Nymphs and dries - which 10ft rod?

[green man]

Maybe it's the season, but do you guys prefer (Czech or Euro) nymphing to dry fly fishing, per se?

Just wondering, because for me, one of the joys of fly fishing is casting a line and watching an occasional perfect loop unfurl in the direction of a rising fish, and seeing the take.

I've just got myself a Rio Nymph leader and a similar one from Orvis to try out, but I must admit - after having some enthusiasm for buying some new gear and trying a new technique during the winter months - I'm now barely motivated by nymphing and find myself dreaming of next March.

 

[Spider]

Troutbhoy, I use a leader of about 16ft to maybe 18ft. Starts with 20lb chameleon and tapers down to 6x stroft, and I add a bit of 7x if I'm fishing size 18-22 flies.

 

[Spider]

Green i prefer dries but my new set up, using that coloured removable wax, allowed me to alternate between dries and nymphs pool to pool.

 

[swanlee]

I've also taken the plunge and gone for a #2 silk line. Only used it once on my Recon 10' #3 but so far, I really like it - Thanks Spider!

I had been using the Hends level nymph line, but this is much better for both drys and tightline nymphs. I'm just trying to work out my leader set up for it. The tip is so fine that it's just like a furled leader, so it was thinking of using something like a Hends Camou leader and cutting back from the butt end or even just going with level line. Other options could be a furled leader made from Semperfli nano silk with a fine butt end?

Spider what's your thinking behind using 16' of leader? I was thinking of going half that length, as it so supple and light.

 

[Spider]

Jon, sorry I didn't see your question. I was using the 16ft+ of leader because I was afraid the silk would sag, and spoil the French nymphing part. I'm not sure how many feet of silk is out of the rod tip when I FN, but it's probably 6ft max? After that it Chameleon, about 15lb or 20lb ( I think 20) breaking strain. The idea of the long leader and the chameleon is probably driven by Troutbitten and Co, but the general idea was to to allow FN, then dries, perhaps with the original idea of being able to "hold line" off the water when fishing dries a la Jeremy Lucas, but that's a load of horlicks in reality. My silk and long leader for FN using scarfars wax and then the easy transfer to dries was just borne of frustration at having to re-rig, or add or take away an indicator and new leader. Laziness I guess!

 

[SirHarryLewis]

Does anyone find a massive performance difference between Czech Nymphing vs Euro Nymphing (ie with full mono rig?)

I dont like the idea of fishing mono rigs but if they are generally better for Nymphing in terms of catch number, Ill find it hard to resist.

 

[ROVER]

10 foot is a tad long for dries IMO, if you're looking for an allrouner I'd suggest looking at one if the extension rods made exactly for that purpose, Grey's, hends, hanak, at al. I've got/had the hends and the Grey's and would highly recommended either.

Graeme

 

[Scotty Mitchell]

I’m a one rod to the river man myself. I use a Snowbee Prestige 10’#3 and had misgivings about fishing dries and how accurate I could be.
There’s no doubt it’s a compromise but you do get used to it, I can be as accurate as it appears I need to be

 

[Spider]

Agree Scotty. I fish a 10ft rod and I haven't found accuracy an issue with dries. Its all about practice. Bringing 2 rods with me would feel like wearing two pairs of boots

 

[SirHarryLewis]

Maybe it's the season, but do you guys prefer (Czech or Euro) nymphing to dry fly fishing, per se?

Just wondering, because for me, one of the joys of fly fishing is casting a line and watching an occasional perfect loop unfurl in the direction of a rising fish, and seeing the take.

I've just got myself a Rio Nymph leader and a similar one from Orvis to try out, but I must admit - after having some enthusiasm for buying some new gear and trying a new technique during the winter months - I'm now barely motivated by nymphing and find myself dreaming of next March.

I hear ya. I did some indicator nymphing and some tight line {euro} nymphing last year. I enjoyed the former... The latter just feels a bit weird, especially on the bigger river. So I'm caught between the desire to buy all the gear and be the best I can be at it on one hand and the feeling that I'd rather be throwing a weight forward line on the other

 

[shortcircuit]

I hear ya. I did some indicator nymphing and some tight line {euro} nymphing last year. I enjoyed the former... The latter just feels a bit weird, especially on the bigger river. So I'm caught between the desire to buy all the gear and be the best I can be at it on one hand and the feeling that I'd rather be throwing a weight forward line on the other

Do you know something, I'm the same. I don't get to fish every hour of every day so I want to take the most pleasure I can from when I do get to fish. And I just get more pleasure from casting a fly line than from lobbing/flicking a tightline and leading it through. Now I know that I will probably catch a way more fish tightlining, but for me it's not about the numbers, it's about the overall experiences.

