I have been told that the European flyfishermen have been prevailing in trout fishing contests, so with the help of my good friend Ken Sperry of the Fly Fishing Reporter, I did some investigating. I found that unlike the Czech Nymphing technique which is similar to "high stickin" and uses a short leader, the French Spanish leader is much longer and frequently reaches 18 feet in length.
Pictured above is a French / Spanish nymphing leader setup, a version of which Ken learned from Aaron Jasper of Trout Predator Online during one of his European Nymphing Clincs. There really is no set formula for this type of leader setup so I’d hesitate to call this typical but common to the French and Spanish nymphing techniques is the use of long, thin leaders, and I mean long. Generally speaking, the longer leaders are more effective in flat slow moving waters especially waters that enjoy a great deal of fishing pressure. The obvious advantage is an extremely delicate presentation.
Notice the section termed "sighter", well that is the equivalent of a strike indicator. Since the use of a strike indicator added to your line is prohibited in competitive fly fishing, the Europeans have taken the novel approach of adding a different colored section of mono to their rig. This is their way of getting around that requirement.
As the use of colored mono in competition is frowned upon by some, the French took this concept a bit further and developed the coiled mono sighter as pictured above. This basically looks like a spring made from monofilament. The backing sighter or coiled mono sighter is tied in about half way down the leader and fished with a taunt line right above or at the water interface. Fished with properly rigged flies the sighter is super sensitive and will help you see even the most subtle strikes. For more information on the subject go to the Fly Fishing Reporter article.