Fly Fishing Lessons: Tight Line Nymphing - Tips & Techniques

Originally posted on Fishing on SI | By Jasper Taback | Last updated Jun 11, 2025 7:36 AM ET

Nymph fishing is undoubtedly the most effective method for catching trout. Unfortunately, the way that most people do it isn’t terribly entertaining. In my experience, you can only watch a strike indicator drift for so many casts before you lose interest and switch to a dry fly. But what if you get rid of the indicator? Enter tight line nymphing – a productive, engaging way to catch trout subsurface.

Tight Line Nymphing Set Up

Tight-line nymphing is all about maintaining contact with your flies underwater – it’s accomplished by keeping your fly line off the water and holding the leader taut throughout your drift. You’re relying on feeling strikes, rather than seeing them. That said, it helps to have a visual cue. You don’t want to use a traditional strike indicator, but you can replace it with a sighter – a bright section of monofilament that goes between the leader and tippet to help detect strikes.

As with indicator nymphing, I’ll typically fish a two-fly nymph rig. It’s particularly important to get your flies down quickly when tight line nymphing, so using a beadhead nymph as your point fly is usually a good choice. Drop a smaller, unweighted nymph off of the beadhead, and you’ll have two flies that drift naturally in different parts of the water column.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Lohr (@flyfishrhol)

Where to Tight Line Nymph

Small streams are ideal locations for tight line nymphing – the goal is to keep your leader taut throughout the drift, and that’s much easier to do with a short cast than a long cast. Small streams also tend to be clearer and shallower than larger rivers – the fish are easier to spook, and keeping your fly line off the water makes for a much less abrasive fly presentation.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Gallagher (@catskillflyfishing)

How to Tight Line Nymph

If you’re tight-line nymphing on a small stream, you’ll usually want to work your way upstream, making short casts in front of you. After you’ve made your cast, lift the rod tip so that your fly line is suspended above the water – ideally, your sighter and the tippet tied below it are the only parts of your leader that come into contact with the water.

Because you don’t have your fly line or leader resting on the water, your flies won’t drag in the current. They’ll drift naturally, changing depths as the depth of the stream varies. Once your nymphs drift back down even with you, it’s time to pick up and cast again.

Why It Works

There are three things I love about tight-line nymphing: natural drifts, subtle presentation, and unmatched feel. Keeping your fly line off the water allows your flies to drift as they should, limits distractions on the surface, and lets you feel when a fish eats your fly. It’s a game-changing way to fish nymphs – and it certainly won’t hurt to test it out.

This article first appeared on Fishing on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: