Anyone who loiters around a fly shop long enough will eventually hear about Euro nymphing. Monikers like Czech nymphing, high-stick nymphing or tight-line nymphing all refer to the same basic set of techniques. At its core, Euro nymphing is a label we use to describe a set of fly fishing techniques, honed by anglers in European and worldwide competitions.
Whatever you call it and whatever the origins, the concept is simple enough. Whereas a traditional nymph rig is suspended under a floating strike indicator and uses split-shot for weight, a Euro-style nymph rig eliminates the bobber, creating a direct, “tight-line” connection between the rod and flies. A colored section of monofilament called a “sighter” is held above the water’s surface to help detect strikes. And the heavily weighted flies sink quickly, typically removing the need for additional split shot.
There’s no doubt that Euro nymphing techniques can be very effective. So, what does an angler need to get started? Frequently asked questions here at the fly shop include the importance of Euro-specific rods, reels, fly lines, leaders and other tackle. For answers, we turned to our own Doug Andrews, who heads up our fly fishing and fly tying classes.
If you live here on the Front Range and you haven’t met Doug yet, stop by the shop on a weekend and say hello. Having spent 34 years in education and retired as a principal right here in Littleton, we are very fortunate to have Doug bring his passion and experience for teaching to the fly shop. Doug would be quick to point out that he’s no Euro nymphing expert. But if you have questions on the subject, he’s a great guy to ask.
We recently spent some time chatting with Doug about Euro nymphing gear and tackle. What’s really needed to get started? And what’s not? Here’s what Doug had to say…
Why Euro Nymphing
“One of the big advantages of Euro nymphing is that it’s effective in any type of water,” Doug told us. “The real advantage is in pocket water situations where it would be difficult to fish with a traditional nymph rig. When you’re fishing in various currents and various speeds of currents with a suspension rig, your bobber might be in calm water and your flies in swift water or vice versa. But with Euro nymphing, your flies are right down underneath your sighter.”
Because of that, Doug has found that Euro nymphing allows him to fish water he might otherwise pass up. In situations when there are so many variations in the current, it can be difficult to keep an indicator and flies all drifting naturally together. But with a Euro nymph rig, those small pockets and short drifts become more accessible.
Getting Started – Essentials for Euro Nymphing
“You don’t have to have a Euro-specific fly rod to get started,” Doug began. “You really don’t have to have a Euro-specific reel or even a fly line when you’re starting out. If you decide you like it, you’ll probably want those things eventually. But at least to try it out, all you really need is a Euro nymph leader with a section of sighter material, a spool of 5x or 6x fluorocarbon tippet, and a handful of Euro nymphing flies.”
Euro Nymph Leaders
According to Doug, Euro nymph leaders tend to be very long when compared to the traditional 7.5-foot or 9-foot fly leaders.
“A typical Euro nymph leader can be 15 to 20 feet or even longer,” Doug told us. “In many situations, your fly line remains on the reel and you’ll be fishing with your leader in hand, instead of holding your fly line.”
Doug explained that while Euro nymphing, the leader rarely is even in the water or touching the water.
“Your leader extends down the length of the rod and out the rod tip,” he continued. “Then the bottom section of your leader is the sighter, that color-highlighted material. The sighter extends down to a tippet ring, which connects your leader to your tippet. Everything from the tippet ring up is held above the water. So the only part of your rig actually in the water, is your tippet and flies.
“Many Euro nymphing enthusiasts build their own leaders,” Doug added. “But most leader manufacturers now make Euro-specific leaders. They are relatively long and usually come with that sighter material included down to the tippet ring. So an easy way to get started if you want to try Euro nymphing is to pick up one of those Euro nymph leaders.”
The Sighter Material
On a Euro nymph rig, the sighter is the last piece of the leader before you get to your tippet. It’s a highly visible, usually two-toned leader material. Some are black and white while others may be orange and fluorescent green.
“This is a portion of your leader that you can easily see in order to detect strikes,” Doug said. “The reason that many of them are two-toned is so that they are visible in varying light conditions. Sometimes the green shows up better than the red. Or sometimes the black is easier to see than the white, or vice versa depending on light conditions.”
Doug explained that generally speaking, the sighter material doesn’t hit the water even on your cast. It’s held out of the water above your flies in order to act as a kind of strike indicator.
“It replaces the bobber in a suspension rig,” Doug Continued. “As you hold that sighter material above the water, your rod tip leads your flies. As you’re tracking your fly through the current, your rod tip stays just ahead of your fly. Frequently you’ll feel a strike because you’re tight-lined to your flies. But sometimes, the take can be subtle and you may not feel it. So you look to your sighter for a slight pause or change, just like when you’re fishing with a floating strike indicator.”
