Let the force be with you. Takes on nymphs can be hard to detect but after awhile it becomes a sense and you find you are setting the hook, not knowing why, and feeling resistance as the hook sets into a fishes jaw

I prefer Poppers/Gurglers (especially in the salt) but I fish streamers most often, Wooly/Salty Bugger and Bob's your uncle! I like generic patterns that can mimic/imitate/give the impression of many things so in my fly box there's 8 different patterns. Only 2 are dries, the rest the kitchen sink.

Although most responding here prefer dry fly fishing, I think much of that comes from the preconceived view of nymph fishing. Fly fishing with a nymph evokes images of bushy and heavily weighted flies, oversized strike indicators, split shot and heavy gear. As efficient as it might be, heavy nymphing in big water is not exactly considered to be either the most elegant or the most enjoyable technique for catching fish with a fly.

However nymph fishing does not always have to be that way. When light tackle and small flies are used to delicately lure sighted fish, nymphing becomes one of the most exciting and rewarding fishing methods. As your nymph drifts toward the fish, you should have a sense of where your fly is. You do not have to look for it because in most situations you will not be able to see it and you do not want to be distracted by searching for it. What is important is to watch the fish, and only the fish, as you offer is passing by it. It is the opposite of dry fly fishing where it's important to focus on the fly. There are a number of indications from the fishes reaction that will tell when it actually takes.

With experience, an accomplished nymph fisher develops such a Zen connection with the underwater world that he can sense exactly when to set the hook, without a rational explanation of why.

To me, that is what UL nymph fishing is all about.

The FFer's salute in the '50's - "Keep your flies and Martinis dry."

For trout, I like to fish dries and do most of the time. However, I am not averse to fishing streamers or wet flies. I have never learned to fish nymphs; nor tried.

On a pond that has perch, pickerel, bass, and sunfish, I will use whatever fly takes them. I most enjoy small streamers because then you don't know what you have caught until a few seconds into the fight.

Preference? Seeing the surface strike!

But I fish below the surface when they won't come up.

But who am I kidding, I never catch much anyway!

Interesting experiment,,, I have found that the soft hackle fly is much more productive than the dry fly. You can easily catch fish when there is no "hatch" on the surface.

My old time mentor showed me how to change over when the caddis finally started hatching,,, dry the soft hackle,, use some Gink and cast right into the rise form,,, most of the time we would get a hit. The soft hackle became an emerger or still borne pattern.

Try casting down stream into the seam at a very shallow angle,,, let slack into the drift,,,, we get many fish with a drag free down stream presentation.

Regards,
FK