The Euro-Nymph Manifesto - Fine-Tuning Your Skills
Morning All,
This is the time of year when we look back at the trout season and make a mental note of those 'red letter' days and ponder the various blanks!
Even though September sees the trout season drawing to a close, it's also a time to look forward - to targeting my favourite fish - the Grayling.
One memorable fishing experience happened to me at the beginning of this season when I was helping out a small local fishing club, they wanted to brush up on their Euro Nymphing techniques - I'm definitely no expert, but I offered to help where I could!
But first, you need a little bit of context ...
I live very close to the River Derwent in North Yorkshire - in fact, I drive alongside it every day on the way to and from Barbless Flies HQ. I try to fish the river at least once a week in all weather and river conditions throughout the year. As you might expect, I now know it pretty well.
I've always fished on my own (with the odd foray further afield with a good friend), so when fishing I've only really had to concentrate on what I'm doing.
So there I was, earlier this season stood on a riverbank giving the benefit of my (limited) euro-nymphing experience to a few fellow keen anglers - talk about imposter syndrome! I explained the type of rigs typically used, and also gave a few pointers on watercraft and the types of water that lends itself to the euro-nymph technique. I then waded into the river to give a demo of the kind of casts involved.
Once everyone was happy, I got each of the guys positioned on the river with some 'nymphy' looking water in front of them and they started putting some of my tips into action. What followed next was the highlight of my season - within 20 minutes every one of them had caught a fish, one angler even had a huge Grayling - circa 2lb's - that's a clonker for our local rivers. All this from a stretch of water that they fished regularly and had seen nothing that size before!
I actually got more enjoyment from watching others catch fish than I would catching them myself! I know some of you reading this will be Guides and thinking - welcome to my world, but it's something I very rarely experience so I'm glad I offered to help out.
I always really look forward to the Grayling season and love nymphing, especially Euro-Style Nymphing and this set me thinking ...
What key factors make you successful when nymphing, and so The Euro-Nymph Manifesto was born:
As you've now got a better idea for all things 'nymphy', you're going to need some flies (and tackle) to make the most of it, that's where tomorrow's email will come in really handy ...
Tight lines
