"Let it marinade," "Let that dog hunt," "Let it ride..." However you want to put it, keep your bugs where the fish live and stop moving them around. Fish like drag-free not dancing flies. The longer you keep the flies in the zone without bouncing them around, the more opportunities you will get and when they do eat it, you'll be ready.
I was fishing with a couple gentlemen the other day and at one point I started counting the seconds between mends...four. Yep--four seconds between flipping his line upstream or downstream depending on where he thought he was getting drag, which means he would only get about 2 seconds of drift before he would mend his line again. I call it happy feet. We always want to be doing something because fly-fishing is active but when you're nymph fishing; if you're getting a good drift, let it be.
As a guide you can help. Sometimes the rig is just a little too deep or too heavy, which creates a situation where although the indicator isn't going down, the nymphs or the weight are dragging and the client's fly-line is drifting downstream faster than the bugs. When that happens, you'll only get a couple seconds of drift before the line winds up in front of the indicator, which shouldn't be the case so shorten it up a little.
Just to clarify, mending is the process of flipping your line upstream or downstream with the tip of your rod with the goal of getting the right amount of slack in the right place in order to correct the drift or take any drag off your indicator. If there's drag on the indicator, your flies aren't drifting downstream naturally.
I know it seems like an easy concept but for some, it's the hardest thing to fly fishing. As for significance, it's also WAY more important than being able to cast. If you can cast 15 feet, you'll catch fish as long as you can manage your line in a manner to get a good drift. Conversely, you can cast 75 feet of line and not be able to manage your line and you'll have a tough day.
There's always a balance. You don't want happy feet but you also don't want to wait too long to mend because the more belly or loop you have to correct the harder it is. There are a few things that can help make things easier.
1.) Keep it close. You don't have to be 50 feet away from the boat and with the conditions we have right now with low light and off-colored water, you can be even closer. Fifteen feet will do it--trust me.
2.) Manage your line. You only need enough line on the water to get the job done. Having a tight line is creating drag but too much slack and you're handicapping yourself. It's not only harder to mend but you'll be late on just about every hook-set. You'll tangle up twice as much too when you don't hook up and when you do touch a fish, you'll have a much harder time controlling all the line and hence, you'll lose most of them.
3.) Keep your anchor point. The mend is similar to casting in that you want to keep the tension on the line through the process in order to make the line do what you want it to do. Too many times I see people shoot line out the tip of the rod as they try to mend and the loop they are trying to roll over just collapses. They try harder and harder with more force, which only brings the indicator right back to the boat and they have to start all over again. That can make for a pretty frustrating day on the water.
4.) Fish downstream! I've said it before but it's worth mentioning again. If you cast downstream at a 45 degree angle while drifting with the boat, it is MUCH easier to mend and you'll get a longer drift.
Fishing should be fun and although it is active and you will have to be adjusting your line to get a good drift, it shouldn't be a constant battle.
Keep 'em where they live...
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