Sighters can vary in length, but Doug makes his sighters about two or three feet in length, which is typical for a Euro nymph rig
“What’s nice about euro nymphing is that if you change water depths, you don’t necessarily have to re-rig with a shorter or longer piece of tippet,” he added. “You can either hold your sighter further out of the water, or when you need to fish a little deeper, your sighter can dip into the water to get you down to the bottom.”
The Tippet Ring
“Every time you go out, you will probably end up tying on a new piece of tippet,” Doug said. “Or when you need to make a big change in depth, you’ll cut off the tippet and tie on a new piece. Whenever this happens, using a tippet ring saves your sighter material. Instead of eating away at the sighter every time you cut and re-tie using a surgeons or blood knot, a piece of tippet, you simply cut it off at the tippet ring and start fresh using a clinch knot.”
Tippet
As Doug explained, the tippet is what actually goes into the water when fishing a Euro nymph rig. The length of that tippet depends on the depth of the water. If you’re fishing in 4 feet of water, you’ll end up with around 4.5 to 5 feet of tippet tied to the tippet ring.
“On tailwaters where you have pretty skinny water and very selective fish, I’ll be using 6x fluorocarbon tippet,” Doug told us. “In bigger water, you can get away with using 5x fluorocarbon tippet.”
Euro Nymphing Flies:
Because you’re not using split shot for weight, Euro nymph flies tend to be streamlined and heavily weighted. This is particularly true of the point fly or anchor fly in a multi-fly rig. Doug explained that in a typical Euro rig, that heavy fly is at the bottom of your rig. The second fly will be tied about 15 or 20 inches above that.
“I don’t tie very many sizes of Euro flies,” Doug said. “I tie mostly 14s, 16s and a few 18s. But I alter the bead size in order to vary the weight. For example, I’ll tie a particular Euro fly with four different bead sizes. And that’s how I change my weights. If I need more weight, I might go from a 2.4mm bead to a fly with a 2.8mm bead. If I need still more weight, I’ll change my fly to one with a 3.2mm bead. Same fly, same size, just a different weighted bead. And that’s how I organize my fly box. I’ll have a row of the same fly, but with four different bead sizes to give me four different sink rates.”
Euro Fly Lines
Most of the top fly line manufacturers make Euro nymphing fly lines. According to Doug, these aren’t a necessity when first starting out. But if you find that you enjoy Euro nymphing, you’ll eventually want to invest in a Euro-specific fly line, as well as rod and reel.
“To get started, you may want to get what’s called a Euro Nymph Shorty fly line, which is about a 20-foot section of euro fly line that you can attach to your regular fly line using a loop-to-loop connection,” Doug said. “It’s a very thin, level fly line. When using long Euro leaders, it can be awkward to hold that leader in your hand. If you hook a fish and you have leader material in your hand, it can be difficult to hold on. And so it’s nice to have that skinny Euro fly line in your hand because it offers more grip.”
Doug went on to explain that in most situations, you’ll be fishing within 10 or 15 feet of where you’re standing. When that’s the case, your fly line won’t even extend beyond your rod tip. But once in a while, you may need to fish more than 15 feet away from you. When that happens and your fly line leaves the rod tip, a Euro nymph line offers another distinct advantage.
“When it’s extending out beyond your rod tip, a regular fly line will sag because of the weight of the line,” Doug said. “That sag diminishes the direct connection to your flies. A much thinner Euro fly line offers less sag, and therefore allows a better direct connection with your flies – which of course is one of the main ideas behind Euro nymphing.
Euro Fly Rods
“You may want to take the plunge into a new fly rod but you certainly don’t have to right away,” Doug told us when talking about Euro nymphing rods. “You can euro nymph with your regular fly rod. But a longer 10-foot fly rod is ideal for reaching out and using that high-stick technique. These rods offer a few other advantages as well. So if you decide that you enjoy the Euro nymph thing, you’ll probably end up looking at Euro-specific fly rods.”
Euro rods are long. This gives you more reach to keep your line off the water and maintain that direct connection with your flies. Plus, they’re built with a very sensitive tip and a lot of lifting strength in the butt of the rod.
“Usually when you’re euro nymphing you will be using fine tippet like 5x, 6x and maybe even 7x at times,” Doug continued. “So the sensitive, soft tip on a Euro nymph rod really protects that fine tippet when you set the hook and when you’re fighting fish.
“If you’re fishing a 10-foot, 2-weight or 3-weight Euro rod, it’s really the tip section that’s the 2 or 3-weight,” he added. “The rest of the rod is more built more like a 5-weight. So you still have plenty of power to land fish, but also the sensitivity of that soft tip to protect the light tippet during the fight.”
