Contact nymphing is the go-to technique for the most effective fishermen around the world because of its flexibility to successfully face most types of water, and because it can be combined with other fishing techniques to become an amazing fishing system.
Contact nymphing is based on the use of a “contact rig.” With this setup, the leader can be kept out of the water and won’t require mending, giving you direct control over the flies and enhanced strike detection. All these advantages can be used to fish with other techniques as well. Suspension indicator nymphing, dry-dropper, and streamers are techniques that can be combined with a contact rig.
These techniques are improved by the advantages of the contact rig, making them extremely effective techniques in certain specific situations. Shown below are some of the most important benefits of the contact rig.
Requires no mending because the leader is off the water all the time, allowing you to fish the most complicated waters
Different depths are easily fished by casting and presentation variations
Drag is minimized because there isn’t any floating element
Very sensitive strike indicator
Direct contact with the flies permits you to set the hook without the need to remove any slack
Control of the speed and depth of the presentation at any point of the drift, which gives you the flexibility to fish water streams with drop-offs or uneven bottoms
Permits you to pinpoint drifts in narrow areas like small pockets
With suspension indicators: There are scenarios in which having two nymphs suspended by an indicator is the best choice; for instance, at the end of the pool or in very slow pools with flat, smooth water with medium depth. Also, it is a good option for any other flat water where the flies need to be kept at the right level and the drift extended as much as possible.
A suspension indicator will work very well with a contact rig, thanks to the advantages of no floating line or leader. Using the contact rig instead of floating the fly line keeps the indicator free from any force induced by surface currents on the line and leader.
In general, fishing with this system is the same as using a fly line, but without the need for mending, because it is simply not needed.
With dry-dropper: The use of a dry-dropper system is recommended for certain water types. Pockets, back eddies, and any turbulent and complicated waters can be fished effectively with a dry-dropper in a contact rig. The use of the contact dry-dropper in these types of water enables you to fish without mending or high-sticking, outperforming the classic system with floating lines.
It is important to realize that this technique is great for fishing at the surface. The dry fly is free from any drag created by currents at the surface. Also, although the dry drift is affected by the nymph, this effect is very often beneficial, creating an appealing presentation in the dry.
To prepare the rig, just remove the dropper nymph and replace it with a dry fly. The length between the dropper and point nymph will be determined by the water depth.
The execution is very simple. Just move the rod, following the dry fly as it goes downstream. Keep the tippet out of the water and be ready to set the hook at any odd movement of the dry fly. When there is a take, the dry fly can sink, and this will tell you there is a strong take. But detecting strikes is not that easy most of the time. The dry fly could pause, hesitate, change orientation, and do a lot of weird movements; whatever it is, just set the hook.
With streamers: A contact rig can be used to fish with streamers with a lot of success. Pocket water, small pools, small seams, and the edges of the runs are better targeted with a contact rig. You can put the streamers where you want with precision.
The contact rig will allow you to have control over the path and the motion, and the sighter will provide information about the location of the streamers.
The rig is very simple—just replace one or two of the nymphs by the streamers. Since there isn’t any sinking line, the streamers are overweighed because they must sink with their own weight. Nevertheless, another option is to add some split shot.
In the execution, you can create dead drifts; this means keeping the rod steady in a smooth movement, and after that, putting some action in the streamers. You can make a lot of different movements to induce the fish to take.
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