I used to go to the science museum a lot when I was a kid. The Ruben H. Fleet science museum in San Diego had this device that simulated chaos. Chaos can be defined as: behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions
I agree that this is a slightly esoteric definition but it really sums up my point well. Chaos is not actually random but so many variables exist the outcome appears random. The machine at the science museum had a crank with an arm about a foot long. Attached to that crank were two other freely rotating arms. One attached to the crank and the other attached to the one attached to the crank. All of them were different lengths and thicknesses. When you turned the crank the arms seemed to go every which way and all would turn at different rates. Apparently, mathematics could not predict what the motions of the arms would be even if the input force and velocity were known. I hate maths. At this point you may be wondering why I am talking about a chaos machine on a fly fishing blog. The reason is that I created my own chaos machine two Saturdays ago.
I decided I wanted to fish a two nymph rig setup. I wanted to put a small (size 18) midge nymph trailing off my bead head. So, I had a strike indicator, about 3.5 feet of tippet (6x), a #16 pink squirrel, another 1.5 feet of tippet tied to the hook bend, then a #18 midge nymph (unweighted). I though I had a great setup. I could have a midge emerger nymph flowing through the current while the bead head was bouncing along the bottom. I have cast two fly rigs a lot in the summer. Dry-dropper setups and stuff. So this setup should have been easy. Not so. I neglected to understand how a strike indicator would factor into the equation. From the tip of my fly line I had built a perfect chaos machine. At no time could I predict where the strike indicator, the bead head, or the emerger would land. If they landed at all- I caught my share of brush behind me too. The emerger would dive for the deck during every back-cast and constantly snag. If I accelerated the cast prior to a rapid stop to shoot some line all hell would break loose. After a few casts of fearing for my life, hooks flying everywhere, I took off the nymph and order was restored. I know it is possible and even fairly easy to cast that rig if it is setup right but I failed, miserably. I should have tapered my leaders down. I needed a 5x 7.5’ tapered leader, the strike indicator, 6x tippet, the bead head, 7x tippet, then the nymph. 5x, 5x then 6x would be fine too. It would have turned over much nicer. The real key is to open your loops and relax your casting stroke. Shoot tight loops with dries and open them up for nymphs with indicators and especially with two fly rigs.
I’ll let you know how that works out next time. My money is on a slightly reduced chaos machine and a few more tangles than usual. It was the first time since September I had cast a fly rod; maybe I was just rusty.
I did manage to catch two. They were pretty small but I wasn’t fishing the best water on the stream. I’ll try down by the pasture stretch next time.
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