Simms
New member
As I sit here in a conference listening to the CFO and Chief Financial Officer speak about the software and budgeting tool I'm building, I got to thinking about fly fishing due to the mild weather that currently envelops the eastern seaboard. I hope that some of you are able to get out today and tomorrow prior to the bitch old man winter invading.
In the man time, I was just curious as to which method of fly fishing you prefer? I realize different times of year call for different approaches and methods, as does water height and and both temp of the water/air. Couple them all together and you could argue one never adheres to the same method more tan a few outings. There are rivers such as the Deerfield, Farmy, and the Swift that allow constant water flows and temps, and therefore, require minimal deviation in tactics from day to day. Obviously these are the river exceptions and unfortunately, all of us suffer from the mid summer and mid winter doldrums when water is low and HOT or high and COLD.
So, if you could take you're most perfect day on the water and the method i which you would employ, what would it be?
Ever since I could walk, my father stuck a fly rod in my hand and began teaching me the ropes. Quickly becoming infatuated in the sport, I would fly fish as much as possible, going to the extent of persuading the bus drive to drop me off at a few spots on some occasions during my afternoon bus rides home. Obviously the first method one learns is just simple chuck and duck. Then streamers, and then of course the ever challenging different dry fly presentations, fly specifically chosen and carefully placed to entice those slimy little bastards. Once I became familiar with all methods, I really began to perfect my high sticking nymph tactic. Sure, if water was high or conditions called for the "down and across" method, on went my favorite stream and I swung. If conditions permitted the use of dry flies, I then transitioned to that. However more times than none, you always find me with my longest rod in my arsenal, beat'n up on trout with tandem rings under a tangerine. I consider myself a relatively accomplished fly fisherman and can surely put the ass beat'n on the trout, however I'm always learning and picking everyone's brain.
Over the last year, I began to regularly employ a different method. Some refer to this method as "Colorado Nymphing" where you hang a small nymph off the bend of a big,bushy dry/stimulator. One could argue the fact it isn't much of a deviation from "high sticking" with a bobber and tandem rig and the fact one targets the same type of water. Despite those arguments, I find this method MUCH more exciting!
My go to rig for this set up is a size 2 or 4 Chubby Chernobyl in Gold or Tan with a HALO Prince size 16 hung 2 feet off the bend. I use an upstream approach and I target the SAME water one would hit if he wanted to have a "pocket water" day. This method also allows to run a nymph through any run, riff, or pool as well, if the fish aren't keying on surface yet.
Visions of the lower West Branch of the Ausable come racing back to me as I type this. Approaching that Volkswagen sized rock in a stretch strewn with features creating that delicious back eddy with two ripp'n seams on wither side, the sun just touching the tops of the trees, the water slightly elevated and stained, and my dad sitting on the bank, puffing on his stogie, watching as I toss that first cast. I quickly mend, throwing line upstream, the stimulator sits there, before it slowly works its way down the 5foot back eddy. Out of now where, a slab of butter comes racing up from the depths, absolutely MISSING the stimmy but provides an awesome acrobatic show. My dad chuckling behind me, doubting my ability to stick the fly in its jaw, I reproach the rock, strip out the needed line that is required for said drift, and then place my stimmy right behind the rock. BAM! The fish explodes on the fly, quickly inhaling it and racing down to the bottom as I quickly put all the line back on my reel...Bored with this spot, he races me down two sets of rapids, nearly tangling me in downed trees, before I am able to bring him to the net. A fly, 3'' long sticking out of the corner of a 16'' fishes face is the most beautiful thing in the world.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy ALL types of fly fishing, however there are some methods that edge out others by a c hair, and Colorado Nymph'n for me, is it. Couple this with spending quality time with my favorite fishing partner, my dad, during a week's vacation on the Ausable River, and that my friends is a recipe for some of the best times of my life.
In the man time, I was just curious as to which method of fly fishing you prefer? I realize different times of year call for different approaches and methods, as does water height and and both temp of the water/air. Couple them all together and you could argue one never adheres to the same method more tan a few outings. There are rivers such as the Deerfield, Farmy, and the Swift that allow constant water flows and temps, and therefore, require minimal deviation in tactics from day to day. Obviously these are the river exceptions and unfortunately, all of us suffer from the mid summer and mid winter doldrums when water is low and HOT or high and COLD.
So, if you could take you're most perfect day on the water and the method i which you would employ, what would it be?
Ever since I could walk, my father stuck a fly rod in my hand and began teaching me the ropes. Quickly becoming infatuated in the sport, I would fly fish as much as possible, going to the extent of persuading the bus drive to drop me off at a few spots on some occasions during my afternoon bus rides home. Obviously the first method one learns is just simple chuck and duck. Then streamers, and then of course the ever challenging different dry fly presentations, fly specifically chosen and carefully placed to entice those slimy little bastards. Once I became familiar with all methods, I really began to perfect my high sticking nymph tactic. Sure, if water was high or conditions called for the "down and across" method, on went my favorite stream and I swung. If conditions permitted the use of dry flies, I then transitioned to that. However more times than none, you always find me with my longest rod in my arsenal, beat'n up on trout with tandem rings under a tangerine. I consider myself a relatively accomplished fly fisherman and can surely put the ass beat'n on the trout, however I'm always learning and picking everyone's brain.
Over the last year, I began to regularly employ a different method. Some refer to this method as "Colorado Nymphing" where you hang a small nymph off the bend of a big,bushy dry/stimulator. One could argue the fact it isn't much of a deviation from "high sticking" with a bobber and tandem rig and the fact one targets the same type of water. Despite those arguments, I find this method MUCH more exciting!
My go to rig for this set up is a size 2 or 4 Chubby Chernobyl in Gold or Tan with a HALO Prince size 16 hung 2 feet off the bend. I use an upstream approach and I target the SAME water one would hit if he wanted to have a "pocket water" day. This method also allows to run a nymph through any run, riff, or pool as well, if the fish aren't keying on surface yet.
Visions of the lower West Branch of the Ausable come racing back to me as I type this. Approaching that Volkswagen sized rock in a stretch strewn with features creating that delicious back eddy with two ripp'n seams on wither side, the sun just touching the tops of the trees, the water slightly elevated and stained, and my dad sitting on the bank, puffing on his stogie, watching as I toss that first cast. I quickly mend, throwing line upstream, the stimulator sits there, before it slowly works its way down the 5foot back eddy. Out of now where, a slab of butter comes racing up from the depths, absolutely MISSING the stimmy but provides an awesome acrobatic show. My dad chuckling behind me, doubting my ability to stick the fly in its jaw, I reproach the rock, strip out the needed line that is required for said drift, and then place my stimmy right behind the rock. BAM! The fish explodes on the fly, quickly inhaling it and racing down to the bottom as I quickly put all the line back on my reel...Bored with this spot, he races me down two sets of rapids, nearly tangling me in downed trees, before I am able to bring him to the net. A fly, 3'' long sticking out of the corner of a 16'' fishes face is the most beautiful thing in the world.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy ALL types of fly fishing, however there are some methods that edge out others by a c hair, and Colorado Nymph'n for me, is it. Couple this with spending quality time with my favorite fishing partner, my dad, during a week's vacation on the Ausable River, and that my friends is a recipe for some of the best times of my life.
