I am a self taught fly fisherman which, means my skills are a mixture of techniques learnt from many individuals and an unhealthy collection of DVD’s topped with years of observation, reading and bleeding fisherman dry of their experience - not to mention - making endless mistakes and paying for it the hard way.

Czech nymphing came to me by accident. I didn’t learn it from anyone or read it anywhere it just developed as a natural progression as my fly fishing developed. It wasn’t until late 2002 that I noticed that the technique that I was practicing was also being using by anglers throughout Europe.

I followed some articles and managed to get a place in a pile of cow dung, on my knees, huddled between keen enthusiasts and cigarette butts on a busy river bank watching a Czech master at work, plopping a nymph around, in between the weed and deep pockets, pulling out the fish one by one, on a damp October day.

That master (at least in my books) passed on a couple of years ago and now I imagine he is fishing in waters we can only dream about, where fish cue up, fin to fin, and in an orderly manner taking the nymph readily on a sunny dry October day.

Since then, my nymphing has progressed and the fish have got larger, my nymph collection has got smaller and my want for new knowledge on this wonderful technique has exploded beyond my own control. It’s become an obsession. A kind of pornographic lust. Some might say "I would go blind if I didn’t stop".

My eye sight diminished long ago and trying to place anything smaller than a 6X through the eye of a microscopic atom is as hard as convincing my wife that cleaning up after our son‘s amazing bowel movement is fun and should be relished. My reading glass lenses are like the bottom of wine bottles.

Either my eye sight has gotten worse over the years or my fingers and thumbs are putting on weight and are beginning to form into weird shaped potatoes.

Anyway…back to the point.

Czech nymphing. It’s not difficult to understand why Czech nymphing is effective. We know that most fish feed under the surface and the majority of time of the bottom.

I have heard that dry fly is the true way to fish but we anglers just love to think of excuses on almost every topic related to our wonderful sport. "The waters to wet", is a classic. I swear by it.

Invented by the Polish, stolen (or is it borrowed?) and perfected by the Czech’s and used around Europe, maybe the world?

It’s still, in my books, in its infancy and will develop more and more as we challenge our knowledge, experience and these mysterious fish in different waters around the globe. I was taught that the only way to progress is to make mistakes and experiment and build on the knowledge you have already gained and share it with others. Knowing someone rich help to pay for all the junk one needs to fill his or her vest.

The Czech nymph in Denmark isn’t practiced that much. In fact the concept to some is very alien. I have even heard that you can’t Czech nymph in Denmark. Never have I seen a sign displaying "You can’t Czech nymph here because the fish don’t like it".

I have been practicing this method in Denmark since 2002 and tried to shrug it off to many anglers but most are "stuck in a rut" and happy with the dry or using the wet and nymph across and down. There are many that hate new ideas because people are frightened of making mistakes and looking like a right plonker in front of others. Education is the key and an open mind to something new can always benefit.

Denmark has superb water for the Czech nymph. Many rivers and streams have very deep holes and chances are high to connect with something in the bottom of the darkness.

The gentle meandering rivers and streams provide excellent water with so much variety. Some areas are so thick with surface weed, flowers and grass that dry fly techniques become impossible especially from the river bank.

On many of the streams there are areas that narrow, and of course, the water flow speeds up presenting perfect Czech nymphing areas.

Some streams do not permit wading because of the fact that the river has many deep sections and steep sides that would take more than several cannon balls tied to your line to hit the bottom. That’s an invitation and a half to pull out the Czech nymphs. Is it not?

In some streams the water runs so clear that you can see shoals of grayling clustered together and throwing a nymph right in their fishy little faces is a joy. No strike indicator needed. Just a keen eye for the whites of their mouths and we fall right back to my eye sight story again. What whites of the mouth? What fish? What stream?

On one stream in southern Jutland, I have witnessed grayling and rainbow trout shoaling together. They swim together sharing the plentiful food that drifts down, exchanging stories, and generally hanging out like fish do. In fact the rainbows will normally take the nymph before the grayling. When this happens, the rainbows just love to swim through the shoal splitting up the grayling and causing havoc in the general vicinity putting other fish down for an hour or so while they regroup.

When a grayling does manage to get to the nymph first it’s a lovely site to see the dorsal being raised as the hook sets and the fish prepare for battle. All in a spilt second of course!

Grayling are native to Denmark and are found only in Jutland with the largest concentration in the southern regions. The most popular streams are the Kongeå, Gelså, Gramå, Grindstedå, and sections of the Gudenå. (Of course for those wondering what on Earth "å" means, Danish for "river").

The rainbows are another story. They are not native to Denmark. They are escapees from the many fish farms that are scattered along some of the rivers. Most years few rainbows are caught. The rest, like this year, some streams are full of them.

I’ve nothing against them. They provide good game. They feed readily and fight like my wife with a headache.

Brown trout are also frequently caught and also native to Denmark. We have spells when catching one is impossible. Other times, in my experience, normally October time, they are everywhere and some fair sizes too!

I know many good spots where brown trout hang out, sipping on a beer or two, smoking cigarettes and just eating the day away. They cruise certain areas looking for an easy meal and just love a McCzech meal. Yes, they are "loving it" and so are we, us small brained, over dressed, weighted down fly anglers.

The next article will go into more detail about tackle and techniques we deploy in the land of Carlsberg and H. C. Andersen.

It’s not a far cast to that land over there, that devised the Czech nymph method, but then again who wants to throw three weighted nymphs to the opposite end of the country?