Setting Up a Fly Fishing Rig – Nymphing Style

I am a Utah fishing guide and have noticed that when I started out on the Provo and Weber Rivers I had the same mistakes that most people have today, which is spacing between your weights to the first fly and then from your first fly to the last fly. Here is a very easy way to figure out if you have your fly fishing rig set to proper proportions.

When you setup your rig you should start by adding at least 8 feet of leader to the fly line. At the bottom of the nine foot line attach about 16-18 inches of 4x tippet and tie on your first fly. Now attach 16-18 inches of 5x tippet to your second fly making sure that you tie on your tippet to the eye of the hook (not the shank of the previous fly). Remember to put, depending on the depth, about two “BB” weights above the first knot coming down to the first fly. So it would look like this:
ROD———————-(8 feet of leader)—–x—————————-X————-X————X

(strike indicator-6 feet to weight) (weight) (1st fly) (2nd fly)

If you follow these steps and go and fish on the Provo river you will do pretty well. Especially if you use a #16 “PR Sow Bug” tied by Rainy’s flies as your first fly (with some orange thread by the eye of the hook) and a #18 “Split Back PMD Emerger” tied by solitude flies as your 2nd fly.

Now that you know the secret to spacing, you will now catch more fish! Although this spacing technique works on all water over two and a half feet deep. Good luck to you while you’re fly fishing, Utah.