For a fly fisher, few experiences beat seeing a fish come up to a dry fly, watching as the fly disappears from the surface, and quickly setting the hook. So, why spend time on the water nymphing? Because you can catch a lot of fish that way. Trout do over 90 percent of their feeding below the surface, and most of the time, they are feeding on nymphs. If you want to catch more fish, you need to learn how to nymph fish and keep honing your skills at the various ways of doing it.
Nymph fishing can be confusing to a neophyte, with so many terms and approaches to think about — dry-and-dropper nymphing, indicator nymphing, tightline nymphing, short-line nymphing, high-stick nymphing, Euro nymphing, and swinging flies. When I was new to fly fishing, I would have benefited from a breakdown of these nymphing tactics, and if you are a newbie, like I was, you may, too.
First Things First
What the heck is a nymph, anyway? A nymph is the larval, pupal, or emerger stage of an aquatic insect. Basically, it is any stage of the bug before it breaks out of its shuck and flies off to mate before returning to lay its eggs. A great way to learn what nymph to use on a river is to turn over rocks in the water and look at the bugs on the bottom of those rocks. You typically will find a lot of crawly things that could be midges, mayflies, stoneflies, or caddisflies in their prehatch state. An even better method is to place a very thin net such as you would use in an aquarium (also known as a fish seine) downstream of the bottom rocks while kicking them up and scraping underneath. Dump your collection into a clear Tupperware container with some water, and voilà! You likely will freak out at all of the cool bugs you find.
To fly fish with nymphs, we tie or buy nymphs that imitate those crawly things from the bottom of the river. Trout love them. And since nymphs are their primary diet, it’s sensible for a fly fisher to make nymphing a standard tactic, at least until such time as the trout begin to feed on the surface, when dry-fly fishing becomes the way to go.
There are a lot of nymph patterns available, but exact imitations are rarely necessary, and just carrying an assortment of Pheasant Tail Nymphs and Hare’s Ear Nymphs in sizes 12 to 18, with and without bead heads, is a good way to begin and can cover most mayfly and caddis hatches. Bird’s Nests in the same sizes also are good, generally buggy nymph imitations. Add a few Rubberlegs Stoneflies in black and in brown from size 10 to size 6, and you’ll likely have something that looks enough like what you find in the river to fool a fish.
Once you find the right nymph imitation to use, you need to put it into the feeding zone of the trout, which often is near the bottom of the river. When I first learned to fly fish in the 1990s on the lower Sacramento River in Redding, I spent many hours doing a lot of fishing, but not much catching. After taking a workshop from one of my early mentors, Chip O’Brien, I realized I wasn’t rigging my leader with enough weight. I was fishing above the fish. Once I got my rig set up so that the nymphs got near the bottom quickly and dead-drifted through a feeding lane, I began to catch fish. I had to pay my dues with a lot of learning and experimenting, as we all do.
However, if just getting the fly down deep were all there is to nymphing, there wouldn’t be so many ways to pursue this aspect of the sport. Instead, there are a variety of ways fly fishers can fish with nymphs, each adapted to where the fish are in the water column and the kinds of water you are fishing.

Dry-and-Dropper Nymphing
Trout may do 90 percent of their feeding below the surface, but that can be anywhere in the water column. Often during a hatch, they are picking off emerging nymphs quite close to the surface, and they can be feeding on these even when there are fully emerged bugs on the water. When that’s happening, the dry-and-dropper method doubles your chances of catching fish. In addition, the dry acts like a strike indicator for the nymph and may even attract fish that then take the nymph instead, because it’s an easier meal.
The rig is simple: a dry fly that will entice fish and that is buoyant enough to support a nymph tied on a length of tippet off the bend or off the eye of the dry’s hook, which even can be just a tag end of the dry’s tippet-to-leader knot. If there is a mayfly hatch, for example, I often use a Parachute Adams as the dry and a size 18 Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph as the dropper on about 18 inches of tippet.
However, nymphs larger than size 14 are difficult to float as well as to cast with a dry fly. With a size 14 beadhead nymph, I typically use a size 8 to size 10 Stimulator for the dry on a 4X nylon tippet, because 4X or even 3X tippet will help the big dry flies from kinking the leader when casting and help turn it over. (Using beadhead nymphs helps punch the fly through the surface film and get down more quickly.) I then attach the nymph dropper to the bend of the hook using an Improved Clinch or Davey Knot with a strand of 5X fluorocarbon — fluorocarbon sinks faster than monofilament. You can experiment with the length of the dropper, but the shortest length I ever use is approximately 18 inches, which presents the fly to fish feeding close to the top of the water column in rivers that have some depth to them. When the fish are feeding closer to the bottom, you need to extend the length of the dropper as well as use a heavier nymph, though not so heavy that it will sink your dry fly. If you tie your own flies, you can weight them with more or fewer wraps of lead or lead substitute. Be sure to use a floatant on the dry fly to help keep it from sinking and reapply as needed.
Indicator Nymphing
If you fish a dry-and-dropper rig, you are already indicator nymphing. I believe indicator nymphing is the best way for beginners to learn to nymph. As shown in the accompanying illustration, my basic indicator rig has a 9-foot tapered leader with fluorocarbon tippet, which makes it simple to switch between nymphing and dry-fly fishing. More technical nymphing rigs will use a level line of 4X or 5X fluoro tied to the butt section of a nylon leader.
There are a variety of types of strike indicators you can use, depending on the stealth needed to fool a fish. Most of them are similar to the bobbers used by bait anglers — in essence, a floating ball to which your leader is secured. I prefer indicators that can be easily moved up or down the leader.
The indicator should float high on the surface, but you should use the smallest indicator possible for the weight of the rig you’re fishing to avoid spooking fish. There are times when even the smallest indicator will spook fish, though, and in these situations, I use a piece of yarn tied to the leader with a Slip Knot. Alternatively, a good premade yarn system is the New Zealand Strike Indicator.
It is critical to set the indicator the correct distance from the split shot, which in turn will set your nymphs at the desired depth. As mentioned earlier, setting the correct depth is critical to catching fish. A good rule of thumb is to set the indicator above your split shot approximately one and a half times the depth of the run you are fishing. If you are fishing a run that is four feet deep, set the indicator at approximately six feet above the split shot. I typically fish with weighted beadhead flies, which help to get the flies to the bottom more quickly than non-weighted flies. In skinny, slow moving water, however, nonweighted flies may drift better along the bottom. I start by fishing the very bottom of the water column, because that’s where fish most often hold. That said, I like to set the system up slightly shallower to begin so that I don’t snag bottom on my first casts. If I don’t get fish, I adjust the indicator in two-inch increments to get my flies deeper. My rule of thumb is to see the indicator “tick,” that is, move as the split shot hits bottom, on approximately one out of 5 to 10 casts. If you never see the indicator move as a result of hitting the bottom, your system is likely set up too shallow, and you should move the indicator up your leader until you find the magic depth.

Another adjustment you frequently need to make is the amount of weight in the system. The ideal weight of split shot gets your fly down quickly, but doesn’t sink your indicator. The split shot is held in place by the knot where your tippet is tied to the leader. There should be at least 14 inches of fluorocarbon tippet below the split shot where you tie on your best nymph pattern. Many fly fishers also add a second nymph to their rig. I prefer to tie another 14-inch piece of tippet one size smaller to the bend of the hook of the first fly, to which a smaller nymph is attached. If the second fly snags and I break off, the smaller-diameter tippet usually means I lose only that fly rather than two flies. On occasion, I will instead add the second fly as a dropper on the end of a tippet tag. A multifly rig with an indicator and split shot can be hard to cast, but there’s no need to cast 60 feet, because you’re fishing much closer than that with an indicator rig. The “lob, lift, and lead” method is the easiest to learn. With the fly line, indicator, leader, and flies tight in the current below you at about 180 degrees opposite your target, lob the entire system over your head into the run upstream. Make the entire system fly in a rainbow arc, keeping everything tight. There cannot be any slack in the system or you will end up with a tangled mess. If your cast doesn’t hit the target, you keep making rainbow casts until you do. Then lift your rod so that it is almost tight, but not quite, to your indicator. There should be a slight amount of slack that allows for a dead drift. Now lead the rig and the flies through the run. Your rod tip should be above and slightly downstream of the indicator. When the indicator ticks, hesitates, or has any unusual movement, set the hook immediately by lifting up and flipping your wrist slightly downstream. If you hook a fish, you are in for some fun. If nothing is there, you can either continue the drift or you can go right into a cast (again, keeping everything tight over the arc of the rainbow) and fish the run again. Beginners should start with using only one nymph, and as you master fishing the indicator rig, add one or even two more, where regulations permit. For more advanced casting of indicator rigs, research the Belgian cast, but the lob, lift and lead method will get your nymphs in the water and drifting toward fish — and, hopefully, get one in the net for you.
High-Stick Nymphing
In 2014, at a guide school on the Pit River, I fished with my now good friend Chris Leonard from the Mammoth area. As we indicator nymphed some fishy runs at Pit 3, we had decent success. I wanted to ensure that my nymphs were getting near the bottom, so I took my indicator off. Chris had never seen this and wondered what I was doing. I began to catch fish on nearly every cast.
High-stick nymphing employs the same rig as indicator nymphing, but without the indicator. By taking off the indicator, you allow the split shot and nymphs to sink beyond the fixed depth at which that the indicator was holding the flies. Detecting the strike is a bit trickier than when using an indicator, though. I like to hold my rod up high so that there is a slight curve in my fly line and leader. I watch the line as it hangs and look for it to straighten a bit, which is the sign the fly has caught either the bottom or a fish. Never assume it is the bottom, because often what you are seeing is a fish taking your fly.

One way to improve your ability to detect strikes when high-stick nymphing is to attach a “sighter.” I tie a piece of red Amnesia mono running line onto my leader using a Barrel Knot. A Barrel Knot will allow you to adjust the sighter up or down the leader, depending on the desired depth. With this method, I watch for unusual movement of the tag end of the barrel knot.
A metaphor I use with clients to explain setting the hook when high-stick nymphing is “flipping the pancake.” Setting the hook on a fish is similar in quickness and power to what is needed to flip a pancake in the air above a frying pan so that the pancake lands upside down.
Short-Line Nymphing
Short-line nymphing is what I use in short and fast runs or pocket water. Often, you can do this one-handed, since there is typically very little fly line, if any, outside the tip of the rod. Using heavy flies and/or heavy split shot, slam the flies upstream of a pocket or fast run. Next, almost pull your flies downstream to keep up with the current so that you can detect a strike. (You want a dead drift, which is why I said “almost”). To help you see a take, use a Nail Knot to tie a two-inch sighter of 25-pound-test red Amnesia to the tip of your fly line. Put a Perfection Loop on the other end, to which you will loop-to-loop your tapered leader. As you lead your flies downstream, watch the red Amnesia. If you see the leader tug downward or even just straighten, do a quick set downstream with your wrist. If there isn’t a fish on the end, go right into another cast. This incredibly effective technique will get you into fishing kinds of water you might otherwise avoid and hence plying your flies through more of the river and catching a lot more fish.
Euro Nymphing
One of the more innovative developments in fly fishing has been Euro nymphing or European-style nymphing (ESN). Many articles, podcasts, and books exist on this method of fly fishing, which was made popular by competition fly fishers such as Fly Fishing Team USA, so I won’t go into the details, but rather give you a general understanding of the method. Euro nymphing typically uses longer, lighter, and more sensitive rods, usually 2-weights to 4-weights around 10 to 11 feet long. Most Euro nymphers use long leaders with light tippets so that the nymph will sink faster. Casting can be challenging, because often there is no fly line weight to get the rod to load. Some type of sighter is put into the system that aids in strike detection.
Most fly shops carry sighter tippet that varies in color, usually yellow, red, or pink. You can also use a piece of sliding red Amnesia attached with a Barrel Knot. Rather than using split shot, Euro nymphers use nymphs weighted appropriately for the speed and depth of the water. If you are using split shot to help get the fly down, then technically, you are not Euro nymphing. With that said, if your goal is just to catch fish, there is nothing wrong with adding split shot — your rig just won’t meet the definition of ESN. If you want to learn more about ESN, there are excellent articles and videos online to get you started. If you want to dive in deep with ESN, Tactical Fly Fishing: Lessons Learned from Competition for All Anglers, by Devin Olsen (Stackpole, 2019), will help you out.
Swinging
One of my great friends is Bob Madgic, who has been the author of many articles in California Fly Fisher. We began fishing together in the early 1990s, spending evenings on the lower Sacramento. Bob’s preferred method of nymphing is to present his fly using the classic wet-fly swing. To swing nymphs, tie on a nymph that imitates what you see hatching and cast it across or slightly downstream. If you want to get the flies a little deeper, you can add a mend upstream after your fly lands. Adding split shot 10 to 14 inches above the fly will help it get down, if you feel you need to go deeper. As the fly swings downstream and across the current, keep the line taut. Be prepared for a strong take. In fact, you may need to up your tippet a size so as not to break off when fishing with this method. On the lower Sac during summer evenings right before dark, swinging a size 12 or 14 Bird’s Nest can be incredibly effective. Recently, I have been learning trout Spey and have found swinging nymphs incredibly exciting.
Get Started
Nymphing can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. There are many different nymphing methods, and all of them work, given the right situation. Each method has its own intricacies. If you are new to fly fishing or nymphing, pick a method, do a little more research about it, and then give it a try. You will catch more fish as you begin to improve your nymphing skills.