!!. Sometimes the fish will want just that, sometimes retrieved very slowly, sometimes a steady figure of eight, you need to try and cover as many depths and retrieve as you can, but remember what you were doing before a take and keep doing it!!!!. There are some others here more qualified to advise on the nymph than myself but i hope that basic advice is of some use.
tightlines!!
Scotty

thanks scotty, been a big help there.

Hi duluxfly,
The only advise I could give is learn about the movement of the nymph you
are going to fish and the habitat it lives in.As a general pattern a gold head hares ear
in natural or olive is good to start,just vary your retreive till you hook up.But as muddlerman says try to remember what works.

As has been said before, if you are going to try your hand at fishing imitative patterns, it pays to find out how the naturals behave.

On average, probably over 75% of anything you'll ever find in a trout's stomach will be Chironomid (midge) pupa, so these should definitely feature on your "to do" list.
Midge pupa move in a lashing motion, often spending plenty of time inactive, before moving again. You can suggest this by casting out, letting the fly sink for a minimum of 20-30 seconds, then smoothly pulling between a foot & a yard of line in, then allowing the fly to sink for another 20-30 seconds or so.

Another common food source are freshwater shrimps.
You can replicate their movement by twitching the fly back in a fairly random, jerky fashion.

Stickfly or Caddis larvae should be retrieved very slowly & near the bottom. A very slow figure of eight would be ideal.

The default setting for my nymph fishing is in fact a medium-paced figure of eight.
I find with this retrieve I don't even have to watch the end of the line for takes, because since I'm in touch with the fly I can feel them instantly. Of course I do constantly watch the end of the flyline though.

Be prepared to vary your style of retrieve & depth of presentation & just find out what works on the day. Trout can be fussy buggers!

Also, keep in mind that in most cases you'll only be fishing a maximum 1 or 2 feet below the surface regardless of how long you leader is, unless you use heavily weighted nymphs combined with a long leader & slowish retrieve.

good advice that steve,thanks alot mate.

Iv been reading up tonight so i think ivot some idea to put into practice on my next trip fishing