The efficiency of Czech nymphing could be said to lay in the ability of the fisherman to select the right part of a river, set up correctly his rod and leader, lead the correct flies, at the correct depth over the fish lies. It is also very important that the fisherman behaves quietly at all times. These all have a direct bearing on the number of fish to be caught.
I have used the Czech nymphing on a wide range of waters, from Wild mountain streams, to the calmer parts of the bigger rivers. I consider the faster flowing rivers from 10m to 20m wide and quite indented with natural banks (not the modified or man made banks) to be the ideal waters. I have fished these with both DT and WF lines of the AFTMA classes 4-5 and with the rod of the same category, with a length from 275-290 cm. In the majority of cases I fish with three weighted nymphs. Only where there are big water turbulence, caused by the river bed structure, I will weight down the middle fly or the end fly more in order to improve its exact operation and presentation.
My leader consists of the main, 50cm long fluorescent monofil nylon with a diameter of 0.25 mm, tied directly on to the line, without a leader connector. At the other end of the leader I attach a silver microring. To this is attached colourless monofil nylon with a diameter of 0.10 - 0.16 mm with a barrel knot. The actual thickness chosen is decided by observing the state of the water, its cleanliness, the speed of the stream and the size of the fish anticipated.
The top dropper is set at one meter from the end of the fly line and the next two nymphs are positioned at half-meter intervals. When fishing in the mountain streams reduce the number of nymphs to two and then shorten the leader. This enables more precise casting. On the large rivers I increase the distance between nymphs to 1 m. this is so that the nymphs do not disturb one another and so that you can fish a larger area of water.
The way the flies are lead has a decisive influence on the success rate. It is possible to use both active and passive systems. The Passive system can be used where you are fishing for very voracious fish, especially grayling. The main technique is to cast the nymphs upstream, above the anticipated fish lie, and let the nymphs drop gently down and past the fish. I seek to imitate the natural fish food behaviour and the better I do this the more successful I am.
The path of the flies must be near to the vertical line connecting rod tip and water surface, otherwise the control of depth and the feel of the gentle fish take is very difficult. It is necessary to keep in continuous contact with the flies and respond to each slow down or stop of the line tip, with a short but sharp strike.
The Active way of fishing with nymphs is used in those cases when the fish are eating insects rising from the river bottom to the surface, or when passive fish need to be attracted by the movement of the nymphs. The technique is to influence the drift of the flies by lifting the rod tip. We can try a gentle lifting of the rod tip, repeated, moving the rod tip some 10cm, or long lifts, and in some cases lifting the nymphs to the surface and then letting them drop back to the bottom. This last method will often result in strong strikes by the fish and the risk of losing fish where thin leaders are being used. There are very many permutations of leading flies and it is left to the imagination of the individual fisherman to develop his own preferred method. Sometimes I lead the nymphs off the rod tip and side cast either upstream or across and upstream, this enable me to imitate a slanting rise by the nymph.
In the case of fishing for shy fish e.g. brown trout in low and transparent water, I try fishing upstream with a longer cast. This means casting the fly for a distance of 5 to 10 m and then shortening the line according to the speed of the stream. Furthermore, it depends on the right weight for the flies, because it is not possible to make an Active way of fishing "under the rod tip". An essential condition is the correct laying of the line on the surface, because this dictates the path of the flies. Normally I choose a length for the leader of about 3-4m. In the case of very gentle takes I shorten the leader by about one metre in order to improve the "feel" of the take.
I divide the patterns of the Czech nymphs into "naturals" and "wilds". With the naturals I try to cover the widest possible field of natural fish food. These are largely concerned with imitations of Gammarus and Sedge pupae. These will dictate the selection of natural colours for body materials. I will use shades of green, brown, beige, and grey. As a body material I prefer natural or dyed hare or rabbit, but I will also use synthetic materials.
The ribbing of my natural patterns are eggshell gold or silver and the back is from the same colour of vinyl, which is responsible for the colour of the body material. For the strengthening and marking of the nymph I use the best nylon with a diameter between 0.10 and 0.14-mm. As the name itself says, these nymphs do not have any special colour spots, and are used for fishing in clean and calm water or where the fish are subject to heavy fishing pressure. For most of the season, not just in the summer, these types of nymphs form an indispensable part of my nymph stock.
