If you have a fishing boat, the dead drift method allows you tocover a huge patch of water in a hurry – and very ... The nice thing about a boat, of course, is that you ... in the
If you have a fishing boat, the dead drift method allows you to cover a huge patch of water in a hurry – and very effectively also. The nice thing about a boat, of course, is that you are floating in the water – generally at the same speed of the current provided the wind isn’t blowing you around too much.
For this reason, it is possible for anglers to use a dead drift method to cover huge segments of water with just one cast. To do this, you have several options, depending on the types of water you are fishing.
One way is to cast your nymph directly DOWNSTREAM of your fishing boat, paying attention to the current seams (you want your nymph to land in the same current seam that you’re boat is in, so that the drift speed of the nymph will more or less match your boats drift speed). As the nymph speed and float speed of your boat should fairly closely match, little line mending or retrieval will be needed. Instead, just let the nymph helplessly float down the river, paying close attention to the strike indicator.
This method also works just as well by casting your fly downstream and a BIT across from where your boat is. You don’t want to cast TOO far across the river, as your fly may end up in a different current than what your boat is in (leading to frequent drag by the nymph). However, if the current speed is the same, you can let the nymph helplessly float along the various current seams in the river for great distances (current seams are excellent habitat for large, finicky trout).
Finally, and somewhat less effectively, you can cast your nymph directly upstream from your fishing boat. The reason this is less effective is because your boat just went over the fish – thus potentially spooking the fish. The trout will also see your fly line (one reason the downstream method is so lethal is because the trout sees the fly FIRST, not the fly line and leader first). However, this method does have one advantage – like the wade angler using the direct upstream method, you can simulate a rising nymph by very gradually pulling in line and raising the rod tip, which will bring the nymph off the bottom of the river and closer to the surface.
