New Fly Fisher: North Platte River

This is the first episode of the second season. It was based out of the North Platte Lodge near Alcova, Wyoming and was about nymph fishing on the North Platte River.


Brett Van Rensselaer was the guide. He said the key was to change rigs to match condition. You can change the weight, which changes depth or change the length of leader, which changes the depth. Only after that do you change the fly.


Brett was upstream nymphing and stressed that the key is to keep the slack caught up. He prefers one big mend to many little ones and loves large arbour reels.


Brett used a 9 1/2', 6 wt., fast action stiff rod. I didn't fully understand his rig, so I wrote him and his reply explains better than I could figure out from the TV show.

Yes, that was the rig. Basically, when nymphing decide whether you wish to fish the bottom or not. If you want to fish the bottom your length from indicator to lead should be 12" longer than actual water depth. First fly should be 12-14" below the split shot. I typically tie a blood knot to add 12-14" of tippet and put the split shot above that knot to eliminate sliding. First fly at the end of the tippet. then 6-8" of tippet connected directly to the bend of the hook on the first fly and place the second at the end. The deeper the water the longer the gap between the two flies.


Your rig should look like this:

6" of Butt section from fly line
5-10 foot leader (depending upon conditions)
12-14" tippet to first fly
6-12" tippet to second fly

The rig I was fishing was designed to fish 3' of fast water. The extra length (5' leader instead of 4') was due to the speed of the water. I like the second fly close (6-8" ) in faster shallower water. In deeper slower I would lengthen everything out!

Sounds like a cool guy to fish with.