Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Smaller streams are teeming with just as much life as larger rivers, it’s just concentrated into a smaller area, all that life creates the perfect environment for trout to thrive – although they might not be as large as in the bigger rivers!
As there is not as much water rushing downstream, the landscape inside and around the river is eroded differently to larger bodies of water. Smaller streams tend to have tighter meanders in the river along with many more natural obstructions and obstacles in the waterway itself (boulders and large tree branches in the river). All these obstacles funnel the water into creating some deceptively large pools in the riverbed. As the water rushes down the river around these obstacles, it creates different flow speeds of water, which erode the riverbanks, creating undercuts and tight meanders in the river. All of these are synonymous with creating the perfect environment for trout.
Trout are known for being a notoriously territorial fish, so it would be easily assumed that a small river wouldn’t have enough space to cater for a large population of trout. But that could not be further from the truth, trout can be just as happy and content in small streams as well as larger ones, each trout just patrols less territory. All this means that in healthy waters on a small river, each square yard could contain 5-6 trout.
In this article, I will try to give you a rundown on early-season small stream fishing. All the flies and tactics mentioned will also be applicable on larger waters as well (especially as the weather warms up), but when the weather does warm up, it’s usually more productive to try new (maybe smaller) rivers.
The two methods that you are most likely to use during the summer are ‘The Duo’ and ‘Short Line’ dry fly fishing, with small flies. After the breakdown and description of each method, some of the best flies to use to get you started will be discussed and illustrated, along with some of the best equipment to use for fishing at this time of year.
Once the fish have survived the winter, having not eaten much, as soon as fly life starts to appear in the river, the fish go on a feeding frenzy.
The Duo / Klink n Dink / ‘New Zealand’ Style
One of the simplest and most effective methods of fly fishing that you can use, both if you are new to fly fishing or are an expert looking at exploring new waters. The duo is best used when you are unsure of where the fish are as it is a fantastic searching method to allow you to quickly fish all over the surface and at all levels of the river.
Quite simply, the duo method is fishing two flies, very creative naming, we know. Traditionally, it is fishing a dry fly on the surface and a nymph as a dropper. This allows your flies to be fished and presented to fish feeding on the surface as well as simultaneously having a nymph to attract fish feeding on nymphs under the surface. Fishing the duo should be a very active method of fly fishing, where you are constantly changing the location of your casts. Changing locations and fishing both underwater and on the surface simultaneously allows you to effectively search the river, which in unfamiliar environments can be crucial to learning the location of the trout quickly. There is also the most obvious benefit that far too many people ignore, there are two flies on the river so you can catch on either of them!
Fishing the duo can be done successfully at really short distances, which is crucial when fishing in the summer on narrow rivers with a tight treeline. As the water levels drop in the summer, all the fish in them are more aware of what’s around them so fishing upstream with a short line and leaders can be of paramount importance.
Trout have one main blind spot directly behind the back of their heads, so fishing upstream allows your dry fly to be settled in the water and float past the fish naturally. If you are fishing in a shallow river, then wading slowly and carefully is a must, there is less movement in the water to disguise the ripples created by wading, so it can be a lot easier to spook a fish. When you do wade forwards, wait 30-45 seconds from once you have settled into your new position to allow any fish spooked by your presence to settle down into their territory again.
The simplest method of fishing the duo is to have the same length of line and leader as your rod. So if you are fishing with an 8 ft rod then have 1-2 ft of line, 3-4 ft of leader, then another 2-3 feet of tippet to the nymph depending on the depth of the river you are fishing, tie the dry fly onto a small dropper (1-2”) from the end of the leader.
The most common trap that most people fall into is having the length of tippet between the end of the leader and the nymph being the same distance as down to the bottom of the river. As this method fishes the nymph on its descent rather than static under the dry fly, add a few extra inches to allow it to get right to the bottom.
Another common way to fish this technique is using a New Zealand style attachment (Where the nymph is tied onto the hook of the dry fly, rather than at the end of your leader). If using this style, then the hook on the dry fly can become obstructed and the tippet for the nymph can get in the way of some takes!
A simple way to tie everything together is to tie the nymph dropper onto the end of the leader and tie the dry fly onto another short dropper (1-2”) from the end of the leader. This allows the dry fly to act in a more natural way as it has only one tying in point while also minimising any obstructions to the hook of the dry fly.
While fishing the duo, the dry fly has 3 purposes: catching fish (hopefully!), it acts as an indicator if any trout take the nymph, and it slows the descent rate of the nymph in the water column. Fishing the duo needs to be an active process with both flies being attractive to any fish, if not, then you can end up using the dry fly just as a float for the nymph.
This brings us to the main controversy surrounding using the duo method, that some people fall for the trope of having the dry fly act like a float for the nymph to hang underneath. Using extremely buoyant dry flies and casting a long way down river causes the nymph to be suspended under the water by the dry fly as they drift downstream, which hardly fits with the spirit of fly fishing!
