For stillwater, I can't stand just casting your line out and letting it sit, it drives me crazy, so I like to rig like this: Tie on a couple small nymphs, the second nymph to the bend of the hook to the first hook with maybe 14-16 inch of spacing, no split shot, no indicator. I cast out and use a countdown technique, maybe on the first cast I count to 10 then do a very slow retrieve, if no hits then on the second cast I count to 15 and so on. Same thing if using streamers. That way I stay busy, I just can't deal with casting and letting it sit there until a fish comes along. For fishing in streams you want to get the best dead drift possible in most cases (sometimes fish like to see movement, like skating a caddis pattern on the surface or swinging wets). That means in most cases you will need to learn to mend the line after the line hits the water. As you progress you will need to learn aerial mends. Basically, in mending you are trying to achieve a dead drift where there is no drag on your fly or nymph, in most cases there are varying current seams between you and your fly that you must deal with, so mending upstream is the way to achieve that drag free drift. After casting do nothing and watch the fly line between you and your fly, you will see a big bow develop in your fly line in the middle and if you do nothing then you will see a V develop behind your fly as it starts dragging, you want to avoid that, so before it happens, mend the line by doing a little flip of the rod tip with the goal being to move the fly line upstream without disturbing the drift of your fly. When you first start this will be difficult, but it will get better the more you practice. Sometimes, near shore you will see reverse currents where the water is flowing backwards or upstream, if you cast and drift a fly there you will want to mend downstream, hope that makes sense.
Edit: I forgot to say, "Welcome to the forum"!
If you ever make it out west to Wyoming give me a shout, I love to meet and fish with other forum members. I think last year I fished with 10 different members, this year I hope to fish with more.
