[stillsteamin]

I'll play devil's advocate. For me the method has its time and place on a few rivers. It's a technical exercise in reading water that you don't get streamer fishing, which when done successfully provides the same sort of beautifully instant feedback you get from a well-placed dry fly. You can make it exactly what you want. On the Deshooties I'll walk along a bank and try to call my shots, where are the trout going to hold in relation to each current break? Then you go through and see if you know your shit. There's something pleasing about that.

I also enjoy the spartan, almost nihilist aesthetic of the flies. They call out all the bullshit that's been born from the surplus of tying desk academics, who would have you believe trout can count. It proves that if you aren't catching trout, it's probably not the fly, and it's probably not the trout - it's probably you. As I much as I like flies and tying them, at the end of the day I'm rather Gierachian in my belief that the last truly meaningful thing that's been said about trout fishing was nearly 400 years ago when Charles Cotton advised to "fish fine and far off." Do I want to stand there and dredge fifteen trout from the same drift? No. Do I want to do it every day? No. Do I typically like the sort of people who would answer yes to both those questions? No. But yet, if you asked me, do I enjoy some tight linin' high stickin' euro fuckin' now and again? I'd finish my beer and look ya straight in the eye and say...

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[Obie]

Gierach is also fond of the Lee Wulff line about trout deserving the refuge of deep water.

Trout can't count, and they probably don't care about the subtle differences between blue tinsel x orange hotspot vs. green tinsel x yellow hotspot. Euro nymphing doesn't dispense with the tedious, anal bullshit. Just reduces the number of parts.

For me, euro nymphing's like Top 40 classic rock stations. I know going in there won't be many surprises. There's nothing inherently wrong with Smoke on the Water, but I'd rather find a different station than listen to it every hundred miles.

[stillsteamin]

Gierach is also fond of the Lee Wulff line about trout deserving the refuge of deep water.

Absolutely, and thus the manifest hypocrisy and self-loathing of the enlightened trout fisherman. We love a thing so much that we terrorize it with a hook, just to pick it up and let it go again, like a sadistic cat. I am not sure fish share our perceptions of nobility concerning the wetness or dryness of that hook. To them, I imagine, it is just a hook.

[The Wandering Blues]

Euro nymphing is a bit too plodding for me. Flop, drift, flop, drift, move up a couple of steps, repeat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s super effective. But, if I were going for solely that, I’d dunk a cricket or Gulp worn, or god forbid, chartreuse power bait...

My casting is less than stellar. So I get immense satisfaction from pulling out some line and hitting the spot I’m aiming out, mending, and getting the drift I need. There are times when I don’t get hit that I still smile in having had everything go as I saw it in my mind.

I won’t forsake the tight line. Sometimes bragging rights amongst your buddies demands it. But, I’d rather improve the suckage of my normal skills.

[Bigguy]

You nailed it WB!

[yard4sale]

On the Deshooties I'll walk along a bank and try to call my shots, where are the trout going to hold in relation to each current break? Then you go through and see if you know your shit. There's something pleasing about that.

Nobody that "knows their shit" on the Deschutes fishes this way. Its a fucking abomination on the same level as the InstaBros running bobbers on their switch rods in the fall.

Not trying to be a dick, just saying there are better ways...

[LA Fly Guy]

Can some of you explain tight line nymphing to this sight fishing, salt life dork?

What makes that style of nymphing so effective over fishing a bobber?

Why does the fishing style almost require its own style of flies?

What distances can/does one routinely fish with that style?

How hard is to pick up for someone not used to the technique compared to nymphing under a bobber?

[Heero[CntRmbrPwd]]

Good posts, nerds. (pot, kettle, etc)

Can some of you explain tight line nymphing to this sight fishing, salt life dork?

Basically, you are fishing a quick-sinking fly (not necesarily heavy - often a slim profiled fly without resistance will sink faster than a heavier but bulkier fly) over repeated, short drifts where you have tension or contact between the fly and rod tip.

What makes that style of nymphing so effective over fishing a bobber?

The quicker, shorter drifts with a fly that is actually fishing because it is both at the zone you want it and always under tension so you arent missing fish takes due to slack means one covers A LOT more water far quicker.

Why does the fishing style almost require its own style of flies?

The flies need to get down quickly because of the shorter drifts. This means very slim profiles for less resistance.

What distances can/does one routinely fish with that style?

Not very far out. This is why these people use 10' or 11' rods.

How hard is to pick up for someone not used to the technique compared to nymphing under a bobber?

Easy.



Streamer fishing is also dumb. Jerkbait (trebles replaced with singles because I am not an animal) is better. :)

[stillsteamin]

On the Deshooties I'll walk along a bank and try to call my shots, where are the trout going to hold in relation to each current break? Then you go through and see if you know your shit. There's something pleasing about that.

Nobody that "knows their shit" on the Deschutes fishes this way. Its a fucking abomination on the same level as the InstaBros running bobbers on their switch rods in the fall.

Not trying to be a dick, just saying there are better ways...

Agree to disagree. I'd never done it before the Hazels introduced us to it so... idk if the "nobody" part is true.

I also bobber fish for steelhead, mind. But I don't have an insta. But I do it in Michigan, so they aren't really steelhead, right? Or are they now, since they're the only ones left? Whatever. I can't keep up anymore. Like I said, I don't have an insta.

[The Wandering Blues]

Good posts, nerds. (pot, kettle, etc)

Can some of you explain tight line nymphing to this sight fishing, salt life dork?

Basically, you are fishing a quick-sinking fly (not necesarily heavy - often a slim profiled fly without resistance will sink faster than a heavier but bulkier fly) over repeated, short drifts where you have tension or contact between the fly and rod tip.

What makes that style of nymphing so effective over fishing a bobber?

The quicker, shorter drifts with a fly that is actually fishing because it is both at the zone you want it and always under tension so you arent missing fish takes due to slack means one covers A LOT more water far quicker.

Why does the fishing style almost require its own style of flies?

The flies need to get down quickly because of the shorter drifts. This means very slim profiles for less resistance.

What distances can/does one routinely fish with that style?

Not very far out. This is why these people use 10' or 11' rods.

How hard is to pick up for someone not used to the technique compared to nymphing under a bobber?

Easy.



Streamer fishing is also dumb. Jerkbait (trebles replaced with singles because I am not an animal) is better. :)

I’d add that because there’s no indicator, and you’re high sticking leader only, it does produce a nice drift. The hard part is, at best, you can be out perhaps twice your rod length.

I will say that there’s one water I’ll continue to tight line- the Rio Grande Gorge. There are so many pockets there with massive car sized boulders, it’s not uncommon to go from 12-18”’depth to an immediate 4-6’ drop off. It’s damn near impossible to use an indicator, yet get the flies down quick enough to where those fish hang unless it’s tight line.

And, I’ve become addicted to using the 11’ 3wt, no matter what style I’m fishing. It’s awesome for dry, nymph, and of course, tight line. I can throw streamers, but that’s definitely not it’s strength. A bit too much flex.

[-G-]

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[B.M. Barrelcooker]

We add a twist to it on the Cumberland.

We drift in a boat and hang tungsten head euro-nymphs over the side as we drift.

You can drink a lot more beer that way ......... unless you tip the nymph with some miniature salad shrimp.....that will keep you way too busy foolin with fish.