At the opposite end of the natural patterns, there are my "wilds", which are the nymphs that are so colourful, that it is impossible to find an imitation of any natural pattern. The efficiency of these flies lies in their ability to attract passive fish to pull, even in the cases where the naturally dyed nymph is ignored.
We can experience an enjoyable walk, catching fish with these colourful nymphs, which we will remember for a long time. The next time we do it, we may not see a fish all day. The exceptional efficiency of these nymphs is shown with newly stocked rainbow trout, they cannot leave them alone. Surprisingly there are however days when they seem to magically attract brown trout and grayling.
For the body material of these nymphs, I use hair in colourful and even fluorescent colours, or various mixes and blends of hair and Angel's hair. Even marabou is quite good, however it is not very durable. The main role for the wild nymph is the quartet of colours:- Red, Orange, Pink and Yellow. These nymphs are generally used in muddy waters, together with various holographic tinsels and glittering back foils. It is also possible to use a gold plated hook. Eventually we have something, which might even be used as a Christmas tree decoration.
In my boxes I have patterns ranging within their colours between both extreme possibilities. I also like those nymphs where 4/5ths of the body is made with a natural colour and on one of the ends or even in the middle a brightly coloured dubbing or glittering point is added. When I arrive at a totally unknown river, then I choose a set of these three possibilities in different sizes (10 - 16). After an hour of fishing it should be clear which the fish prefer. This comment is only valid for well stocked fish stretches, where you do not have to wait all day for a take, and you can make an evaluation of what is attracting the fish. In other cases where there are only occasional takes, you need a lot of experience and a piece of fisherman's luck to find the right choice of nymphs.
As important as are the colours of the Czech nymphs, equally so is the choice of individual weights. Thanks to Fishing Competitions I have met with a wide variety of rivers and I have nymphs in sizes from 8 up to 16 already prepared. Their weight may be in five different sizes. I start with lead wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm and for my heaviest patterns I use wire of 0.6-mm diameter. In some extreme cases going to 0.8 mm (sometimes in two layers). When fishing the rivers in East Bohemia I will use 0.3-0.5 mm normally.
I will stress, highly, the quality needed in the material used as a leader. This must be able to resist being in contact with sharp stones on the riverbed. Nymphing is an ideal opportunity to test the ability and quality of the line. Only a few nylons from the branded producers are able to keep to this sort of quality. In the recent years fluorocarbon products have come to the top, but very often they cannot fulfill this criteria for quality. So I only use them when there is totally transparent water with only a small number of obstacles on the riverbed. I use them more often during flyfishing on the lakes.
During nymphing I also put a major emphasis on the quality of the hooks. Again it can be said that the even the highest quality products cannot cope with the frequent contact with rocks on the riverbed. That is why I prefer to use hooks made of a thicker wire, even if the nymphs tied on these hooks do not look as good as when tied on thinner hooks. Where there are big fish, the thick wire is essential. Current fishing trends are copying the development of competitive fishing. It is now easy to buy barbless hooks. I hope they will be used by an increasing number of other flyfishermen.
Czech nymphing could be divided into, gentle, normal and rough. Gentle nymphing is characterized with the leader nylon in a diameter of 0.88-0.10mm. Nymphs in sizes 16-20 and relevant rod and line sizes 2-3 AFTMA. I chose this for very small streams when I fish for grayling in calm stretches. As a normal nymphing system I consider fishing with a leader of 0.12-0.16mm.nymphs in sizes 10 - 14 and a line and rod within AFTMA 4-6. This is suitable for the majority of Czech rivers and it is the universal choice for them. For rough nymphing you will need a leader of some 0.18mm and more and equipment to handle AFTMA of 7 or more. I use this when fishing deep pools and in a very strong current.
Short nymphing created a major rethink in flyfishing techniques. After the improvement in the technique, in the fishing methods and the development of extremely efficient patterns for the Czech nymphs, which has been reflected in total success in our domestic competitions, but also and mainly in the competitive international field. Only a few European countries have tried to develop this nymphing technique. As a result this has brought the Czech Team many superb placings of both teams and individuals in World events. An essential part of these successes has been the skill and ideas of the fishermen. However even though this is an extremely efficient method, Czech nymphing cannot be and is not the choice for all types of waters. It is in the diversity and variety of flyfishing that I see the greatest magic in this truly royal discipline of fishing sport.