Bookshelf: Tying Euro Nymphs

Seth Godin, one of my favorite non-fly-fishing authors, mentioned during a recent podcast that “A book is a bargain.” Meaning that books contain a lifetime of lessons boiled down to a select number of pages. I find it difficult to argue with that comment—I’ve never seen a book I haven’t learned something from. Even if I learn only one lesson while reading an entire book, the return on investment is worth it since it would take an entire season of fly fishing (or more) to learn the same.

While there’s an argument to be made that YouTube content has flattened the learning curve for all fly fishers, I still find there’s something magical about a well-written book. Tim Cammisa’s new Tying Euro Nymphs and Other Competition Favorites is one reason why I continue to read fly-fishing books every year. After reading this book twice, it’s already improved my fishing and tying skills, and I haven’t even fished since closing its pages. Let me explain.

The title is misleading, but in the best way possible. While much of the book focuses on tying techniques for a handful of the world’s most popular Euro nymphs—used by some of the world’s top competitive anglers—two excellent sections discuss streamers, and even dry flies. It’s a collection of the world’s most effective competition patterns, covering everything with a top-to-bottom approach.

My favorite parts are the interviews with today’s top Euro-nymphing anglers. Tim asks all the right questions to get the answers we all seek when trying to understand how top anglers look at many variables:

• Choosing their rods and reels.
• Building their favorite nymphing leader formulas based on stream conditions, fish size, and fly weight.
• Casting all Euro rigs, from lightweight to heavy.
• How many flies should they fish at one time?
• Best tips for keeping track of your sighter building awareness for detecting strikes.
• Using the right materials to build nymphs that rapidly sink to the bottom.
• Choosing the right hooks.
• Packing additional weight into a small nymph.
• Slotted tungsten beads vs. inverted tungsten beads.
• Jig-style hooks vs. down-eyes.
• Knowing when to tie your favorite Euro nymphs on dry-fly hooks.
• Choosing the best bead colors for different stream conditions.
• Choosing the right threads for tying everything from slim Perdigons to beautiful CDC-hackled nymphs.
• Looking at the pros and cons of many nymph body constructions: thread, tinsel, Perdigon tinsel, peacock quill, pheasant tail, dubbing, peacock herl, and yarn.
• Tips for using UV resin to create a perfect dense Perdigon nymph.
• How world champions like Howard Croston micromanage nymph selection to dial in a perfect drift.
• How fly-fishing Jedi Pat Weiss uses a thread coloring system to organize his weighted nymphs.
• The downsides of using a nymph that drops too fast in the water.
• Choosing the best anchor patterns to keep your rig connected to the stream bottom when you’re Euro nymphing in strong winds.
• Picking the top five nymph patterns to use anywhere on the planet.
• Knowing how many patterns to carry and how to organize the fly boxes.
• Learning when slow-sinking patterns outfish fast-sinking ones.
• Why some anglers think the Mop Fly is the best anchor pattern.

The beauty of this book is how Cammisa highlights the similarities and differences among the variables outlined above. He does a great job deconstructing the mental models competition anglers use when tying and fishing nymphs. This book allows you to discover how these anglers achieve success both behind the vise and on the water. Tim is an excellent angler, but I appreciate how he puts aside his own ego and brings in the wisdom of today’s nymphing champions.

Tying Euro Nymphs and Other Competition Favorites certainly exceeds my expectations. The magnitude and depth of information in these pages will keep me consumed for the rest of the year, experimenting with new patterns and tactics to improve my Euro game. And that’s what a good book does—it gives you the tools to take your game to the next level.