Sunday, March 22, 2015

Is There a Weedless Nymph???

The Wooly Bugger was my choice of fly on Smith last week as I searched my fly box for something to get some hits. As you recall in my previous post my original plan was to crappie fish that day, but all that went out the window when the crappie failed to show up. What I didn’t mention in the post was the loss of numerous flies due to hang ups in submerged brush plies and underwater fallen trees. As I was trying to retrieve some of the flies I wondered if it was possible for someone to tie a pattern in the form of a weedless nymph. I have search the net and haven’t found any such fly. True one can find weedless poppers, streamer type patterns for warm water species, but no weedless nymph in a size 8 or 10. The black grub in size 8 was used that day as was the bugger, with both patterns being lost due to hang ups. The verdict is still out using weedless nymph’s trout fishing. The guard might inhibit the hook set. This weedless hook thing is another one of those curious thoughts that go through my mind when I’m trying to figure out how to land more fish. What are your thoughts on weedless fly patterns, especially nymph patterns?
This grub and the black and cream are the ones I used a lot in the early spring to fish for the big bluegill, which are still in deep water. Most of the time they are located near or over brush; resulting in the lose of numerous flies. Sliding one of these grubs over submerged limbs in brush piles would be deadly if the fly was tagged with a guard. True there may be some trouble landing the fish, but it be would fun trying.
 

17 comments:

  1. I do believe that there is a way to make a hook weedless. I've read it somewhere quite a while ago. I just figure that losing flies while nymphing is part of the game, but I'm going to do some research as well Bill. Thanks for posting this interesting problem.

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  2. Bill I have never seen a weedless nymph. I'll search around for you.

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  3. http://www.trails.com/how_9881_prevent-fishing-hooks-snagging-bottom.html

    This looks like one solution.

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  4. Howard
    Looking forward to your find. Thanks for the comment

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  5. Alan
    As stated I would be beneficial for warm water, but I just don't know how it work for trout. Thanks for the comment

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  6. Howard
    Thanks for the link, I've looked at the procedures and I think it would work. The only way to really find out is to tie some and actually fish the flies. Thanks for the comment

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  7. I'm not quite sure how you'd do it. The main issue being a nymph's hook size. It's so small and light putting a weed guard on would greatly affect hookups with fish. It would take a great deal of experimenting with different mono as a weed guard. Probably a light wire of some kind might work. The problem is if the wire or guard is too light it will flex going over brush and logs and still get hung up. If it's too stiff it will prevent hookups because when the fish bites it will hit the guard and turn the hook outward away from the fish's mouth.

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  8. The main way I think you could prevent hookups is to tie your fly in a way that the hook rides upward.

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  9. To follow up on Kevin's comment, try tying your buggers with dumbell eyes lashed down on the hook so the point rides up like a clouser minnow. This should help but you are going to lose flies if you are down where the fish are!

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  10. Kevin
    The light wire might work when it comes to fishing for warm water species, but I think it would not be effective with trout. I am not a fly tier, so I can't experiment with this idea, I hope someone out there will give it a try. Thanks for the comment

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  11. Kevin
    I've tried the upward hook pattern, and I still get hang ups. I have fished the light wire set-up bass fishing using my spinning reel combo and 90% of the time I don't get hang ups.

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  12. Mark
    I agree the hang ups will still occur with the upward pattern. Thanks for the comment

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  13. Bill!I am at a loss. Hope you find a solution. I will ponder the weedless nymph for ya when I sit at the bench!

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  14. Noco
    I would be interested in seeing the results. It would certainly be an interesting pattern. Thanks for the comment

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  15. Noco
    I would be interested in seeing the results. It would certainly be an interesting pattern. Thanks for the comment

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  16. Bill, great post. I sure hope you solve this problem. After you do, will you find a way to make them tree snag proof...that way when I cast them into said tree, I can get them back!

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  17. Drew
    Wishful thinking when it comes to nymphs free of hang ups in trees--thanks for the comment

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