Color coding

[John Dunn]

   Hi guys new here,I read through most of the nymphing threads(Impressive) and I didn't see my question answered so here goes.  If I wanted to code my nymphs with thread color what would I want the weights (Grains) to be? Sizes 12-14 16-18-20 smaller.
                I left the big stuff out like stones & Vladi worm  ,From your posts I got that with more experience the weight will get lighter as your catch increases. I think I'm somewhere in the intermediate class.  I fish with a Streamflex 10 3Wt and mono line.
               Quite a board guys all fishing -No bullshit.

                                                                             Best

                                                                         JAD

[Jeremy Allan]

Hey John,
  It really depends on what you want to accomplish with them. Say you want to fish 2 size 20 baetis patterns at the same time. You will need different weight to get down fast in different water. 1-2 feet normal riffel you might only need a small tungsten bead on one of the flies to get down to the trout. 2-4 feet you might need tungsten and a few turns of lead or 2 tungsten bead patterns. So for me I color code them for the situation rather than the size. Hope this helps.   

[Dejon Hamann]

J, this is a great topic.

Personally, if we're talking about "dropper" flies in the 10-18 range (i rarely tie on a hook smaller then 20) the fly size really dictates weight.  My "general" palates of flies all have the usual tung bead and lead wrapped (no lead on 16 smaller).  Then I have "odd" palates that have an assortment of flies that range from unweighted to super weighted, small to very large.  The odd palate usually comes into play when I'm fishing a stream that's excessively low or deep - otherwise the standard weighted droppers and anchors pull 90% of the fishing weight.

Two articles on weighing nymphs:

http://troutlegend.com/forum/nymph-fishing-techniques/weighing-nymphs/
http://troutlegend.com/forum/nymph-fishing-techniques/weighing-nymphs-2/

I like the idea of color coding nymphs that are exactly identical except for weight.  However, in my pursuit to simplify my nymph selection I constantly ask myself: "do i want/need another X variations of this nymph to have to choose from?"  Most often the answer is no.  But it's definitely an area I've been meaning to experiment with more down the line.

One after thought.  More so then straight grains, "buoyancy" often plays a really important role in fishing at a certain depth.  Two nymphs that are otherwise identical except one has a nice full fuzzy soft hackle will not sink at even close to the same rate.

[Chris Smith]

Welcome to the board John.

I toyed around with the idea of color coding nymphs, but selected a much simpler method of organizing them by weight within the fly box.

So, on the top left you'll find my lightest flies, and as you progress down and to the right the flies get heavier in weight.

Page 1 is almost entirely flies from .10 to .39 grams.
Page 2 is almost entirely flies from .40 to 1 gram.

I save the really heavy stuff for page 3, and I keep my traditional Czech patterns on page 4.

Anything smaller than .10 ends up in the small stuff box.  Streamers and dries have their own box as well.

The system has worked well for me...or at least far better than any system I've employed in the past.

[John Dunn]

          Thanks for the input, it gives me a starting point.

                    Is their ever a time when you change the position of your heavy fly, say in the middle or the top fly. The reason I'm asking is, some times I tie a dropper on my anchor fly and trail a size twenty Baetis and catch more on dropper.

                                                 Appreciate Reply's

                                                       Best
                                                       John
                       

[Chris Smith]

John,

Competitions require a continuous leader setup, and most anglers accomplish this through a tag system.  

I tie two pieces of flourocarbon together (a double surgeons knot works fine in my opinion) and leave one of the tags at the knot.  This tag is where you attach your dropper fly. 

In short, your top fly is your dropper.

Lengths of the tag vary based upon angler preference, but I like mine to be about the length of my pinky finger.  

To answer your question, yes, I sometimes put my anchor fly first (on the dropper tag) and put a smaller fly at the point (terminal end of your tippet).  I do this alot if the water is shallow.

If I'm fishing deep water, I put my anchor fly at the point (terminal end) and put the smaller fly on the dropper.