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Post by Texastroutfisher on Jun 16, 2019 17:52:09 GMT -6
Hey Guys, I have a 10ft 3wt with nymphing line and leader. I would like to be able to switch between nymphing and dries at a moments notice should a hatch happen. Is this possible and what do I need to do. I though about getting an extra spool for my reel and having wf 3wt line on it to switch over quickly. Is it possible to just do a leader change or can I go with the nymphing leader, removing the nymphing rig and just add tippet from the tippet ring down. Thanks in advance.
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Post by turfdawg on Jun 16, 2019 19:29:00 GMT -6
What’s a dry fly?
How far are you wanting to cast and what size leader are you using? A 20lb butt section stepped down out of the stiff Maxima camilion will cast a dry pretty good if you are not trying to cast more than say 30’(depends on the rod also) The lighter the leader the harder to cast and the distance shortens. I have a extra spool with fly line and it’s still new because I haven’t been anywhere I need to roll cast or fish dries. I’m probably not the best to give an opinion on this because I very very seldom just run a dry
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Post by lipripper1983 on Jun 16, 2019 19:59:42 GMT -6
I personally don't fish a dry fly on my euro rig. But If I did, I'd go with a dry dropper rig with a large fly on top like a foam hopper and a weighted nymph below it. I imagine it'd be hard to cast a small dry fly on a euro leader.
Can you not just carry your standard 5wt rod and keep it on standby in case you're feeling good about dry fly fishing? I usually will swap out to my dry fly rod in early evening hours to catch the evening dry bite. And during daylight hours I'll just tight line deeper pools where fish are most likely hiding in.
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Post by golferjeff on Jun 17, 2019 7:36:28 GMT -6
I do this often. I do change out the entire euro leader and tie on a 9-10' dry fly tapered leader. Takes about 5 minutes. You need something to hold the 30' or so of euro in your vest/pack. the rod will cast just fine - I use my 10'6 3wt Cortland for this.
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Post by FlyAndStream on Jun 17, 2019 8:13:47 GMT -6
I'm with turfdawg – "What's a dry fly?" I forced myself to fish a dry this weekend, lasted about 10 minutes before switching back to tungsten. I need a blanket hatch just to break out my 5wt anymore. Do what golferjeff said and have a Loon rigging foam available to spool your euro leader onto while you switch on a tapered leader to fish dries, then switch back when ready, super fast. Then like turfdawg said, if you don't want to mess with all that, and would rather quickly prospect with a dry, just tie it onto the end of your euro leader / fluoro. It will still cast a short distance, that together with the length of the rod should get you within 20 feet or more of sipping fish.
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Post by dainw on Jun 17, 2019 16:21:44 GMT -6
I would compare using specialty rods to different types of golf clubs. Could you putt with a driver? Sure. Is that going to be the best club to hit that specific kind of shot? No.
Can a euro rod be rigged up to throw a dry fly? Yes you can do that. You’re not going to get the same type of performance out of a rod designed for euro nymphing when throwing a dry fly as you would with a rod that’s designed to throw dry flies. If you find yourself in the middle of an epic hatch where the fish are only eating duns on the surface and want nothing else and you only have your euro rod with you, then you gotta do what you gotta do. I’ve been fly fishing at least once a month for the last 5 years and I’ve yet to find myself in that situation. Otherwise nymphing has been able to cover every single situation I’ve found myself in. If I thought there was a chance that I wanted to throw dries one day, I’d probably just bring a rod with me on the water that was better suited to throw dries.
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Post by jonbo on Jun 17, 2019 17:15:47 GMT -6
I fish an Echo Shadow II, 3 wt. It's made specifically for euro-nymphing, but one of its selling points is that it casts traditionally half-way decently, too. That's what I wanted it to do. I want to switch from this to that to the other thing as the spirit moves me. I also don't want to have to keep track of 2 rods while I'm out there fishing. So even though, as you might imagine, the Echo is not considered the best, most sensitive euro-stick out there, and I have at least a couple of other rods that fish traditionally better, it serves me well.
Now, I have one spool of WF line. When I tight-line it's with a 30 ft leader as the WF line has to stay completely on the reel during the cast and the drift. When I want to fish the other styles, dries, dry-droppers, soft-hackles, even indicator nymph, I do just what FlyAndStream and Jeff do and swap out the leader before I put on a dry-dropper for EH, or whatever, (or swing a soft-hackle which is my favorite fishing method of all <tear>). When I fish the Lil' Mo' here in SW AR and I'm going to be fishing the much slower more-or-less still pools here, I'll probably just take my Sage TXL-F 4 wt.
If it were me and I had your setup with euro-specialty line on it I would probably try to get a second spool and put WF line on it, the way you were thinking. I've already considered doing that (I mean, having a second spool with euro-line), but what I'm doing now works, so I've stuck with it. I do have to get one of those leader keepers the others speak of, though. When dealing with my long, long tight-line leader I have to roll up and unroll it vewwy ceffully!
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Post by golferjeff on Jun 18, 2019 11:41:48 GMT -6
Where to start? Dain making golf references? The same guy that turned down an invite to The Masters? I love my Cortland for tossing dries, especially if I am simply dapping and high sticking them on small mountain meadow streams. True, it does not cast as well as a traditional rod (Say, Sage One 4wt), but it will get the job done. I also do traditional indicator nymphing with this rod. It really is an all-around good rod. I know it will be in my arsenal in a few weeks in Colorado or New Mexico. If I am hiking 3-5 miles in, I only want one rod with me, it will be the Cortland or my Winston BIIIX.
Jon - you and Turfdawg just need to go fish together and swap out rods and lines and gear and see who wants what. Y'all have so much gear it would supply 20 anglers.
Rocky Mountains in 14 days...... dry flies, cutties, Magick by my side and sleeping in 40 degree weather. Can't wait.
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Post by turfdawg on Jun 18, 2019 15:51:38 GMT -6
Shoot Jeff, I probably have less rods than you
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Post by dainw on Jun 20, 2019 5:18:44 GMT -6
Where to start? Dain making golf references? The same guy that turned down an invite to The Masters? I love my Cortland for tossing dries, especially if I am simply dapping and high sticking them on small mountain meadow streams. True, it does not cast as well as a traditional rod (Say, Sage One 4wt), but it will get the job done. I also do traditional indicator nymphing with this rod. It really is an all-around good rod. I know it will be in my arsenal in a few weeks in Colorado or New Mexico. If I am hiking 3-5 miles in, I only want one rod with me, it will be the Cortland or my Winston BIIIX. Jon - you and Turfdawg just need to go fish together and swap out rods and lines and gear and see who wants what. Y'all have so much gear it would supply 20 anglers. Rocky Mountains in 14 days...... dry flies, cutties, Magick by my side and sleeping in 40 degree weather. Can't wait. Like I said, I think some of these euro specific rods can probably get the job done, it’s just not going to be the best rod for the job. As far as switching out leaders and rigs and all that goes, I think the worst thing to have to do on a river is mess with taking a 30 ft leader on and off. By the time you do all that, you could have just as easily broken out the other rod you have in your pack, set it up and rigged to throw dries. All of this seems like a bunch of hypotheticals anyway to me. Most of the fishing I do around here, there’s no reason to do anything but nymph because it’s the most productive way to catch fish. If you want to throw on a dry or something because you are bored nymphing you can, and probably still catch fish, but I the way I like to fish is whatever technique is going to catch the most fish. 9 times out of 10 in this part of the world, that’s nymphing. If I’m in Colorado, that’s a different story. If I’m going to a small stream and dapping and high sticking dry flies, probably not going to take my 11 ft MKII. I’m going to take a smaller stick that’s more suited to the size of the stream. On the bigger rivers, I’ll pack two rods, one to nymph with and one to throw dries.
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