Fish where the fish are

Trout feed subsurface at different levels in the water column, depending on the season, water temperature, and insect behavior. There are situations where the fish are locked to the bottom and situations where the fish are at the middle of the water column looking for emerging insects.

When the hatch is on, the fish are looking for emerging insects, which are located higher in the water column. In general, in winter, fish are locked to the bottom, and the flies must sink quickly and stay down along the drift. In summer, fish are actively feeding, so long drifts are effective. This means a medium sink rate and keeping flies at medium depth when looking for fish in an active mood. In spring and fall, feeding levels are uncertain, so trying different depths is the best option to determine what the fish are doing. Also, it is important to be aware of the eventual opportunistic behavior of trout that could make them go up and down. Very often, you won’t know at what level the fish are feeding, and some prospection is needed to detect the fish. You will catch a lot more fish by targeting different layers in the water column.

To be able to fish easily at different levels, you must use a rig without any elements that fix the fishing depth; therefore, no suspension or floating indicators are allowed in the rig. The contact-nymphing rig maintains a relatively straight-line connection with the nymphs without anything locked to the water surface, permitting you to control the depth. Different depths are easily fished by casting and presentation variations and through sighter elevation and leader entry angles at the casting and along the drift. This is very useful when moving from one stretch to another to minimize rig changes. The control of depth through presentation parameters is very helpful when facing situations with changing current speeds. Drag forces depend on current speed. The higher the speed, the bigger the drag force.

To understand how flexible the presentation can be, imagine a control panel. The different elements that control depth could be represented by the sliders. These are the tools that anglers have at their fingertips to adapt the presentations.

In further articles or in the Contact Nymphing book, you will learn how to use this panel, adapting the presentation for the different types of water and depths.