Mending can be one of the most important techniques a fly fisher can learn and use to improve their success. In a lot of cases it doesn’t have to be executed exactly to be successful. On a larger river when you are nymphing a run you can get away with moving the fly when you mend. I recently had the chance to sight fish nymphs to rainbows and browns in a gin clear stream and it’s a whole new ball game. If the fly was not down at their level and not dead drifting they wouldn’t touch it. If a poorly executed mend moved the fly when it was in their site they would head to the nearest weed bed and hide out. They knew something was up. The trick in these situations was to get your mends in early, as soon as the flies hit the water. This way you weren’t moving the flies when they were in front of the fish.
Clear water is unforgiving when it comes to bad mends.
The next time you are out fishing and the fishing is slow try practicing your mending. Find a place that is clear enough to see your fly and practice your mends until you can get your fly down close to, but not on, the bottom. Try this at different depths and concentrate on not moving the fly when it reaches the target area. All fish are different, some will move great distances to eat a nymph, others not at all, so the better you become at putting your fly on the fishes nose the better your chance at success.