Hi all,
I went nymphing for grayling along the beautiful Wiltshire Avon last weekend and enjoyed it immensly. I was using my normal 7' 6" #3 rod and single hairs ear nymph. I managed 4 wild brown and one small grayling.

However, I had huge problems detecting bites. There's nothing I enjoy more than stalking fish along these often crystal clear stretches, but on this day the water was coloured and this wasn't possbible. So, basically, the advice I am seeking is how to effectively detect bites when upstream nymphing.

On these stretches, downstream fishing isn't allowed, nor is the use of 2 flies ruling out the duo / NZ methods. I could use a bite indicator of course, but spent many years coarse fishing and really don't see the difference between the two apart from the method of getting the 'bait' out there if using a strike indicator. Only my opinion of course

The only other ways of detecting effectively I can think of are using the end of the fly line as a visible indicator, but with the fly bumping along the bottom and catching regularly, this gives many false takes; pulling the line through at a slightly faster rate than the flow of the river in order to maximise direct contact with the fly, but this may make the nymph behave in an unnatural way.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. If anyone more experienced could shed light on this, or simply talk about the methods they find most useful, I'd be greatly appreciative.

Thanks in advance

I fish this river fairly regularly. Where I fish it's about 6-10 feet wide and maybe 2-3 feet deep, fast flowing with very overgrown banks and a lot of tree cover. I think your basic set up is fine with a 7'6" 3 weight. I use 3lb Stroft about 4 feet long tied direct to the end of the fly line. I use size 18/20 hare's ear nymphs with a 2mm tungsten bead to get it down. Fish fairly short, no more than a couple of rod lengths away. You are looking for short, drag fee drifts and target the deeper pockets of water. Don't pull the fly through faster than the current! This will give a very unnatural presentation and will also pull the fly up in the water column above the heads of the grayling. It can be effective though to life the rod occasionally which will make the nymph rise and may result in an induced take. Use the end of the fly line as a bite indicator and strike at anything unusual. You will catch bottom a lot of times, you have to live with that, but some of my best fish have been what I thought initially was the bottom. You can try a lighter nymph but this may go above the fish.

Hope this helps

Rgards

Peter

__________________
Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

You can make it easy, and use some kind of floating fly or indicator, or you can make it hard and watch the line alone. If you make it hard, it will be hard.

I have been using a length of hollow core fluorescent orange braid (Fox marker braid) with a braided loop style loop at either end. I tie it between tapered leader and tippet and grease it up with mucilin. If I am using too heavy a beaded nymph for this, I add a blob of indicator putty to the braid - I'm not proud

I have no problem at all with this approach Steve. On the Avon I fish a very short, level leader and the end of the fly line works fine for me. I might give your method a go on the bigger rivers though!

Regards
Peter

__________________
Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

Hi Mate

For most of the time you need to get the flies down. If you catching the bottom all the time you need to take some weight of the line, its difficult because you need to catch the bottom some of the time as its an indication your at the correct level.
One thing I will say is you cannot fish all day every pool with the same amount of weight on the end, you will need to add and remove weight as you fish every pocket,its work but its the only way you can fish correctly.

hope that helps you

Gary

Nothing wrong with using an indicator when nymphing.

for upstream nymphing I use an old tapered leader 3lb that has been cut down over time to about 5-6ft then I attach 2-3ft 0f flourocarbon 6x Tippet, then a very small Beaded Nymph or Baetis Nymph ect ... then i rub a bit of floantant paste to the end of the tapered leader just before the Knot to flourocarbon and it works perfect for me i just watch the end of the leader.
the lengths of leader and Tippet shorter if on a stream ect


Cheers
Spencer

Thx lots for all the replies. Plenty of food for thought I'll definitely try shorter tippets next time, and will have a look for some floatant paste.

One thing I love about this forum is how helpful everyone is.
Thx again all

Thanks for asking the question, always good to learn how others tackle these issues

Regards

Peter

__________________
Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

hi when upstream nymphing or dou methd i use a 6in length of bright 0range/lime green mono in betewwen the end of my tapered leader and mt tippet i coat this section in mucilin to make it float and use this as a bite iindiicator it woorks fine for me hope this helps