I'm not an expert nymph angler but I'm happy to use them if the conditions dictate. In this video I tie my go to pattern. You can alter the bead and hook size to suit your stream and water height.
Another nice video Chris, like you I prefer dry fly but do have the odd go with a nymph and one thing I have found very successful is using my own scruffy dubbing ,a mix if natural hares ear with about 20% yellow hare added and a liberal amount of chopped up squirrel tail, works well on nymph or dries. Look forward to the next one, cheers Mike
Your in good company Mike, Mo Graham from our club also hand mixes his own dubbing. As he pointed out to me at last years meeting "nothing in nature is one plain colour". Everydays a school day.
Hi Chris - just discovered your channel- great stuff. Fished the Creedy every week over 40 years ago now! Your videos show a rather more 'open' river in terms of trees vegetation etc than I remember - as a matter of interest what length rod are you using around the Dunscombe/Codshead stretch, please. Many thanks Mike
Hi Mike thanks for the comment, in the spring I use an 8' 6" four weight rod as I expect to be nymphing and the banks are still bare. For summer dry fly I switch to a 7' 6" three weight. I did have the chance to join the club in 1991 but university, marriage etc meant it was over 20 years before I finally got around to it, listening to some of the older members the fly life and the fishing has declined over that time ( I will always regret not joining when i had the chance) What was it like when you fished it? The change in land use from meadows to maize has certainly affected the terrestrial insects.
@@chrismatthewsflyfishing7724 In the 70s my family lived in Newton St Cyres and with (sort of) permission from the 2 farming families in the village that's where I fished the Creedy. School bus went over Codshead Bridge twice a day - always craned my neck looking for a rise... The river allegedly had White Claw crays in it at that time but I never saw one and I spent more time in that river between the ages of 11 and 16 than anything else without gills!🙂 Goodish mayfly hatch - very good head of minnows - lampreys too - but no other coarse fish apart from eels that I caught or saw. The fish ran 3 to the pound with a 12ozer a good one. I'd say the fish you're catching are a cut above those I caught, but then that might be as much to do with comparative skill levels 🙂. Swarms of black gnat, but I don't remember much in the way of upwing hatches other than the aforementioned mays. Did once heave an eel to the surface on a dead minnow from one of the deeper pools that was an honest-to-God 4ft long - my 2 schoolmates and I were mightily releaved when it threw the hook!😁
Very interesting Mike, I have fished below the CFFC Water on the Creedy and it was very overgrown. I presume its the bank clearing work that the club does makes for easier casting. The Eel brings back memories, I once caught a large silver Eel on dead minnow from the overflow/flood defence stream by the mill on the exe in Exeter. Nobody wanted to go near it until thankfully my dad came to pick us up and he unhooked it and let it go. We used to get good perch too from right under the weir (we used to walk out on the weir with our shoes and socks off and trot for roach with silk weed on the hook). You don't see anybody on it these days but it used to be packed all summer.
You could argue that's actually a mini streamer? I think I've said before, that I'm sure a lot of flashy, bead heads nymphs are taken for fry/small fish, especially as you say you also jig them. ( And why a downstream swing can still be effective: a real nymph wouldn't do this, but a small fish would! ).
I used to fish wet flies down and across early season and you do wonder how many of the Trout took them as a lure. "Any fly can become a lure if its fished fast enough" Gordon Fraser Mastering the Nymph. Quote might not be exact as its been a while since I read the book, but I think your argument is correct, one of the intriguing things about all fishing is that we'll never know what the fish perceives our offerings to be, I'm just glad when they occasionally take them. Not long now!!! (15th of March for our Devon Rivers).
@@chrismatthewsflyfishing7724 Yes. I have done invertebrate monitoring, and sometimes the fry look indistinguishable from the nymphs except for that they move a bit faster and are a little flashier. Everything.....from the tiniest olive nymph to a bullhead in the tray, basically is brown/olive colour and tapered body to various degrees. I use a gold or silver tungsten bead hare's ear nymph early season. I prefer to cast it upstream and dead drift but sometimes I'm am forced to cast it downstream and swing it. I firmly believe when I swing it downstream the fish sees it as a small fish. Perhaps that's sometimes why I see them swipe at and quickly turn away? I'm convinced that sometimes they are just chasing out of their territory. I've heard that buzzers ripped back on a stillwater can sometimes be lethal. There's no way on earth that buzzers could ever move that fast so I think with change in presentation, the fish may think they are fish fry? Ofcourse, fish arent smart and maybe I'm am really overthinking this and sometimes they don't care if a nymph is acting very unnaturally! 3 march are season started. Only been out once and I blanked. Look forward to seeing your first out of the season.
