Nymphing During The May Fly, River Nymphs & River Fishing

After been unwell for six weeks or so I finally got back on to the water to quench my thirst for some fishing, the River Suir was my chosen venue and the anticipation of large trout feeding on May Flies was enough to make me feel like a child waking up on Christmas morning. Just out side Cashel in Co Tipperary runs a nice stretch of this famous fishery and for a reasonable price of 15 euro you can buy a day permit from the local club which is mandatory on this river through out.

The day was pleasant enough weather wise but that chilly breeze was blowing down stream and made fishing conditions tough enough. The hatch of May Fly didn't develop enough to bring the trout to the surface but only on an occasion would I see a fly fluttering down river and be devoured by a hungry fish.

Trying to fish the dry May Fly blind and dry dropper produced some fish but they were sparse enough, moving over to the nymphs the takes were still slow coming until I moved up in size of nymphs and altered my approach fishing them. 

Using my 18 foot leader set up as usual that I make myself on a 10 foot 3 weight Hanak competition rod, I used 5x tippet and put up to large caddis nymphs and began to pick up more trout and good quality ones at that.

Casting the nymphs upstream in the runs and glides I would drag them back faster than the current and jerking them as I did, I have fished this method before and it can be quite effective with larger and longer nymphs even in low water. Using bead head streamer patterns in this same approach is also very effective for stubborn trout as the streamers or nymphs are dragged back past the fish they will entice the fish to demonstrate their aggression and attack. 

The nymphs I have most useful in this approach are not complicated, the hook is a long shank 12 or 10, streamer hooks is normally what I use; I normally use lead on my nymphs but not on this one as I only want the weight in the head of the fly. Using a tungsten bead of your preferred colour tie in a  few strands of yellow Glo brite as the tail and hackle some dyed yellow partridge as legs at the rear of the fly. The body is natural Hares ear ribbed with pearl and brushed out well with a trimmed down tooth brush. On some occasions I would put some peacock dubbing behind the bead depending on the colour of the bead that I used, for the black one I chose only to use hares ear. 

I have used these nymphs and this approach for some time now and it has produced some great fish and lumps of fish at that. It is worth experimenting with this method and don,t be afraid to fish it in low water or even during the summer months when fish beginning to pool up in the deeper holes to escape the warm water and sunshine in the shallows.

I hope you enjoy tying these patterns and enjoy fishing them even more then I have had. If you would like any of these flies or any other patterns of you choice you can find my contact details on

the right side of the blog. Thank you for reading and tight lines.