Dry fly, nymph, streamer, swing, spey, Euro. As if fly fishing isn’t technical enough without having so many distinct methods! Now that I’m several years in and have a reasonable grasp of handling ‘the tools’, water dynamics, and fish behaviour, I decided to grab a new winter fishing challenge – Euro nymphing.

Why is it called Euro nymphing? Well, it has many names, depending on your patriotic bonds I guess. You might hear variations of the technique called Czech, Polish, Spanish or French nymphing. In North America it is often known as tightline nymphing. While its origins are murky, the recent resurgence is largely due to European anglers cleaning up the world flyfishing championships a while back, and as a cherry on top they seemed to have grabbed the name as well.

Fly fishing has a gentile and sophisticated (some may say old and foolishly technical) way of being. Correct casting is a manifestation of this desire for technical proficiency. Many fishers spend their whole lives yearning for the perfect cast – perhaps not unlike the quest for a great golf swing. But Euro nymphing literally ‘chucks’ the normal casting technique in the bin.

So, why bother with this newfangled fly fishing interloper?

Well, a normal indicator setup struggles in some situations. When water doesn’t flow evenly across the river’s width, it drags the line and indicator faster on the surface, which in turn lifts the flies off the bottom – where the fish are! Likewise, water moves at different speed at different depths, and thicker lines tend to drag with the faster moving water near the top, while the trout sit uninterrupted in the relatively sedate flow near the bottom.

Euro nymphing gets around these issues with very heavy nymph flies, very thin, light lines, and a longer rod that negates the need to have anything other than the leader and tippet in the water. It is a close combat sport – no long casting required (or possible for that matter). Brilliant for deep, fast-flowing, pocket water.

So, what about that cast? Practicing on the Hutt River well before heading to the Tongariro, I kept tangling. It was incredibly frustrating, but sometimes you need to make mistakes to understand the solution. With the very next YouTube excursion it finally sunk in – letting the water load the line before one lift in an oval motion. Think of Harry Potter sending a spell with his wand (did I really just type that?). Anyway – a ‘lob’ not a cast, finishing with the ‘wand’ pointed at your target upstream. Muttering wizard spells under your breath is entirely optional and only advisable if there is no-one within earshot.

Once I got the hang of it, it was addictive – actively feeling the contours of the riverbed through the rod and line. A quick lifting twitch as the flies moved over rocks. Hold on! That rock twitched back…

Finally, I get my chance to see if a 3wt rod can handle the panic and power of a well-conditioned Rainbow trout in fast water. The answer? Absolutely. In fact I felt more in control than with many other rods. The super-light section of rod is only at the tip, and the ‘fighting butt’ nearer the grip is standard. The combination of light tip, strong base and longer rod seemed to cushion the fight. Landing was quick, before this silver torpedo could make a run for the really big current.

I’m sure that like anything, higher-end equipment is better to use. But as an entry point, I used a Primal Zen 10ft 3wt Euro rod that came as a combo with Flylab Exo reel and Airflo SLN Euro Nymph line. All for under $400NZD. Great value and a hell of a lot of fun so far.