CZECH NYMPHS WITH A BRITISH ACCENT

Source: FFaFT March 2004, pp. 56 - 59

Last month, JEREMY LUCAS praised a method that has revolutionised our river fishing. Here he relishes incredible grayling sport using Czech Nymphs fine-tuned to the British style

The silver opportunists are shoaled and poised along the crease of current between rapid and deeper water, each fish tuning coral and tan pectorals and multi-hued dorsals to the flow, checking slightly from side to side as the stream wafts buggy morsels within range.

The grayling must react instantly; take the item or let it pass for the next hungry fish to test or taste. In winter and early spring, as grayling form their densest shoals prior to spawning, when even the usually more solitary, dark giants nudge into the folds of the shoal, feeding must occur whenever it is possible.

Hatches may last minutes, nymphs and crustacea may be dislodged and exposed for moments in the rush and tumble of the stream.

Evolving Nymphs

The modern grayling fisher, so often basing his approach on the Czech Nymphstyle, has a considerable wealth of tried and tested patterns to present to the fish, as well as a method which places these Bugs in exactly the right place, particularly in terms of depth. The Nymphs we use vary according to both location and personal preferences. Most that I see, tie and use are evolved somewhat from the original Polish woven Nymphs and slim, sparse Czech Nymphs.

Oliver Edwards, influenced like most of us by the Eastern Europeans, has long been a leading light in this field, tying highly-imitative Nymphs for both the Czech-style of presentation and the more traditional British approaches, such as upstream Nymphing.

Many British Bug fishers have instead put the emphasis on impressionism (rather than close copy) and weight, or density. Mercifully, the ubiquitous gold beads have been toned down a little by smaller tungsten and copper beads, which offer density with that apparently so effective flash and gleam which is actually so easy to overdo on our more heavily fished waters.

I often feel that most British exponents of this approach to grayling favour Nymphs that are on the bulky side, compared at least with the original slim profile Czech Nymphs of the 1980's and 1990's. Multiple wraps of lead wire or foil, with or without beads, add considerably to a Bug's profile.

Personally, and arguably, I believe this is counter-productive. I catch more grayling, and notably large grayling, say over 40cm, on sparse, slim-profile Bugs than any others.

True, I often have a heavy-weight pattern on the point, or sometimes middle, to take my flies quickly down into the depths, especially in cold weather, but this is largely sacrificial; the grayling invariably take the imitative, slim patterns.

And another arguable point, though several of my fishing pals agree on this, is that trout, at least stocked trout, are generally more forgiving than grayling of bulky flies.

Personal preferences

I fished recently with England team member Andrew Dixon on the Eden at Little Salkeld, a superb grayling stretch, with highly varied water. I decided to spend some time watching Andrew in particular areas to see how his approach to bugging varied from my own.

It soon became clear that there was hardly any real difference, with the exception that Andrew preferred to wade upstream through a pool where I preferred downstream; he also laid emphasis on a dead drift from well upstream, but did allow - usually - a short downstream drift and swing.

Examination of our Bugs revealed a similar, general slim profile and a marked liking for Pheasant Tail variants. Andrew preferred gold beads to my copper beads (though both of us erred on the small size - 2mm). Most of our Bugs have no beads at all. When I peered hungrily into Andrew's Nymph box I was a little disappointed; I felt that it could almost have been mine.

Strikingly, I compared this day with another, just a week earlier, in our North-West Federation qualifier on the Welsh Dee at Llangollen. This time I partnered tactical genius John Tyzack.

Again, it became clear that while John's approach is mobile and dynamic in the extreme, in that he moves very quickly between areas, having spent little time in each location, the actual approach to fishing the Bugs, and the patterns themselves, were remarkably similar. The key difference is that rather than persist in any particular area, John likes to test all the places where most anglers would consider unfishable or fishless. He does it quickly and simply brilliantly, plundering pockets of water like almost no-one in Britain, at least with the same consistency.

And the flies? Again that odd deja vu when looking at the Bugs John uses; again the Pheasant Tails, now with tarnished copper heads to take away excessive flash, and attractors too in the form of pink and orange-hued bugs. John's set-up said it all: a pink Shrimp in the middle dropper position - though notably a rather subdued, subtle pink - with smaller, sparse Pheasant Tails on top dropper and point.

This is a lovely combination for the whole tactical, searching method we are describing. It combines the confidence-boosting, consistent fish taking Pheasant Tail Nymphs with a contemporary grayling Bug - the Shrimp - possessing both density and high visibility.

For many of us such a set-up and approach allows a continuum of presentations, from that classical Czechstyle upstream and track-through under the rod tip, all the way to a fairly long 'side swipe' across a riffle into any patch or fold of current that might, and often does, hold grayling. After all, to remain transfixed and blinkered with this method is to lose its grace and effectiveness. Just as we adapt and vary almost every cast from different stances while fishing dry fly, so it should be with the deep Nymph.

