CUSTOM HOW-TO OR ZEN MASTER ZEE

I have been fly fishing in salt and fresh water for over 25 years. I have certainly caught my fair share of fish and thought I had things down pretty pat.  I can fish most any river or beach and probably catch fish.  A chance encounter has completely changed not only the way I fish but how I think about fly fishing.  I was to spend a weekend on the South Island for work and thought I would take the opportunity to have my first excursion on the Mainland.  Not knowing anything about fishing in the Christchurch area, I posted on a NZ fly fishing forum, asking for some opinions on where I should try my luck.  I had a few responses, but one fisherman gave me some advice and then asked if I’d like some company.  I jumped at the chance to fish alongside someone who had knowledge of the local rivers.

I met Zee, a Czech born fishing fanatic, on a Saturday morning at my hotel and we headed out for a fish. We ended up on a river not far from Christchurch.  It’s a small river, more like a stream, but quite fast flowing.  I rigged up as I always do, perhaps mechanically, a three fly rig on a 10 foot leader, as I would fishing the Tongariro.  His rig, although a nymph set up, was quite different.  He then proceeded to out-fish me, and not just by a little.  For every fish I dragged in he landed 10, and he was fishing behind me.  There were sections I’d fish without even a touch and he’d come right behind me and drag 6 fish out, or sometimes more.  I have never seen anything like it.  I was immediately intrigued.  We have since fished together numerous times and, while he still out-fishes me, I have reduced the margin down to only 2 or 3 for every one I land.

He has gotten me to totally rethink how I fish. He is very open and sharing in how he fishes and why.  I used to be obsessed with fly patterns, often carrying dozens of different patterns and variations in three different boxes.  Whenever I would fail to catch fish I would always chalk it up to not “matching the hatch”, and I’d add even more patterns to my boxes.  Zee fishes one nymph pattern in four variations.  When he showed me I was gobsmacked.  How could one pattern cover all of the different possibilities for browns and rainbows on rivers on the South and North Islands?  It’s a fairly standard Czech nymph pattern.  How and why it works are lessons 2 and 3.

I always tie my rigs bend-to-eye. This makes a chain of flies.  I do this almost automatically as I fish Taupo rivers almost exclusively.  As I’m sure we all know, it is quite uncommon to hook fish on the “bomb”.  The first fly or two are there simply for weight and of bit of attraction or flash.  I normally fish a heavy bomb, followed by a bead head and terminated in a natural nymph.  Zee’s rigs are quite different.  He uses a dropper configuration with two nymphs.  Both flies are normally the same.  He catches fish on the first fly as frequently as the second.  He explained to me that the dropper rig allows both flies to move naturally through the water column.  A schematic of the leader is shown below.  The 12# section is to ensure that if you do get your flies tangled, at least you’ll get your indicator back when the 12 to 8# knot fails.

Dropper leader

I have to admit that once you get used to casting it, the rig is very effective and, I would argue, tangles less in the wind than my truck-and-trailer rig.  I can also attest to the effectiveness of this rig.  I can recall the first time I tied one on, in frustration, at a pool that looked very fishy.  I had been fishing it 20 minutes with no luck.  I tied on his rig, in defeat, and on the first cast, was into a fish.  I have since had more double hook ups than in my entire life, even on multiple occasions pulling in a brown and a rainbow on the same double-rig.

I have always been guilty of being a river anchor, especially when I find a place that looks “fishy”. Zee moves through a river very quickly.  We will often cover 10 kms up and back in a 10 hour session, ending up a few hours walk from the car.  While he does move quickly, he doesn’t overlook any potential run or pool.  He will quickly move through less promising looking water, blind casting, while stopping in very promising looking pools, drops and runs.  He will spend some few minutes working through it meticulously and, if he doesn’t see any fish or at least get a take, he will move on.  If he does see movement or get some interest in his flies, he will work every subtle seam until every fish has been extracted.  It appears that often trout are not spooked by other fish being pulled from their general proximity as I have often seen him pull 10 fish or more from a single hole.

How I imagine it works.

My leaders have always been set at 10 feet to the first fly. It’s seemed easier to not think over think it and I reasoned that longer was always better.  Zee’s leaders are considerably shorter but, unlike me, he is continuously adjusting his indicator to first fly length as the pool or run dictates.  He also frequently high-sticks his drifts.  In doing this he is only ever a wrist-flick away from setting the hook.  He also gets much more of a natural drift than my method of casting as far as I can and then feverishly retrieving line as my indicator drifts downstream.

My last observation is of Zee’s very specialised angling techniques. He calls his dropper rig Czech nymphing but will often switch over to what he calls French nymphing in small and technically challenging waters.  To do this he ties on 30 feet of 12lb test onto the end of his fly line.  He terminates this to a tippet ring, followed by 12 inches of bright backing and another tippet ring.  To this he ties on his dropper rig.  He then fishes this rig in very close quarters, allowing him to be constant contact with his flies and detect even the most subtle take.  I have seen this method be deadly, although it requires a light rod and reel that is 10 feet or longer in length to reduce fatigue.

French nymphing is essentially drift free fishing.  I have since adapted it to big waters, it’s only downfall being that it is very precise and if you don’t know where the lies are, you could spend all day dissecting a pool.

I think even for the most seasoned angler there are lessons to be learned from exposure to new, radically different methods of fishing. At the very least Zee has challenged me to re-evaluate my methods, some of which have grown out of complacency.  I think there are lessons here for all of us and, as I can attest, these ideas will help you to increase your catch rate.  Zee still out fishes me but this really comes down to his natural talent to read a river and site fish.