The Best Ways to Fly Fish With Nymphs

There are tons of different ways to fish nymphs. I almost always do it the same way with just a standard tapered leader, indicator up top with two flies and a little bit of split shot above them; but in certain scenarios, there are some ways that work better than others. Here are just a few different setups from our Bozeman Fly Shop you can try out if you want to mix up the nymphing monotony.

This is the way I fish the majority of the time. Nothing fancy, just a tapered leader with weight above my top fly. It’s easy to cast and gets the job done fine most of the time.

This is a good way to go If you’re fishing a stream that has a lot of weeds. The weight on the bottom bounces along without getting snagged and keeps your flies suspended above the weeds. I like using the smallest size tippet to the weight so you don’t always lose your flies when you get snagged. You can also do this set up with tag lines going to your flies for a more natural drift. I will usually use tippet rings to make it easier if im going that route.

This is the same set up as the one above, just using the tippet rings to create tag ends for the flies. This set up works really well but is a little more difficult to cast.

This is a great set up if you are fishing in fast moving deeper runs, or to fish that are being picky about the drift. Using a long section of small diameter tippet just below and indicator allows your flies to sink faster and creates a straight line from your indicator to the fly. This way you are able to control your drift better and detect hits faster without any slack in the system. This is a hard set up to cast though, and requires more of a flop than a lot of false casting.

This set up works well in shallow side channels, and when fish are feeding on emergers or in the surface film. All you do is attach a stick on indicator a few feet above your flies, and add a small weight if necessary.

Czech guys will probably not be happy with my diagram of this, but this is my dumbed down version of Czech nymphing. The right way is a lot more complicated and uses different lines but this still works. It is meant to be fished without an indicator, and high sticked keeping a little bit of tension to the flies so you can feel the takes. You are limited to fishing within the reach of your rod tip, but you will miss very few fish fishing this way. If you’re a numbers person, this is probably the best way to catch a lot of fish.