Customer Reviews

The Orvis Pocket Guide to Nymphing Techniques: Flies, Indicators, and Strategies

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If you're just getting started in Nymphing or haven't nymph fished in some time and need to refresh your memory a bit, this is definately THE book. Tom Rosenbauer is one of my favorite writers when it comes to fly fishing and he has done an excellent job with this book. Covers everything from setup, leaders, tippet, water temperature, flies to use, techniques for different water types, strike indicators, on and on and on.
If you buy one book on Nymphing, well 2 books if you include Brooks' "Larger Trout" book, this should be the one you own. Very small and handy to have. Highly recommended!!!

The Orvis Pocket Guide to Nymphing Techniques is a nice and simple introductory read into nymph fishing. Which is an essential technique if you plan on fishing for trout in the Driftless Area. The book is only a 132 pages. But not normal pages, more like 1/4 pages since its about a 1/4 the size of a normal book. Print is easy on the eyes nothing too small to read. Very nice full color photos that are clear and not fuzzed up like some other books or websites I have seen trying to describe this information. Tom Rosenbauer really knows how to write a book and make it easy to understand even to someone who could not tell the difference between a fly rod and a casting rod. Lets not forget that Orvis is one of the leaders in the fly fishing industry and unlike in other realms of reading where the brand name may sell the book but hold no content, The Orvis Pocket Guide to Nymphing Techniques has plenty of content packed into its little package.

The book starts out comparing different imitations to the actual nymph which you would be trying to imitate. First off it breaks Mayflies into 4 different catagoies(burrowers, swimmers, crawlers, flattened crawlers) and goes into a little detail as to what kind of mayflies each category is specific to, where in the stream system each of them are found and how to fish these types of nymphs as some may move while in the water and others may make little to no movement while drifting. Then the chapter continues on explaining Caddisflies and a nice little chunk of Midge, finishing off with terrestrials and other insects and crustaceans found in trout habitats. The end of chapter 1 finishes of with a nice little color diagram of basic nymph patterns and what they are used to imitate and what sizes to use. This is very helpful for the beginner fly fisherman. The book continues to go into detail explaining the basics of proper nymphing tackle. Starts out with explaining different sized rods, reels, fly lines, leaders, tippet, sinker options, and different types of indicators and when to use them(which can be all the time if you're nymphing and not comfortable relying on being able to see the tip of your fly line moving). It goes into some detail about weighted, non-weighted and tungsten beadhead nymphs.

Then we get into nymphing techniques. It explains things such as different fly presentations(upstream drift, swing, high sticking, how to get your fly deeper, etc), how to mend, the use and proper setup of a tandem fly rig and different ways to use an indicator and how to fish without one and how to use a dry fly as your indicator. revolves around nymphing water or types of water in which you would use a nymph(which can technically be any part of a stream, but as you will find out there are more popular/higher strike rate areas)It also gives you techniques for different variables that will change fishing conditions such as weather, seasons, water levels, clarity, hatches. The last chapter is only about 4-6 pages so you can imagine how little it touches on these variables but give you enough information to understand how each factor works and even has a small temperature chart on how trout typically act in different temperature ranges.

Overall I liked this book it was clearly written and straight to the point making sure that the reader actually learned something. And with it being only a 132 pages you will fly through it in no time and be on your way to being a nymphing guru.

After reading several good books on nymph fishing I got sort of lost. I was trying many set-ups and techniques, but not catching too many fish. I guess I was on nymphing overload, so to speak.

I'm therefore grateful I read Tom Rosenbauer's book on nymphing. He presents easy-to-use game plans for catching trout on nymphs. But this is not just an introductory book on nymphing. It is filled with important information I haven't read anywhere.

Some of the topics Rosenbauer covers are: 1. Nymph behavior - burrowing, crawling, swimming - and which flies and tactics are best used to mimic each behavior. 2. Indicators - yarn, stick-on, balloon, etc. - and the pros and cons of each kind, and also when not to use an indicator. 3. When and how to add weight, and the advantages of using split shots, or putty, or weighted flies. 4. Basic nymphing - including midge - tactics, and where and when to use them. 4. Seasonal changes, and how they affect nymphing strategies. 5. Nymphing tackle, including rods, lines and leaders, and also how to set up tandem flies.

Though this book is short, there is no way I can remember it all, but the book is small and light, so I can use it as an on-the-water reference guide.

Finally, the book has helpful photos and illustrations.

I believe this book, because of its useful simplicity, is destined to become a classic.