Nymph Color

[pmjasper]

Hey guys, sorry for all the questions but I'm just trying to be as prepared as possible when I head out to the stream. I was looking at Shannon's website, which recommends using olive and grey nymphs, which I have not tied any of yet and got me to thinking...when does one decide to used one color over the other when starting out the day's fishing? For example, lets say I have a tan, brown and olive GRHE, how would I decide which one to start fishing with?

I know confidence has something to do with it and usually I would use an olive fly over a vegetation-filled bottom and a tan fly over a sandy/gravel bottom and a grey fly over rocky bottom. Finally, while black is a very common and popular nymph color, I have never done well using black. Thanks.

 

[eddavidson9]

sounds like you answered your own question. they tend to take the color of their surroundings, mostly. also, i believe mid-season darker shades tend to be more prevalent(?)

with GRHENs i tend to have the most luck with black too regardless of location, but my overall best producing nymph is a basic pheasant tail or beadhead pheasant tail nymph.

 

[pmjasper]

Thanks. I kind of figured about the color vs the surroundings but was curious on how others chose their flies.

 

[theartoflee]

If you are lazy carry around a bunch of tan nymphs and prismatic markers. Fish a tandem rig and experiment until you find the best color.

 

[JeffK]

I'm mostly down to muskrat fur, hare's ear, green and cream caddis, and pheasant tail nymphs and I use what I feel confident with that day.

A more logical step is to pick up a rock and look at it from a few feet away to get a general impression of the nymphs. Are they small or large and are they dark or light. Pick a nymph with the same sort of look and go fishing - don't over think it and identify all the species. For example, most days on the lower Pequest the nymphs look like gray blobs to me, so on goes a muskrat nymph. In some clear streams they look like a bunch of little very dark brown critters crawling around - on goes a small pheasant tail. Some streams are all little greenish wormy looking things - put on a olive caddis. I fish mostly local streams that I have fished for decades (and I sample of few times a year for data) so I rarely do the pick up a rock thing. However, when I'm at a new stream I will.

Unless I can see the fish. Then sometimes I put on a white or cream nymph that I can see (the natural looking ones blend in with the bottom) to check if I am getting the right drift to the fish. A small dark dropper can be used for better luck.

 

[NJpatbee]

The 3 shades of GRHE in different sizes cover many situations. My choice - Natural/Dark GRHE 12-16 just about any time, especially during the April/May timeframe.

During the summer I try smaller (18-22) olive shaded GRHE if I know the water has decent Baetis population, or has a lot of shrimp/scuds (e.g. Pequest or Musky).

I use the lighter shade GRHE (12-16) for parts of June and during August if there are White Flies present.

For any freestone stream I will normally start nymphing with a weighted natural GRHE unless there is a specific hatch taking place. Over the last season, and probably because I fish them so often I caught more fish with the Natural GRHE than any other fly including dries, and I caught them every month from April through October since it can imitate a wide variety of insects.

There was a time when I used the individual recipes from Schweibert's "Nymphs", and although they were fun to tie and you could sometimes tell the exact mayfly that was being imitated, they did not come close to the GRHE for catching trout. Sorry for taking such a simplistic view of nymphing, but I use the natural GRHE probably 80% of the time when nymphing and find it hard to beat. Don't make yourself nuts:dizzy:!

 

[ddawatson]

Nymph color should only be one trait you should consider when choosing a pattern for fooling fish.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a subsurface imitation:

1.) Size

2.) Movement of the fur/fibers of the imitation.

3.) Movement of the artificial by dead drifting, swinging, twitching, or stripping.

4.) Correct placement of the artificial in the proper feeding zone.

5.) Color

6.) Behavioral triggers. For example, does the artificial mimic trapped gasses? Does it incorporate a certain color that triggers or compels the fish to induce the take?

7.) Smell of the artificial. Do you rub your nymph, emerger, wet-fly, streamer in the mud or aquatic grasses or rock algae to flush out unnatural odors?

8.) Shape of imitation. For example, should it be curled in a defensive position as if it has been kicked free of it's confines? Or does it swim aggressively like a stonefly or Isonychia, diving BWO Spinner, emerging pupae?

Here is a quick anecdote:

1.) I am fishing a well known tail water fishery near the Colorado / New Mexico state line. January 1st, snowing, mid-30's. Midges are hatching. No olive activity. Fishery is packed full of midge larvae, pupae, scuds, shrimp. Everyone is fishing size 18 to 2x larvae. Or they would fish size 14 to 16 scuds or shrimp imitations. I choose to fish a size 22 or 24 GRHE. Every pool I dead drifted or sight fished resulted in multiple hook ups. Why? Size of the fly was a SAFE and DIFFERENT - in addition that I brushed the fibers to get a fuzzy appearance AND I also worked the fly into the nearby mud to eliminate and unnatural odors.

2.) I am fishing with Dennis D on well know Catskill freestone fishery in mid morning, mid to late June. Everyone is fishing dry flies to fish in the pool. I choose to fish a shooting head, 4 foot leader, with 4x tippet, down and deep with either a Crawfish colored bugger or caddis wetfly at the head of the pool. The head is about 4 to 7 feet deep. I know that caddis is active (as usual) and I know that the fish are either stacked at the deep head or sunk down deep due to the in and out sunlight. I knocked out about 6 browns in :45 minutes that were between 16" to 20" because my flies were in the ZONE, had MOVEMENT in the pattern and were SAFE because no one fishes a deep pocket.

3.) I am fishing The Rio Grande in Creede, CO. The stretch is behind a neighbors home down river that has a boulder head with deep pockets that slowly turns into a large deep pool that bends (when looking down-river) from right to left. On the right side is a stone wall cliff that is about 10 feet in height. This late July and the Willow Stonefly hatches have long since passed, however, a morning olive hatch causes a mid morning rise to occur on a consistent basis. I choose to fish the deep pocket water at the head with a strike indicator, 4 to 6 split shot and a mixed fur Kauffman Wiggle Stonefly. The fly would tick slowly along the bottom in about 4 to 6 feet of water. Every 3rd to 4th cast, in the proper seam -- a large brown or rainbow would slam into the fly. I showed these fish something different again by using a fly that had movement in the body via the fur fibers and the wiggle of the body and worked to present the fly in the proper feeding zone.

 

[pmjasper]

Thanks guys, Like I said I have a lot to learn. I toyed around with fly fishing and tying for a number of years, although I've probably done more in saltwater than fresh in recent years.

I was never much of a match the hatch guy, often watching guys on the side of the stream take out their hatch chart guides, trying their best to determine what specific type of mayfly or caddis was hatching. While I do find it somewhat interesting, I never completely got into the entomology of a stream like some others guys. I knew of guys would could off the top of their head tell your thirty different kinds of mayflies and be able to identify all of them out on the stream. Often I would hear them saying this nymph is cream, but the other is tan, while yet another is a shade darker and wondered if it really was worth all the time geared toward the slight differences for a slight variation in color. Often, I would end up casting generic patterns and streamers with decent success, as I had confidence in them and new at the very least that minnows were always in the stream for trout to feed on. However, trying to become more complete fly fisherman, I want to gain the knowledge to be able to determine what type of nymph is best to drift through a rocky run on the Flatbrook versus a slow moving section of the Paulinskill. I don't want to become a stream entomologist, but I'm trying my best to learn so that I can be more successful when on out on the water. I do appreciate all the insight and advise provided by the members of this site and do think it will help in the long run.