We recommend taking a look at the Sage ESN, Sage Sense and TFO Stealth Euro-style fly rods.
Euro Fly Reels:
Like fly rods, Doug suggested that you don’t need a Euro fly reel when you’re just starting out. But again, there are advantages that you may eventually find worth the investment.
“Euro fly reels are usually built with a closed frame,” Doug explained. “This is because your Euro leader and fly line are so skinny they tend to get caught between the frame and spool on a traditional fly reel. The enclosed frame or “fully caged frame” of a Euro nymph reel eliminates that problem.”
Additionally, Euro reels are ultra large arbor. This removed the need of hundreds of yards of backing to fill it up. Less backing, means less weight and more balance. Speaking of balance, many Euro nymph fly reels come with the ability to add or remove weights. When fishing those long Euro nymph fly rods, this allows the angler to fine-tune the balance of the entire rod and reel system helping to alleviate arm fatigue.
Check out the Redington Tilt Euro Nymph Fly Reel, the Sage ESN Reel Or the Bauer RVR Euro.
Euro Nymph Rigging:
When it comes to setting up a Euro nymph rig, Doug offered a few important tips to remember. First, is that idea of tight-line nymphing, which means maintaining as close a connection as possible between your fly rod and your flies. That’s why fly lines and leaders in Euro nymph setups tend to be as thin as possible. A thinner line and leader means less sag and less wind drift for those portions of the rig that remain above the water. And the light tippet and heavy flies reduce drag in the water, allowing the flies to get down into the strike zone quickly.
“As you get better at euro nymphing, your leaders will tend to become thinner,” Doug told us. “As you get more proficient, you’ll want thinner leaders in order to reduce that sag between your rod tip and the water. The heavier the leader, the more sag and wind resistance you’ll experience. A thinner leader allows you to register those strikes more easily with a tight line to your flies.”
However, there are disadvantages to an ultra thin leader. Most notably, they can be very difficult to cast with accuracy.
“When anglers are first starting out, I recommend a leader that’s made of pretty heavy material,” Doug said. “When I first started, I built leaders with a 20lb. test butt section. I’d tie about 3.5 feet of 20lb leader material, then 3.5 feet of 15lb, and then 3.5 feet of 12lb. and then about three feet of sighter material. In all, I ended up with about a 15 or 16-foot leader down to my tippet ring. I’d recommend starting with something along these lines. The heavier leader is much easier to control when casting.”
Now having practiced Euro nymphing for a while, Doug says he’s moved into what are called micro-leaders. Now he’s fishing a leader with an 8lb. butt section, tied down to 6lb. test and then the sighter.
“So now I have a much thinner leader profile,” he said. “That allows me to be much more connected to my flies. But, these thinner leaders were much more difficult to cast with accuracy at first. So as a general rule, it’s easier to start with a heavier leader and then graduate yourself down as you get the hang of it.”
You can certainly Euro nymph with a single fly. But most anglers will fish two flies on a Euro nymph rig. And almost always, the heavy fly is on the bottom.
“For a typical rig, you’ll tie on two sections of tippet,” Doug explained. “First, tie on a two or three-foot section of tippet to the tippet ring. Next, use a double surgeon’s knot to tie in another 15 or 20-inch section. At the bottom, tie on your point fly. Then, go back up to where you tied that surgeon’s knot. Cut off the top tag and leave the bottom tag 4 to 6-inches long. This bottom tag is where you’ll tie your second fly. So when you tie that double surgeon’s knot, be sure to leave plenty of tag material. This will allow you to change flies a few times before you need to tie on a new piece of tippet.”
Just like the fly line and leader, ultra light tippet offers a significant advantage in a Euro nymph rig. Bulkier tippet material will slow the descent of your flies into the water.
“A 6x Fluorocarbon tippet allows your flies to get down in a hurry,” Doug explained. “What’s nice about the euro nymphing is that the skinny tippet and the heavy flies sink quickly. Those flies don’t just drift down. They plunge down. Especially when you’re fishing pocket water, variable currents or anywhere with a short drift, Euro nymphing offers a real advantage. Your flies get down almost immediately to the fish.”
Let Us Know If You Have Questions
Thanks to Doug for giving us a brief introduction to Euro nymphing gear and tackle! Like so many aspects of fly fishing, Euro nymphing techniques can be as surface level or as deep as you wish to take them. Whether you’re just getting started or taking it to the next level, let us know how we can help. You can catch Doug here at the fly shop in Littleton most weekends. Or just ask anyone on our crew for help. If you’re not local, give us a call at 303-794-1104 and we’d be glad to help!
