A Fresh Idea for Your Nymph Game

November 2, 2016

The fishing this past week has been much more productive on nymphs than streamers here on the Yakima River, and since most trout anglers across the country are likely getting in their last few trips I would like to introduce a fresh spin on an age old technique.  Many anglers utilize a "double nymph rig" which incorporates the use of two flies rather than one.  This gives the trout a couple of options to choose from, and it is an easy way to add some additional weight.  Each fly helps the other fly sink. A team effort of sorts.

The video pretty much sums up the entire lesson, but I'll add a few highlights here and a link to purchase a few materials along with some hot flies.



Some Nymphing Tips for Fall

  • Fall means low and clear water on most rivers
  • Fall means that the fish have had a proper education all summer!
  • These two things = smart trout
  • Smart trout are more often caught on small flies
  • 2 small flies are usually more productive than 1 small fly
  • A leader setup that allows small flies to move naturally is crticial!
  • Try #14 - #20 Nymphs right now 

Materials Needed






  1. That is great!I love this blog!
  2. I floated with a guide a couple years ago and he used a bit different system. He tied off his dropper fly from the hook eye of the top fly. Have you ever used this? Recommend it?
  3. I do that when I am nymph fishing for Steelhead for several reasons. Chinook and big Steelhead will bend out the hook gape on the top fly if you hook them on the bottom. If the top fly has a long tail, I like to keep it free and give it the ability to move. Lastly, these are "high stakes" fish and I don't like tippet coming off the gape of my hook in general. Regarding trout, I have not used this setup on anything but a streamer. Sometimes I will dead drift leeches or buggers with a dropper and I do this so that the tail of the streamer doesn't tangle in the last piece of tippet.
  4. Hey Joe, l enjoy your blog and the fact that you keep going. ln the BC rivers, it's single hook, barbless fishing. Any wild steelhead must be released. So could you use an attractor nymph, let's take the hook off the shank of the bottom nymph and use the top nymph for the catch ? Otherwise it would be just single nymph fishing. l am new to fly fishing and have not caught anything yet. But l am learning lots of strategies so that when l do go out on any waters l will know where to look and what to do. l know this is a sport that you learn by doing just like everybody else that already has the expierence. One day l will try a guide. They are pricey. But l have a friend that is an expierenced fly fisher a switch rod user and knows the river l want to fish. And we aare going out together soon. But l want to do a recon mission on my own and maybe use my"" FishHunter" fish finder to track and locate fishing zones. You can save locations with it. Check it out !

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