Another nice looking fly Chris, some more items to add to the shopping list. Handy getting gift cards for fishing shops lol
Gift cards for fishing shops, now there's an idea👍
@@chrismatthewsflyfishing7724 aye can't go wrong. Perfect timing for getting ready for the season!! tight lines lad🎣
Super looking little nymph; must tie some & give them a try - thanks
I hope they work aswell for you as they have for me over the years..
Another nice video Chris, like you I prefer dry fly but do have the odd go with a nymph and one thing I have found very successful is using my own scruffy dubbing ,a mix if natural hares ear with about 20% yellow hare added and a liberal amount of chopped up squirrel tail, works well on nymph or dries. Look forward to the next one, cheers Mike
Your in good company Mike, Mo Graham from our club also hand mixes his own dubbing. As he pointed out to me at last years meeting "nothing in nature is one plain colour". Everydays a school day.
Hi Chris - just discovered your channel- great stuff. Fished the Creedy every week over 40 years ago now! Your videos show a rather more 'open' river in terms of trees vegetation etc than I remember - as a matter of interest what length rod are you using around the Dunscombe/Codshead stretch, please.
Many thanks
Mike
Hi Mike thanks for the comment, in the spring I use an 8' 6" four weight rod as I expect to be nymphing and the banks are still bare. For summer dry fly I switch to a 7' 6" three weight. I did have the chance to join the club in 1991 but university, marriage etc meant it was over 20 years before I finally got around to it, listening to some of the older members the fly life and the fishing has declined over that time ( I will always regret not joining when i had the chance) What was it like when you fished it? The change in land use from meadows to maize has certainly affected the terrestrial insects.
@@chrismatthewsflyfishing7724 In the 70s my family lived in Newton St Cyres and with (sort of) permission from the 2 farming families in the village that's where I fished the Creedy. School bus went over Codshead Bridge twice a day - always craned my neck looking for a rise...
The river allegedly had White Claw crays in it at that time but I never saw one and I spent more time in that river between the ages of 11 and 16 than anything else without gills!🙂
Goodish mayfly hatch - very good head of minnows - lampreys too - but no other coarse fish apart from eels that I caught or saw. The fish ran 3 to the pound with a 12ozer a good one. I'd say the fish you're catching are a cut above those I caught, but then that might be as much to do with comparative skill levels 🙂.
Swarms of black gnat, but I don't remember much in the way of upwing hatches other than the aforementioned mays.
Did once heave an eel to the surface on a dead minnow from one of the deeper pools that was an honest-to-God 4ft long - my 2 schoolmates and I were mightily releaved when it threw the hook!😁
Very interesting Mike, I have fished below the CFFC Water on the Creedy and it was very overgrown. I presume its the bank clearing work that the club does makes for easier casting. The Eel brings back memories, I once caught a large silver Eel on dead minnow from the overflow/flood defence stream by the mill on the exe in Exeter. Nobody wanted to go near it until thankfully my dad came to pick us up and he unhooked it and let it go. We used to get good perch too from right under the weir (we used to walk out on the weir with our shoes and socks off and trot for roach with silk weed on the hook). You don't see anybody on it these days but it used to be packed all summer.
You could argue that's actually a mini streamer? I think I've said before, that I'm sure a lot of flashy, bead heads nymphs are taken for fry/small fish, especially as you say you also jig them. ( And why a downstream swing can still be effective: a real nymph wouldn't do this, but a small fish would! ).
I used to fish wet flies down and across early season and you do wonder how many of the Trout took them as a lure. "Any fly can become a lure if its fished fast enough" Gordon Fraser Mastering the Nymph. Quote might not be exact as its been a while since I read the book, but I think your argument is correct, one of the intriguing things about all fishing is that we'll never know what the fish perceives our offerings to be, I'm just glad when they occasionally take them.
Not long now!!! (15th of March for our Devon Rivers).
@@chrismatthewsflyfishing7724 Yes. I have done invertebrate monitoring, and sometimes the fry look indistinguishable from the nymphs except for that they move a bit faster and are a little flashier. Everything.....from the tiniest olive nymph to a bullhead in the tray, basically is brown/olive colour and tapered body to various degrees.
I use a gold or silver tungsten bead hare's ear nymph early season. I prefer to cast it upstream and dead drift but sometimes I'm am forced to cast it downstream and swing it. I firmly believe when I swing it downstream the fish sees it as a small fish. Perhaps that's sometimes why I see them swipe at and quickly turn away? I'm convinced that sometimes they are just chasing out of their territory.
I've heard that buzzers ripped back on a stillwater can sometimes be lethal. There's no way on earth that buzzers could ever move that fast so I think with change in presentation, the fish may think they are fish fry? Ofcourse, fish arent smart and maybe I'm am really overthinking this and sometimes they don't care if a nymph is acting very unnaturally!
3 march are season started. Only been out once and I blanked. Look forward to seeing your first out of the season.