We change, also, the Bug patterns themselves; searching, tactically evolving through the course of a session. Most really good Czech-style fishers will tell us that the patterns themselves are less important than their density and profile. Without a doubt the most beautifully imitative pattern will be inadequate for the task if it does not run through more or less at the depth in which grayling are holding, most especially in cold water.

The point here is that once you have, say, half a dozen reliable Bugs covering the range of imitative, impressionistic and high-visibility patterns, it is generally worth sticking to those but varying densities and mass to suit conditions.

Favourite patterns

The less masochistic among us (remembering that many folk believe that all winter grayling fishers are completely lost to masochism) hate changing flies very much, if at all. After a while in very cold conditions I simply lose the ability to change flies without resorting to five minutes with both hands down the front of my waders, searching out whatever body heat they can salvage.

Usually, therefore, I take a tactical measure of the immediate water I am going to cover and tie on my high confidence Bugs in appropriate weights and positions on the leader.

If I get anything badly wrong, say, with a Bug that is either wildly too heavy or insufficiently so, I will change within a few minutes of starting, while my fingers are still up to it. Then, if I feel that at least one of the Bugs is fishing at the right depth, I have the confidence of knowing that the patterns I use will have every chance of seducing grayling if any are about, and trout don't hit them first.

I have given some of my most favoured patterns here - patterns on which I have caught hundreds of grayling over the years. In spite of what I say above, however, I do actually use many different patterns through the year, because I love experimenting both at the vice and while fishing; but in the final analysis on those many occasions when I need the most confidence, such as in icy conditions or a competition, on will go my 'percentage' Bugs, as described here.

Top of my list just has to be the Pheasant Tail, both with and without a 2mm copper bead, tarnished if possible. I usually place this either on the top dropper or point, though I have been known to fish three of these on a leader.

The small gold tungsten-beaded Hare's Fur Grub is the favourite of many, and though I seldom use them nowadays (I have a slightly irrational dislike of goldheads) I have in years past caught large numbers of grayling on them, in various densities, in all positions on the leader.

The Diawl Bach is a really odd fly for me. You know how many stillwater fishers have gone potty on this fly and its ubiquitous variants; well, I have less regard for it in this context, although as a grayling Bug it is now challenging the trusty Pheasant Tail for my affection.

I like to place it on the point or middle dropper. You will see, also, how my version of this fly is much more like the classical Czech profile than the Pheasant Tail or the Hare's Fur Bug.

The Shrimp is my version of the multitude varieties of this contemporary Czech Nymph. Like the Diawl Bach and many other Bugs for this style, I dress them on curved-shank grub hooks, usually Drennan shrimp hooks or Partridge K4A, with a pressed down barb. This pattern goes usually on the middle dropper, and occasionally as a heavyweight on the point as well.

I juxtapose the Shrimp pattern with other contemporary variants of the Czech Nymph-style such as Caddis Grubs in hues of green, olive, amber and tan. The dressing style is a constant, with variation coming in terms of the materials used, particularly in terms of colour and - most importantly - weight.

Good performance

Most of us love watching a sport performed well. One of the best aspects of my fishing career has been to watch exponents of various styles ply their great art. I place John Tyzack and Andrew Dixon right up there at the pinnacle. And I think back to those golden years when I fished for grayling alongside the former British greats and those from Eastern Europe. Has it changed - has it really?

There are more fly-fishers now who more effectively fish for grayling, on ever more demanding water, but they are in essence using the extraordinary Czech Nymph approach we were introduced to 15 years ago. The Bugs are a little more varied, and the tightly controlled dead drift has been 'liberated' somewhat by being extended in terms of reach and that downstream swing and lift mentioned earlier.

Far removed

A lot more grayling are being caught from our northern and western rivers than hitherto, with a method far removed from the 'sight fishing' as practiced on the clear southern chalkstreams.

I thank the river gods that I still have so much to learn in this extraordinary sport, but I am especially thankful for the grayling and this technique from Eastern Europe. Even after 37 years of fly-fishing, as I approach a river I feel an almost overwhelming excitement; not quite so much, now, for the wild trout hovering in the flow. What I yearn is the sight of the line tip tracking downstream with the string of Nymphs below, the pause, the hit and the electric motion of a grayling tumbling in the heavy stream.

We have certainly unlocked the great door that leads us into what many of us regard the finest wild fly-fishing possible in freshwater.

Arid for me, the most beautiful sight in our sport is that of a big grayling, dorsal sail erect, chestnut and lilac and a dazzle of silver, slipping back into the dark winter river.