Hi to all
First of all I am the one who wrote the article this thread is about. As I changed the way my site is managed in regard of the language the link to the article is now not working any more. Here is the correct one:
Czech Nymphing ist kein Fliegenfischen - Fly Casting with G. Feuerstein
I just came across the thread when following dead links of my website. I recognized that there were some people completely wrong what my intention of the article is concerned. So let me please clear some things, but please do not expect an more comments from my side as I simply really have no time for forums at all.
First of all I am a nymph fisher. This is my favourite method for fishing for trout. I use dry flies, too(I love it!), but only when large fish are rising as I do not think it is wise to fish in the baby trout area in order to catch fish with a dry fly. Here in the European Alps where I was born the wonderful evening hatches which I know from my childhood have more or less vanished. It is a pitty but the times cannot be turned back. So nymph fishing became more popular. I also like to fish streamers especially if my target fish has switched to fish diet. And I like to fish the mouse even for grayling.
During the last decade years I spent many of my holidays in the salt fly rodding for bones as well as for tarpon, sailfish or marlin. I like it as long as it fullfils the criteria for fly fishing (e.g. pulling a fly behind a boat IMHO does not).
I am the least who wants to ban nymph fishing, streamer fishing or an other fishing. Not at all! In 2010 my book about nymph fishing was published. It is a 360 page book on that topic which meanwhile became a bestseller here. It is going deeper into the subject than any other book did over here. Some call it the missing link. It is still
the nymph fishing book in German speaking countries. Unfortunately it is not available in English up to now. Sorry.
You can also be sure that I know how to fish the Czech Nymphing technique but -and this is my concern- in my opinion it is not fly fishing, despite of the fact that it is a fair technique that definitely catches fish. The czech nymphs are great!
If you use your fly line as the casting weight that casts your fly to the fish IMHO the criteria for calling it fly fishing is fulfilled. With one meter of fly line out of the rod tip and a heavy nymph, the fly line is definitely not carrying the nymph to the target but the other way round.
Why is it not allowed in a fly fishing competition to fish with monofilament on your reel, a match rod, only one meter of fly line between the leader and the monofilament? There is only one reason: One wants it to be called
fly fishing allthough this is more or less all you need for czech nymphing under the rod tip.
If a nymph fisherman who uses an indicator of the size of a tennis ball but uses the fly line to cast it properly, he is more a fly fisher than a czech nympher who is only flipping tiny nymphs with a weighted end nymph upstream. The indicator fisher fulfills the criteria for fly fishing if he is using a leader which is long enough so that the fly cannot float under the indicator like under a bubble(e.g. 45° technique). I know some do not like indicators, but I think they are a must in fast water and if you fish a long dead drift which may be up to more than 40 m(!) you somehow have to see the end of your fly line on that distance.
If the only criteria which makes the difference between fly fishing and other sorts of fishing (which use a weight to cast the line) is eliminated what does remain then? It will be only a matter of time until the above mentioned proposal for czech nymphing tackle will enter fly fishing waters. It will be difficult to argue against. Do you really want to see fly fishing going that direction? I don’t, and that is my honest opinion.
I have taught fly fishing around the world, have developed fly casts to make fishing more effective and did a lot to make fly fishers more successful. But when I asked a young czech nympher the other day why he didn‘t like to learn to cast a fly line properly and got the answer: „Why should I? I don’t need too. I catch fish and that’s all I need!“, I recognized that there is something going completely wrong. This development I cannot support. I had many discussions on that topic and I know about other well known fly fishers who clench their fist in their pocket if it comes to czech nymphing but are afraid to speak out what they think.
I just wanted to make you think what fly fishing means to you. Be of another opinion, no problem. I just do not want to be part of that development no matter how many fish one can catch with it and how many -even friends- fish that way in the competitions.
Tight lines to all!
Günter Feuerstein
