The fun really starts when you spot a bunch of trout in a river, but this is when you have some decisions to make.
Naturally, the first question that comes to mind is what are the fish eating?
If you’re lucky, the answers are likely flying all around you in bug form. And if you see snouts poking up on the surface, you know a dry fly pattern of similar size and color to what you see fluttering about is your ticket.
Simple stuff.
But if the fish are not rising, and there is no obvious hatch happening, you can still sight fish with a nymph pattern. In fact, I think “sight nymphing” can be one of the most technically challenging—and ultimately rewarding—aspects of fly fishing for trout, when you can pull it off.
Finding the player
The key to effective sight nymphing, in my opinion, is identifying the best target among the fish you’ve found. By dedicating a little time to keen observation, you’ll probably notice that some of those fish are more active than others. The trout that seem like they are clinging to the river bottom and barely moving are probably just resting. Sure, you might entice a bite by bonking them on the head with a beadhead, but I’d rather shift my attention elsewhere and have a more rewarding experience.
When you see a fish really working—it swims up and down in the water column… or it might abruptly swerve to one side or another… sometimes you can even see it open its mouth (look for a little white flash of sorts)—that’s when you know you’ve found what I call “the player.”
Approaching the player
While common fishing wisdom might dictate that you start nymphing at the bottom of the run, try to pick up a fish at the back, and work your way upstream. When it’s a full-on sight-nymphing exercise, I like to focus my attention right on the player and make my first (hopefully only) cast in its direction.
When you’ve found the player, the next question you must ask is how best to approach it. Know the position of the sun and try to keep shadows above that target fish to a minimum. That not only means shadows from your body, but also your rod and fly line. Definitely keep false casts to a minimum, at least as much as possible.
Your best casting position is one where your boots are as dry as possible (unless you have brush interfering with a backcast). The more/closer you wade, the more your chances of spooking the fish. But a short, accurate cast is way more effective than a long hero shot. You’ll figure out the best compromise.
I forgo split-shot in favor of a weighted nymph pattern; the faster the current, the heavier the fly. In fairly slick water, sometimes a tiny glass bead is enough to sink the fly into the zone.
I’ll use one nymph fly and a very small indicator (which can be a smallish dry fly) in this specific situation. For an indicator, I prefer a small bit of yarn, or pinch-on foam that won’t make a “plop” like a bobber when it lands.
If I think I can pull it off, I use an old English chalk stream technique that involves no indicator at all. I grease my monofilament leader to a point about three feet above the fly (where you’d set an indicator) and the transition point between where the leader floats on the surface and starts to sink toward the fly creates a dimple in the water. That dimple is a de-facto indicator, and when it is disturbed, set the hook.
Of course, if you see the fish move in your zone—especially if you see its mouth flash open—that’s your cue also. Don’t be heavy-handed; a gentle lift of the rod will usually do it. Hooksets are free.
If they’re all playing, start at the bottom and work your way up. If your fish abruptly stops playing, give it a rest or start looking for another player.
Take time for observation
Learning which fish to cast at and which ones to pass by has improved my sight-nymphing prowess dramatically, as I am sure it has for many of you also. But if you’re just starting to figure the sight-fishing game out, know that finding the fish is just the first step.
A little extra time spent observing how they act will tell you what bug to tie on and where to cast. And that’s more than half the battle.