Upstream Presentation

Anglers often don’t fish the upstream part of the stretch when nymphing, and that’s a big mistake because these areas hold good fish too.

There are zones that cannot be fished with an up-and-across presentation, because the fish are too close, and they require to be fished with upstream presentations. Examples of these types of water are shallow pockets and shallow riffles, and the inside seam of a run. If you walk past the fish in these zones you will spook them. Fishing upstream will allow you to stay behind and not spook the fish with your presence at all.

There will only be upstream drift when casting upstream, because when flies pass near the angler’s position, it’s too close to hold non-spooked fish. So, when fishing upstream, the flies should never drift past the angler’s position.

As mentioned before, two typical water types for upstream fishing are shallow pockets and shallow riffles. These waters can be fished with an initial upstream U angle (casting angle) between 60º and 90º. This upstream angle puts the tippet in an orientation that helps the flies to sink, since the current creates a lot of slack. For this reason, it’s important to raise the rod and start leading the flies once they hit the water. To compensate for the high sink rate given by a big U angle, and to avoid snagging the flies, you must adjust the forward entry angle (F). What I do is hold the sighter off the water and move the rod downstream, keeping a horizontal forward angle. In the upstream presentation, the flies drift towards the angler’s position, forcing the angler to retrieve the slack very quickly. The best way to manage this slack very quickly is by moving the rod. In the upstream presentation, the position of the flies relative to that of the angler requires the drifts to be short. To fish entirely this zone, the angler must cover the upstream zone by executing a lot of drifts in a short amount of time.

Fishing upstream in medium-fast currents

You’ll notice in the figure that the rod moves from position 1 at the beginning of the drift to positions 2, 3 and then 4, to maintain a horizontal forward angle and remove slack.

Coiled sighters really shine when they are used to fish upstream. The coils keep a steady tension along the drift when using horizontal forward angles. This makes the drift more natural and effective, and the coils stretch due to the horizontal forward angles when there is a take, which helps with strike detection.

Another ideal water type for upstream fishing is slow, shallow water. Because of the slow current, the only way to fish it is to float the sighter and the leader at the same time. To float the sighter you must first use light nymphs (2.3 millimiter beads) and apply floatant to the sighter and to at least 3 feet (1 meter) of the leader. I use leader floatant from Petite Jean, Loon Payette Paste, or another sticky, solid, and temperature-stable grease I might have on hand. The more buoyant the sighter, the more weight it can support. The coils of a coiled sighter float very well when you apply floatant to them and they can be seen easily from a distance. This type of indicator is the perfect choice when you need to float your sighter upstream and you want to use the same rig to fish up-and-across. The upstream presentations for slow, shallow water require flat castings to make the tippet touch the water parallel to the surface. Also, the sighter and leader must land while extended to achieve the kind of surface tension that enables them to float.