Shortly after flipping the two-fly rig upstream into a tumbling run, I noticed a sharp tightening in the leader. Responding with a quick hookset, I was connected to a fat rainbow trout.

“Just like Ben showed on the video,” I thought, as I worked the brilliantly colored trout into the net.

The referenced video is one produced by Lively Legz/Living4theoutdoors and posted on YouTube. Lively Legz is a local fly-fishing supply company owned by Ben Petrosky and Mike Saxon.

It entered the fly-fishing business world around five years ago with the introduction of the fly-tying component “Lively Legz,” a paper-thin synthetic profile that duplicated the legs of common mayfly nymphs.

Available in several sizes and colors, the product took off like a hooked brown trout headed for a log jam. The company now offers a wide range of flies, fly-tying materials, fly fishing accessories, and of course its staple legz.

Via its YouTube channel, Petrosky, Saxon and the rest of the Lively Legz crew have produced a wide assortment of instructional videos, ones that illustrate how to tie certain flies and how to properly fish them. With a strong foundation in nymph fishing, it’s not surprising that many of the videos detail the nuances of fishing such.

My recent experience on a local special regulations area was the result of one such video. In it Petrosky details how to modify a knotless leader with the addition of a piece of “sighter line,” a section of bright, solid-colored nylon monofilament.

Ben’s basic leader recipe goes like this: Starting with a 7.5-foot knotless leader, he cuts off about 5 ½ feet of it, measured from the butt (loop end) of the leader. He then ties in about 18 inches of Hanak Indicator Line (sighter line) via a blood knot.

A micro tippet ring is tied to the other end of the sighter line. Finally, a section of tippet material is tied to the tippet ring, the length of which is determined by the average depth of the water expected to be fished that day. He suggests a length of about 1.5 times that depth.

For instance, for depths of around three feet tippet length would be 4 ½ feet. Water clarity and size of the fly govern tippet strength to be used. Petrosky suggests going with “as heavy as the fish will let you get away with.” He commonly fishes a second fly off the first by way of a short piece of tippet material tied off the hook bend of the first. The dropper tippet is lighter, to help prevent losing both flies should the dropper fly snag up.

This tippet formula is adjustable for the size of the stream being fished. For instance, on a small headwaters stream the butt section can be only 3 ½ feet long. Likewise, the sighter section can be longer or shorter, depending on the user’s preference.

As its name suggests, the sighter section is used to provide a visible clue as to when a fish takes the nymph. Constructed in the manner just described, the leader’s sighter section remains above the water’s surface. Short upstream casts are made to the targeted area. The rod tip follows the drift of the fly with just a slight sag is the leader, with sighter section being easily visible. Strikes are illustrated by a quick change in the leader.

“When you see a sudden change in that sighter line you want to set the hook,” Petrosky advises. “They are not going to hold onto the fly for long. You don’t want to give them an opportunity to spit that fly back out.”

Ben noted that every hit is a little bit different, based on the position of the fish as well as the flow of the current. But what folks often think is just the fly (flies) bouncing off the bottom is actually a trout. And since they won’t hold on to a fly like they will live bait, folks miss many fish.

Petrosky’s nymphing method, which he describes as a combination of tight line and high stick nymphing, is ideal for the modest sized streams of our area. Lively Legz’ videos are shot on the same west central and central Pennsylvania waters many of us fish. They drastically shorten the learning curve for those unfamiliar with this efficient fly-fishing technique.

For more information visit the channel Lively Legz/Living4theoutoors on YouTube and www.livelylegz.com on the web.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle