Nymphing By the Numbers with Kelly Gallup = F17

One fly rig (#1 in video)
Two fly rig, weight between (#2 in video)

One Fly Rig (#1 in video)

@ ~17:30

· Strictly for bottom bouncing, fly rides up a bit to where trout hang

· Tie knot at split shot location, typically 16-18 inches from fly

o Further weight is from fly, the more the fly will rise off the bottom

· Want leader from rod tip to weight as straight as possible

· NOTE: Nero Showtime hangs up on DVD at 19:00

Two Fly Rig, weight between (#2 in video)

@ ~19:00

· Rod tip to top fly is not as steep as one fly rig

· Top Fly tied off on leader end to eye and hook bend for tippet for emergent situation, so head of top fly is more like emerger’s actual orientation

o Eye to eye makes fly ride sideways

· Use nymph for point fly on end; use emerger for top fly closer to rod

· This is the system he uses most frequently when there is an active emergence going on

Two Fly Rig, weight before (#3 in video)

@ ~20:45

· Same setup as before, but put weight between rod and first fly

· Neither fly should be weighted

· Can “lengthen out” fly from weight

o Useful for areas that have high fishing pressure

o Useful for very small flies in shallow water

o Top fly is typically 2-3 feet from lead; point fly is 1 foot behind top fly

§ Less than 2-3 feet keeps fly closer to bottom, sometimes useful

o

This is the system he uses most when there is a very heavy emergence going, so point fly closest to rod rides higher in the water

Two Fly Rig, One Dropper, weight after dropper (#4 in video)

@ ~44:20 rig setup; fishing it at ~52:50

· Often times more tangles than 1-3, occasionally more effective

· Dropper fly rides more freely than point fly, a little more realistic action

· Dropper is 4-8 inches from leader,

o easier to change just that one fly

o sometimes as short as 3 inches, but typically 6-8

· Adult nymph is point, emerger (“pupating Caddis”) is dropper

o He especially likes it for Caddis emergence

· Leader is one size, then at bottom point fly should be smaller size (he uses 4x in fishing it part)

· Fishing it

o Smaller water, less volume

o He happened to anticipate Baetis hatch,

§ so he put size 16 Olive Hare’s Ear Baetis as point fly

§ Dropper is 5x (for clear water) with 18 (could have used 20) Red Sparkle “Crystal” Serendipity midge with tiny hair head, apx 16 inches up from lead
for colored water, go to 4x flouro

§ Water is 2 ft deep 54:58, since slow water he shortened indicator to 3’= 1.5x water depth above dropper, may have to make it 2x water depth; his idea of softer water:
he comments that this is his least favorite way to fish fast water, he could add more lead, but then will get hung up, so instead he casts further out to give it more time to sink

§ As hatch starts, fish move to softer water near the edge of the river

§ He typically casts apx 20’ of line when nymphing, occasionally up to 25’

§ Don’t “line” fish by throwing line over where they may be, be sneaky, open loop up when casting nymphs by stopping rod tip a little higher at end of backcast [this will make tangles less likely]

§ He changes flies after 10-15 minutes max if no luck

§ As indicator comes towards him, he strips line to remove slack, then recasts rather than let fly past him

§ 1:10 he moves to another location and I stopped watching for now

Three Fly Rig all Droppers (#5 in video) “The birdnester”

@ ~46:00 -52:50 rig setup

· 3 flies is a “cast of flies” or a “brace of flies” (though brace is a pair of something, so that term is probably incorrect)

· Davie Wotton uses a lot of 2 and 3 fly rigs with his wet flies

· Kelly uses this system a lot for steelhead

· Weight is at the end of the leader

· Flies are spaced as much as 3 feet in the water column, but typically 16-18”

· He typically uses 2x leader and puts knots on it in advance

· Using shortest length dropper on topmost and middle length dropper in middle helps reduce tangles

· Diagrams shown aren’t how it actually looks in the water since not such as steep leader angle and dropper slanting towards river bottom

o thus flies are actually going to be as far spaced apart as shown in pics

· Some people use this sytem with only 2 flies, but if doing that, might as well use system 4

· Top fly can either be wet fly or different type of fly than others

· Works poorly due to tangles in turbulent water, especially turbulent shallow water

· He prefers dropper over tag end of knot because when one fly gets lost, cut off, etc., have to tie another blood knot that shortens space between flies

o Additionally, double thickess of dropper tie off straightens dropper away from leader

Dropper setup

closeup @ ~ 52:13 - doubled up line helps to keep dropper from wrapping around leader

@ ~53:40