04-08-2014, 05:09 AM
I love the conversation inspiring post, and hate to admit I once fell victim to the mindset you speak of myself, but I was more of a "Cabelas Dork" instead because I couldn't afford Orvis gear. That was a while back, 1985-ish, and have since recovered from my overly inflated ego. Besides, the reality is I was never as good as I thought, just like many today are not as good as they think they are. Anyway, who cares? We love what we do and that's all that matters. Fly, spin, casting, dunking. It's all about the fun and making the best of our short lives, and sharing it with others that we like to be around.
After reading through the posts, I was most intrigued with the number of other folks including yourself, that have explored fishing monofilament on a fly rod.
A close friend and I also built custom fly rods specifically for nymph fishing with closed faced spinning reels. My first was a 9' St. Croix Blank, with small sized spinning guides, and a Powell reel seat. We also liked using high visibility mono lines, like Yellow Stren so we could easily see the point where the line entered the water. Great no weight strike indication built right into the rig. This rod setup works great on any stream, and you can nail those hard to reach spots under the branches on the opposite side of the river with ease. Get tired of nymphing; slap on a floating Rapala and hurl that thing a mile in any direction and cover a lot of water fast. I've personally caught way more fish with this method than conventional fly casting, and I've done a lot of both. If I can cast a fly line with weighted / un-weighted nymphs on a stream and get good water coverage, I'll usually go that route more often than not because it's fun.
It's certainly easy to see where both sides have their appeal and where some folks may be better at one method over another. Take high water days on the Green River for instance while fishing from shore. I'd argue that a monofilament approach would be very hard to beat. You can weight heavy to get the line down fast in stretches all the way to mid-stream, and cast behind most any pocket water to mid-stream and beyond with any fly nymph combination you like. This doesn't happen with a standard fly rod setup in that kind of water flow.
Looking on the other side, it's hard to beat the thrill of finessing a dry fly to a fish you can see on a spring creek, quiet pond, or a peaceful high mountain lake, and actually have it rise to accept your offering on an ultra-light rod.
Methods and tackle IMHO are a personal choice. Often the best choice, unless your in it just for the outing, is what's going to catch the most fish.
When Pat and I first went fishing together, I made the comment half way through the outing “I would get them eventually" referring to the fact that there was no love coming my way from the fish at UL. Of course he had pretty much limited out on the cats by this time, and with his charming whit and infinite wisdom replied back immediately, "Christmas would be here soon too". I couldn't argue the point then, and I certainly can't now. I'll never forget this lesson. If something’s working, find out what it is, and try to duplicate it. Sooner the better. Be it tackle, methodology, way you hold your mouth, or dragging banana's in the water behind your boat. If it works do-it.
Your post brought back some real good memories from days past, thanks Pat [
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After reading through the posts, I was most intrigued with the number of other folks including yourself, that have explored fishing monofilament on a fly rod.
A close friend and I also built custom fly rods specifically for nymph fishing with closed faced spinning reels. My first was a 9' St. Croix Blank, with small sized spinning guides, and a Powell reel seat. We also liked using high visibility mono lines, like Yellow Stren so we could easily see the point where the line entered the water. Great no weight strike indication built right into the rig. This rod setup works great on any stream, and you can nail those hard to reach spots under the branches on the opposite side of the river with ease. Get tired of nymphing; slap on a floating Rapala and hurl that thing a mile in any direction and cover a lot of water fast. I've personally caught way more fish with this method than conventional fly casting, and I've done a lot of both. If I can cast a fly line with weighted / un-weighted nymphs on a stream and get good water coverage, I'll usually go that route more often than not because it's fun.
It's certainly easy to see where both sides have their appeal and where some folks may be better at one method over another. Take high water days on the Green River for instance while fishing from shore. I'd argue that a monofilament approach would be very hard to beat. You can weight heavy to get the line down fast in stretches all the way to mid-stream, and cast behind most any pocket water to mid-stream and beyond with any fly nymph combination you like. This doesn't happen with a standard fly rod setup in that kind of water flow.
Looking on the other side, it's hard to beat the thrill of finessing a dry fly to a fish you can see on a spring creek, quiet pond, or a peaceful high mountain lake, and actually have it rise to accept your offering on an ultra-light rod.
Methods and tackle IMHO are a personal choice. Often the best choice, unless your in it just for the outing, is what's going to catch the most fish.
When Pat and I first went fishing together, I made the comment half way through the outing “I would get them eventually" referring to the fact that there was no love coming my way from the fish at UL. Of course he had pretty much limited out on the cats by this time, and with his charming whit and infinite wisdom replied back immediately, "Christmas would be here soon too". I couldn't argue the point then, and I certainly can't now. I'll never forget this lesson. If something’s working, find out what it is, and try to duplicate it. Sooner the better. Be it tackle, methodology, way you hold your mouth, or dragging banana's in the water behind your boat. If it works do-it.
Your post brought back some real good memories from days past, thanks Pat [
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