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As appeared in the December 08 issue of Flyfisherman Magazine
Dead-drifting is overrated. There, I said it. If you've spent countless hours perfecting your dead-drift techniques, you may not want to hear or believe this: You can catch more fish by imparting some motion to your presentation when fishing with nymphs.
I first experimented with dragging my flies when a friend and I skipped our high school graduation ceremony in 1980 for two weeks of uninterrupted piscatorial pursuit on the Missouri River. On that trip two things became apparent. The first was that the fish we caught on nymphs were hooked in the front of the mouth instead of the corner--at the time I hypothesized the fish were either striking in a sideways or downstream motion.
I also observed that the majority of hits--and hook-ups--occurred in the final third of the drift, as tension was building on the line. I could see (and feel) strikes when the line was tight--strikes I'd apparently been missing through the previous two-thirds of my drift--and the motion of a fly as it rose or moved in the final stages of a presentation seemed to be a trigger for some fish.
I confirmed my theories a few years later while using scuba gear to watch trout below Holter Dam on the Missouri River. A sideways or downstream attack angle allows fish a chance to preview their food selection, and unwanted tidbits can easily be spit out and carried away, rather than pulled deeper into their mouths as with upstream, parallel-to-the-current approaches. The angle of approach also explains why some takes seem more subtle than others.
There are many advantages to adding subtle drag while nymphing. The first is that drag allows you to detect more strikes. After an upstream mend, dead-drifted nymphs are often downstream of an indicator and you must wait for the indicator to pass the nymphs--or get downstream of the nymphs--before you can detect strikes. With tension on the line, the indicator leads the way and stops or dives subsurface the instant the flies are touched. There is no lag time between when the fish tastes the fly and when the indicator moves.
Slight drag also means you're in a much better position to achieve a solid hook-up. It's more difficult to set the hook with a 90-degree hinge at the indicator than with controlled drag and a straight-line system.
Another advantage is that controlled drag lets your bugs call attention to themselves. Drag means your fly is moving at a different speed than the current, making it much more noticeable in a sea of dead-drifting twigs, leaves, and other debris.
I believe fish tend to feed opportunistically rather than selectively. This explains why, on some days, fish eat a Club Sandwich, a Parachute Adams, an ant, and then devour a skating Royal Wulff at the end of a drift. Unless you attribute these takes to discerning feeding on the emerging phase of the Royal Wulff hatch, the notions of opportunistic feeding and the motion trigger seem to make sense.
When there is enough slack in the line, make a small upstream mend that does not go all the way to the indicator. This should leave a small loop of line--that looks like a letter J--downstream of the indicator.
Feed line into the drift to keep the loop intact, and to control the movement of your flies. Adjust the loop size and shape to make the flies drag and/or swing through the drift. Narrow the loop for a slow, steady rise to the surface. Widen the loop to create a speedy ascent at right angles to the current.
The J-hook Technique
I can tell you with the certainty that comes from 23 years of guiding that people invariably think a drift is ruined if their line and indicator aren't mended upstream. Even in obvious situations when drag is a good thing--such as when swinging soft-hackles or emergers--the swings tend to be unpracticed, uncontrolled, and haphazard, with the motion of the fly left more to chance than anything else.
The easiest way to achieve constant, controlled drag is with what I call the J-hook technique. It works well from a boat or while wading, and is the method I use 90 percent of the time when I fish with nymphs.
In a nutshell, the J-hook is a mend that puts a J-shaped loop into a floating line. The "hook" of line remains downstream of the indicator and flies throughout the drift, adding varying degrees of drag to the entire presentation, depending on loop manipulation.
To perform the J-hook, begin with a quartering upstream cast. After the line lands on the water, wait until a bit of slack develops in the line to make mending easier.
Instead of throwing one large mend that leaves the line and strike indicator upstream above the flies, make a smaller upstream mend that dies three quarters of the way through the belly of the line. This should leave a small loop of line downstream of the indicator which looks like a large letter J on the water. Strip or feed line to keep the loop intact, and to control the movement of your flies.
When the drift hits the midway point, adjust the loop size and shape. Done correctly, this maneuver makes the flies drag and/or swing through the drift controlled by the angle, shape, and size of the hook in your line. Narrow the loop for a slow, steady rise to the surface. Widen the loop to create a speedy ascent at right angles to the current.
Using the J-hook, you can feed line and add an extra 10 feet to the end of your drift--a critical phase, especially when insects are hatching.
Practice this technique by starting with a short line as if you're high-stick nymphing. A shorter line allows you to easily manipulate loop size with little effort. As you get more comfortable with how loop size and shape impact the drift, increase your distance and line length depending on the run you're fishing.
Getting Deeper
The J-hook technique also allows you to manipulate the depth of your presentation over varying river bottom topography. This is especially helpful when fishing from a boat because you can make adjustments as you float to create long drifts without recasting.
When you are wading, your drift begins with an upstream cast that is already prone to drag, since all the line is downstream of your flies when they first hit the water. When you initially mend a small J-hook into the line, it kills the drag and allows properly weighted flies to sink into the deepest part of the run.
Once the flies are deep enough, make the J-hook wider to create drag and increase the speed of the flies as they enter the sweet spot. Use a cross-chest hook-set in the direction of the loop to pick up a nearly taut line--when the fish hits, he's already halfway hooked.
Applying the J-hook technique to your nymphing gives you more control over the depth and speed of presentation throughout the drift. Whether the J-hook has you seeing strikes you've been missing, motivates fish usually willing to hit only swinging flies, or allows you longer drifts in runs of greatly varying depth, mastering this technique pays big dividends.
Jim Cox is a native of Missoula, Montana, and partner in The Kingfisher fly shop.
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