To avoid glorified float fishing like described above, fishing the duo should be an incredibly active process. Minimise false casting, just using the shortest possible leader rig and cast straight up and down, keeping the flies on the water for only 2-3 seconds of drift at a time. This short length of time allows the nymph to sink at a natural rate in the current underneath the water’s surface. If you are only fishing with a short rig as described previously, then the current in the river will have brought the flies back to you by the time the nymph has sunk to the riverbed so you shouldn’t need to be counting the seconds!
Fishing the duo method in this dynamic way allows you to use a much larger range of flies, especially some that are more in keeping with traditional fly fishing! A very simple rule of thumb is to ensure that the dry fly that you use will be one that you would use when fishing with a single dry fly. You will be able to match the hatch as close as possible as the weight of the nymph will never be completely suspended by the dry fly and pulling it under. This last point is something to be wary of, as if you are fishing using a small dry fly in the summer, then be aware that the weight of the nymph can pull the dry under so keep your drifts to 2-3 seconds to minimise the weight under the fly.
Fishing the duo is a great searching method to identify where the fish are under the surface of the river, if you can’t visually see where they are. The best way to imagine it is that the surface of the river is covered by a giant chess board, broken up into squares.
Rivers are 3 dimensional things, however, and the nymph underneath fishes in different levels as it sinks. So take your imaginary chess board and imagine some cubes of water underneath each square.
As you cast your rig upstream, your dry fly might land in the first square in front of you, but your nymph will sink diagonally through all levels of the water on its way to the riverbed. Aiming your dry fly into each square on the surface of this grid as you look upstream allows both your dry fly and nymph to fish at all levels of the river and become a very efficient searching team.
If you are fishing the whole rig using short drifts and repeated casts across a pool then you won’t need too pay too much attention to the location of the nymph as it should never be severely catching on the bottom and the dry fly will act as an indicator should something take an interest in it. If your nymph does catch on the bottom, make sure to pull it out of the water and check that there is no debris on the hook. You don’t want to be losing any takes due to an errant bit of weed on the point of the hook!
However, unlike the nymph, you will need to keep an eye on the location and drift of the dry fly. With the duo, having accurate presentation of the dry fly and a smooth sink rate of the nymph is imperative. The sink rate of the nymph is impacted by the movement of the dry fly on the surface, minimising the drag from the line on the dry fly will massively improve your chances of attracting hungry fish.
The best way to minimise drag is to keep the entire length of line out of the rod tip short, then lift the rod tip as the fly drifts towards you downstream. This keeps as much of the excess slack line and leader off the water. Drag is the enemy of the duo rig as it affects where both flies go over the mental grid of the river, along with disrupting the sink rate of the nymph.
Matching flies to the duo method can be the most crucial part of the whole idea (depending on how educated the fish are in the river you are fishing). As it is a great technique that can be used almost all year round, the dry fly should be matched as close as possible to the hatch that is occurring at the time. In the summer on small rivers, it pays to fish as small a fly as possible, but be wary that the nymph may drag the fly under if you fish a dry fly that is too small. The balance will change depending on conditions, but it is trial and error until you get it right.
Choosing the right nymph, however, is slightly more complex. It is more nuanced than just changing the size of the hook and bead, the key to choosing the right nymph is getting the right sink rate of the fly. Choosing the right nymph is all about understanding the hydrodynamics of the fly that you are tying on. I know it’s a long word but it just means how smooth the fly cuts through the water.
A heavy beaded fly will sink faster than a smaller beaded fly, but the same heavy beaded fly tied with a large spider-like hackle can sink at the same rate as the smaller bead due to having a different hydrodynamic profile. The hackle on the smaller beaded fly in this example will create more resistance in the water as it sinks, slowing its descent rate.
You will be aiming for the nymph to be almost at the bottom of the river 2-3 seconds after the dry fly lands on the surface of the water. So for significantly deeper water you will need to use a slim and heavy beaded nymph, whereas for shallower waters you might want a smaller beaded nymph, a fly with a bushier collar or even a weighted spider pattern. After fishing this method for a while, your fly selection will become 2nd nature, but as a beginner you can tie a nymph to a short piece of tippet and drop it at your feet once you are in the river. This way you can see if the fly sinks to the bottom within 2-3 seconds and adjust the profile or weight of the fly if necessary. The short piece of tippet isn’t necessary for the test, it just makes it a lot easier to pick up a small nymph from the riverbed!
That was a lot of information about the duo method, but it can be distilled down into 5 key bullet points to keep in mind:
- Choose a dry fly that matches the hatch.
- Choose an appropriate nymph for the depth of water.
- Use very short rigs and short drifts.
- When searching the river, use the mental grid method to create a mental map of the river.
- Avoid having any drag from the fly line at all costs by lifting your rod tip to take the excess line off the water.
Tight Lines.
