Best High Water Nymphing Techniques
It’s inevitable. Temperatures warm, snow melts, rains fall, and rivers rise. Who does not love spring? It seems ironic to me that when the fair-weather fishers show up after the first warm days of the year, they are surprised that the waters are running high. They could have been fishing for weeks in pre-runoff conditions, but they wait for those first warm days.
Flushing flows help clean fish habitat. Learn how to plan for runoff.
So, what’s an angler to do when the weather draws them forth, but the waters seem to be raging? Like always, they need to determine where the fish are located, what they are eating, and decide how to approach them. It's high water nymphing time.
High Water Nymphing - Where are the Fish?
Fish will always search out the most comfortable water and feeding locations. During high water, fish need to make some adjustments to make the best of the conditions. They seek out lower velocity current. This will often move them toward the banks and even into shallow water. The inside turns of the river often provide the cleanest water with the least debris.
On the outside bends, if the river has enough texture and structure, there will be a friction zone providing a safe haven. Water may be ripping along three feet out, but along the edge, it will be gently lapping the shore, providing the fish an easy lie.
Seams, pockets, and eddies also create lower velocities. Anything that blocks the main flow can create holding water and provide a buffer against violent currents and drifting debris. Smaller channels will also draw fish from the main river, as they increase in size and become like small rivers themselves.
Key takeaway: Understanding that during high water, 90% of the river may be devoid of fish. Once you learn to focus on the 10% where they are hiding out, you stand a good chance at catching them.
What are They Eating?
The water may be high, but that does not mean that the fish go on a diet. In fact, the opposite is often true. Many times over the years, I have noticed that after high water events the fish are particularly plump and healthy. They are obviously eating well.
High water literally lifts lots of food into lanes where the fish can easily chow down. Nymphs, scuds, sowbugs, crayfish, leeches, small minnows, terrestrials, and aquatic worms are simply not able to swim in fast currents. They get carried along by the pushy flows and forced into the soft edges where the trout are waiting to chow down on them.
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Choosing which flies to fish during high water can be fairly basic. The fish tend not to be nearly as picky as they are in lower, clear-water flows. They need to see the fly in order to eat it, so larger sizes and larger profiles can often be effective. You can save your #20 midges and baetis for lower flows.
Last year, we experienced high water on the Missouri River for over two months. Some anglers chose not to go fishing. Those that did, found that the nymphing game was often very productive. The number one best flies are tailwater sowbugs and San Juan worms followed closely by the crayfish imitating zirdle. Jig flies such as the hares ear and pheasant tail in sizes #12-16 are also popular mainstays when the river levels were elevated.
Many anglers choose to fish the worm, followed by a scud, sow bug or mayfly pattern. More often than not, location is key more than fly selection. When the water is lower, you can be pretty sure fish are seeing your flies wherever you fish. If you are not catching fish when they are spread river wide, change flies. When the water gets high, fish are more likely to eat any of the above-listed flies if you can find them and drift it where they are eating.
Key takeaway: Fishing to the fish is generally more important than pattern selection.
How do you approach them?
Floating
Floating is often the preferred method for many anglers when the water rises above the banks. On a large river like the Missouri, a boat simply provides an easy mobile platform from which to reach many of the best feeding zones. There are also many smaller rivers in Montana that are only accessible by floating and only floatable during higher spring flows.
The key to being successful when using a boat during high water is not to float along and fish the entire river. Remember, fish are only holding in the specific locations previously mentioned. A boat is a great tool for accessing some of these locations that may be unreachable by a wading angler.
How to get your drift boat ready? Read this.
Often the best use of a boat is as a platform from which to target specific holding water. Hold the boat or anchor it safely in dead water adjacent to a seam, while the anglers work their nymphs in the primary feeding zone where the current just begins to accelerate.
Converging flows at the bottom of islands are a prime holding and feeding zone during high flows. Putting the boat in line with the tip of the island will allow anglers to fish the seams from both sides.
On the inside of broad sweeping bends, many boaters will do what are called row arounds. The boats float and fish in the zone of moderate current acceleration and then after making a pass of several hundred feet, they row up the bank in the dead water zone and repeat drifts through the productive zones.
Larger eddies are also great zones to probe. If there is room, tuck your boat in tight to the bank and work current as it enters and backflows into the eddy. It’s sometimes amazing how close you can get to the fish in these spots. Often, simply dabbing your leader in the sweet spot is all it takes to get hooked up.
Small channels that may be too skinny to float at low flows, now become the perfect little rivers to float at higher water and you can fish them just like you would fish a river under normal flows. Some channels become fantastic fish holding zones during higher flows.
Key takeaway: Find the water where it’s easy to row, hold and control your boat and chances are, there will be fish holding nearby.
Wading
Safety is always an issue when attempting to wade during high water. Make sure you know your bottom and don’t get carried away by high-speed flows. When I wade in high water, I’m generally standing in dead or no current zones and reaching into moderate flowing edges that are just beyond my reach from shore.
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If smaller channels are accessible, they may become perfect little rivers to wade when the main river gets too big. I have certain spots that I look forward to wading when the water gets high.
Key takeaway: Find easy to wade places where there is little to no current and fish to the edge of acceleration.
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Shoreline Stalking
One of the best ways to fish big rivers during runoff is to target fishy locations from shore. High water pushes fish into holding high up along the banks where friction slows the flow. Boat anglers go flying by this zone while drifting but a shoreside angler has the advantage. Picking pockets behind rocks and points are best done by dabbing the fly into these narrow zones from shore. I often fish nothing but a long leader to target fish holding tight to shoreline cover or the soft seam adjacent to the heavy main flows. Simply dabbing the fly where they can see it can be very productive.
Key takeaway: Fish little pockets, eddies, and cut banks from the shore without getting into the water. You can dab your fly into locations that never see flies from passing boats. You might find some surprising success.
Rigging Choices for Nymph Fishing
Rigging systems for nymph fishing in high water are nothing special. Anglers simply need to adjust to reach where the fish are eating. If that happens to be in deeper water, then a longer leader with a little more weight is likely necessary. If you are targeting fish near the bottom, then you need to reach them. That often means fishing more leader.
Some anglers have no problem fishing a 10-12-foot leader. Others are challenged by a longer system. It can definitely be challenging to lift a long leader with a couple split shot on a standard 9’ 5-weight trout rod. For that reason, when the situation demands a longer leader, I like to switch to a 10’ 6-weight rod.
If you have trouble with the long leader system, you can still get in the game by targeting fish that are tight to the banks or suspended in eddies. When the water is high, I typically find plenty of fish in three to five feet of soft water. Fish in these shallow zones can also see your fly better than fish holding in deeper turbid flows. In dirty water, I target shallow waters exclusively. As the water clears, I often probe deeper.
Key takeaway: Find something that works and then target your rig in the correct water for how you are set up. If you change your target zone, you need to make adjustments to your rig to maintain the proper depth.
Final Thoughts on High Water Nymphing
Many anglers are unsuccessful during high water or simply don’t believe the fish are catchable. Nothing is further from the truth. Just like the fish, anglers need to make adjustments. Don’t fight the current or go with the flow in the fast lane as you often would do during normal summer conditions. Regardless of whether you choose to fish from a boat or on foot, seek out and target the 10% of water where the fish are holding and eating.