hroughout the entire season. It will greatly surprise the novice
to learn of the great amount of underwater insect life present in any
stream. Next time you go fishing, hold your landing net close to the
bottom, in a foot or so of fast water. Reach upstream and loosen the
stones and gravel. Raise your landing net, and notice the numerous
nymphs that have been washed from under the stones, and have attached
themselves to your net. Better still, make a screen about two feet
square, from regular 14 mesh window screening. Hold this in the water,
and have your fishing partner go upstream, and with a regular garden
rake, or some such tool, rake up the bottom, turning over the stones and
gravel. This way you can capture many nymphs. Put them in glass
bottles, take them home, and make copies of them. When next you {33} go
fishing open the first trout you catch, examine the contents of its
stomach, and determine which of the copies you have made is the proper
nymph or fly for the occasion. To fish with an imitation of the fly or
nymph upon which they are feeding, will result in a heavier creel.

When nymph fishing it is important to use a long, finely tapered leader.
A 4x is about right. Fish in the same waters, and very much the same way
as with a dry fly except that the nymph is allowed to sink. Fish
upstream, or up and across the current. In the ripples. Around boulders.
At the edge of fast water. Let the nymph drift with the current. Follow
it with your rod tip, and be prepared to set the hook at the least
hesitation of the line. Trout will sometimes take a drifting nymph and
eject it, without being felt on the most delicate rod, so be ever on the
alert when nymph fishing. A nymph fished down stream, and retrieved with
slow, short jerks, will often work very well. When fished in this
manner, trout will strike quite hard, and usually hook themselves.

There are times when trout are rolling on the surface and it seems
impossible to take them on anything. It is then that they are usually
feeding on nymphs, just under the surface. I remember one such time on
the Housatonic River in Connecticut last summer. Just at dark, I was
standing knee deep in very fast water. Trout {34} were breaking all
around me. I knew, they were feeding on nymphs, and tried in every way
to catch them. The water was so fast, it was impossible to keep the
nymph just the right depth below the surface. I tried every trick that
I knew, but could not get a