This is why I'm going to do a bit more indicator nymphing because I actually like seeing the strike indicator drift back and then jerking or disappearing on a take. Once the hatch activity picks up for the season, I will be dry fly or dry dropper all the way, so I welcome the early season to do a bit of enjoyable nymphing or a bit of wet fly (the ultimate in relaxing fishing)

 

[york1e]

Do you know something, I'm the same. I don't get to fish every hour of every day so I want to take the most pleasure I can from when I do get to fish. And I just get more pleasure from casting a fly line than from lobbing/flicking a tightline and leading it through. Now I know that I will probably catch a way more fish tightlining, but for me it's not about the numbers, it's about the overall experiences.

This is why I'm going to do a bit more indicator nymphing because I actually like seeing the strike indicator drift back and then jerking or disappearing on a take. Once the hatch activity picks up for the season, I will be dry fly or dry dropper all the way, so I welcome the early season to do a bit of enjoyable nymphing or a bit of wet fly (the ultimate in relaxing fishing)

This is my style of fishing and I use 10' 4# Vision Onki

 

[SirHarryLewis]

This is my style of fishing and I use 10' 4# Vision Onki

Yip, fishing an indicator and flies is too heavy for a tight line set up I think. Certainly a 2wt anyway

 

[Spider]

My 2wt handles indicator and nymph, dry dropper or dries no issue. I did a good bit of FN on silk and long leader last year as detailed elsewhere. Main reason was that my fav river changes from smooth to rougher water regularly and I was bypassing lots of water and fish. There's a lot of fish in the rougher water.

 

[SirHarryLewis]

My 2wt handles indicator and nymph, dry dropper or dries no issue. I did a good bit of FN on silk and long leader last year as detailed elsewhere. Main reason was that my fav river changes from smooth to rougher water regularly and I was bypassing lots of water and fish. There's a lot of fish in the rougher water.

what rod is it?

 

[SirHarryLewis]

what rod is it?

My 2wt handles indicator and nymph, dry dropper or dries no issue. I did a good bit of FN on silk and long leader last year as detailed elsewhere. Main reason was that my fav river changes from smooth to rougher water regularly and I was bypassing lots of water and fish. There's a lot of fish in the rougher water.

never mind, seen it up further in the thread

 

[MichaelLewis]

Marryat 10ft 3wt is a nice rod for light nymphing or swinging spiders.
It is what I use if I'm fishing a team spiders. Nice rod, I think the 10ft rod helps a bit with mending, If I want to relax and just fish a team of spiders down and across, it is great for that. But will chuck a nymph and indicator.

 

[johnmckenzie3499]

Do you know something, I'm the same. I don't get to fish every hour of every day so I want to take the most pleasure I can from when I do get to fish. And I just get more pleasure from casting a fly line than from lobbing/flicking a tightline and leading it through. Now I know that I will probably catch a way more fish tightlining, but for me it's not about the numbers, it's about the overall experiences.

This is why I'm going to do a bit more indicator nymphing because I actually like seeing the strike indicator drift back and then jerking or disappearing on a take. Once the hatch activity picks up for the season, I will be dry fly or dry dropper all the way, so I welcome the early season to do a bit of enjoyable nymphing or a bit of wet fly (the ultimate in relaxing fishing)

Hi do you use tungsten bead nymphs for indicator rig ??

 

[shortcircuit]

Hi do you use tungsten bead nymphs for indicator rig ??

I do indeed.

I tend to use two nymphs, a small one on point and a larger one on the dropper, I believe the larger one will drag down the smaller one to get in the strike zone.

Some people might use split shot on the leader. I have not found the need to do it when you are using fairly heavy nymphs and fine tippet

 

[Mrwayne]

Since you have the budget the Vision Nymphmaniac is probably the best rod out there. Best rods you can get on the market at any price, no i'm not sponsored by Vision. They run 1 line weight lower than the stated weight. I have a few of these rods and they beat rods 2 or 3x the price for lightness, sensitivity and the thought that went into them like the reel seats, penultimate snake guide, stripper guides. They can cast a fly line decently when needed but i basically just use monorig now on the 3wt and if it's windy i swap to a 5 weight anyway. 10ft 3wt is actualy a 2 wt for example so depending on what you're doing you may want to step up to the 4 or 5 wt.