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The Euro Nymph Manifesto
1. Use Thin Tippet & Thin Flies – Having your flies at the correct depth is generally key to any success. Using lighter tippet (6x & 7x) and thinner flies allows you to get smaller and lighter flies down quicker.
2. Experiment with Knots – Try a Palomar knot to tie on your nymph, it gives better tippet protection and is less likely to break thinner diameter tippets.
3. “Foam is Your Home” – Where there is foam, there is food (both on the surface and below). This is where the fish will be, it acts as a conveyor belt, taking food directly to the fish.
4. Look for Seams – Target any seam in the water. Fish want to expend as little energy as possible, so they wait in the slower water right on the seams.
5. Colder Weather = Slower & Deeper – In the colder weather conditions target the slower, deeper water and glides.
6. Warmer Weather = Shallower & Faster – When the weather conditions are warmer target the faster, shallower water. Listen for water that is making a noise.
7. Be more Barry Bonds/Ian Botham – Target any boundary you can see. Examples are where the water meets any object (rocks, banks, bridges etc).
8. Watch for Cover – Fish love cover. Keep in mind that cover can take numerous forms – faster water, depth, overhanging plants & trees.
9. Don’t Arc, Track Straight – A good indicator is to follow the current and any foam lines with your indicator. Try to not pivot around your body as your tracking will be in an arc and not straight.
10. Indicator Visibility – Hold whichever indicator you choose just above the surface of the water. Whilst tracking the flies back to you, keep the indicator at the same level above the water – this will require you to raise your rod when tracking back.
11. Point, Dropper, Line – When casting/lobbing your flies, remember to land your point fly first, then your dropper fly and then you fly line/leader. This way your flies will be fishing effectively as soon as they enter the water.
12. Good Tracking – The angle at which the line and indicator enter the water should get steeper as you track your flies back towards you.
13. Light Tension – Keep light tension in the rig at all times. This is key for sensitivity and feel.
14. The Tug is not the Drug – Successful Euro-Nymphing is all about bite indication. Lift at the sight of any unusual movement in the leader, don’t wait for the tug.
15. Lead the Flies – Water flows slower at depth, remember this when leading your flies. Don’t always try to keep up with the flow on the surface.
16. Always Lift Slowly – When re-casting always lift your flies out slowly, this is one of the key triggers for a fish to take.
17. Lift, Don’t Strike – If you think there is a take, just lift the flies gently, if there’s no take just drop them down again – this will often induce a take in itself (see the W Drift below).
18. Remember the U – 99% of takes when Euro-Nymphing are when the flies are either on the way down to the bottom or on their way up from the bottom. Think of writing a letter U, the vertical lines are the points at which a fish will usually take the fly.
19. More U’s than L’s – Thinking of the above analogy, use lots of short drifts rather than one long one.
20. Try a W Drift – The induced take is where the flies are artificially manipulated/lifted during the drift (think of it as writing a W; the start of the W is where the fly enters the water, the middle where it’s manipulated and where you finish the W is the fly exiting the water).
21. Short Drifts – A short drift is better than a long drift. Competition anglers only drift their flies for around 3 seconds each cast. This is the classic mistake new anglers make, try counting to 5 and then re-casting.
22. Ventromedial Hypothalamus – The Feed or Flee Conundrum – When fishing we should always try to provoke a feeding response from the fish before provoking a fleeing response.
We’ve created the above into a handy downloadable PDF:
