Photos: George Daniel Teaching Dynamic Nymphing on the Battenkill

George Daniel on the Battenkill

As a crowd of Orvis dealers looks on, Geroge Daniel explains the concepts behind “dynamic nymphing” on the Battenkill in West Arlington, Vermont

photo by Phil Monahan

On Tuesday, a group of Orvis dealers met on the banks of the Battenkill, just upstream of the West Arlington covered bridge, to see a presentation on “dynamic nymphing” by George Daniel of TCO Fly Shop in Reading, Pennsylvania. For those of you unfamiliar with George, he won the gold medal in both the team and individual competitions at the 2009 US Fly-Fishing National Championships (just two of his 5 gold medals), and he has competed for Fly Fishing Team USA at the World Fly Fishing Championships four times. He is also the author of Dynamic Nymphing, published this year.

To many people, the rise of “Euro-nymphing”—of the Czech, French, and Spanish varieties—over the last decade seem faddish. George focuses less on the various traditions of nymphing and more on developing a system of rigging, technique, and tactics that helps him fish effectively in all kinds of water. His demonstration on the Battenkill explained why dynamic nymphing works better than both traditional “tight-line” nymphing and indicator nymphing because the dynamic system allows the angler to adapt quickly to changes in depth and current speed to maintain contact with the flies and detect subtle strikes. There was way too much detail to go into here, but if you get a chance to see a demonstration or have a look at George’s book, don’t miss it. He “accidentally” caught two brown trout during the demonstration, at midday in bright sunlight. I was impressed.

George Daniel on the Battenkill

“Hey, look. I caught a brown trout on the Battenkill.”

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

George explains his leader setup.

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

Because you may need to change setups during the day, it pays to have an organized system of leaders. George uses a stuffed leader wallet.

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

Lesson aside, it was a gorgeous afternoon to be out of the office.

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

Pete Kutzer, away from the casting pond for the day, seems engaged.

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

George demonstrates how to fish the slow water on the opposite side of the main current.

photo by Phil Monahan

George Daniel on the Battenkill

George has given this presentation countless times, and it shows: He has distilled the lesson to its easy-to-understand basics. I suspect some of his audience will be delving deeper into the intricacies of dynamic nymphiing in the near future.

photo by Phil Monahan

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