Modern Nymphing: Video Review

European Nymphing Video Review

2 comments

Rainbow victim of Euro style nymphing (photo Devin Olsen)

We don't do a lot of video or film reviews mainly for the simple reason that there's just a lot of stuff out there from Youtube to the many film festival entries each year to Uncle Ken's DVD collection of fly fishing and tying videos from the 80's. So when we saw that Lance Egan and Devin Olsen, arguably two of the better nymph fishermen on the planet, team up with Gilbert Rowley -- a very fishy guy who happens to be a ninja behind the lens -- we knew "Modern Nymphing: European Inspired Techniques" was one video that we'd have to look over.

As background, Cheech and I have been familiar with and ramping up with Euro style nymphing for the past few years. I've known about similar techniques for many years prior but really never gave them much thought, convinced my traditional strike indicator methods were getting the job done just fine. While I can't point to a specific point that convinced me, I can say my nymphing approach has forever been changed. Even more, based on the results we've seen and what I've seen from others, including Ryan Barnes, Lance and Devin, I'm a firm believer in its effectiveness. So if you've never tried it or remain unconvinced, the one thing this video will do is to get you off your duff and finally give you the push you need to start the learning curve.

So how does this video/film stack up against other educational fishing films out there? In a word: it doesn't. It's in a class of its own. While maintaining its core goal of educating a fisherman on the techniques of Euro style nymphing, it offers very pleasing cinematography that is uniquely combined with plenty of action as they catch fish after fish after fish. So while Lance and Devin do a great job explaining things, Gilbert has done a fantastic job capturing all the action and putting it together into a format that's easy to follow and even easier to watch.

From a more descriptive standpoint, the video follows a logical outline first giving you the introduction to the general methods they'll discuss and why they're so effective. That's followed by discussion on gear recommendations and why you'll need said gear. They very clearly discuss the rigs you'll use, how to build them and how to use them. This includes clear diagrams on the setups they're actually using in the film as well as how to rig your flies, tie knots etc. From there, you'll learn (or better said, be shown) about putting the rigs into action with casting, drift control and hook setting techniques. As a final piece to all of it, they then spend time reviewing effective fly patterns for this style of fishing.

On a closing note here, if you're serious about getting into this method, you need this video as well as George Daniel's "Dynamic Nymphing" book we reviewed a couple years back. You can purchase the video online here or you can pre-order the DVD's here from our store.