I recently picked up a copy of pheasant tail simplicity and got really stoked on Yvon's style of fishing flymphs (along with learning to tie all the flies from that book). I went ahead and picked up a shadow x 2wt rod package as a treat to myself and upgrade from my echo lift I've had for 5 years. It was a euro nymphing package though and the reel came loaded with ESN fly line, and jesus christ I've gone down the rabbit hole of trying to understand how the hell people set this up and the more I learn the more confused I get. I am not trying to specialize in euro nymphing. It'd be nice to get better at fishing nymphs and use those when it makes sense, but I am mostly stoked on throwing flymphs and dry flies. For context, I'm mainly fishing in the catskills. I'd consider myself a novice and very much still learning a lot.
- How the hell does one set up a basic flymph/nymph setup that doesn't involve five different components before getting to the tippet? I figure I can rig a dry dropper and use the dry as my indicator. For flymphs, will there be enough weight to get decent casts across streams?
- If I want to throw dry flies, is that something I can do with a euro fly line? Do I just throw on a standard 9ft leader and some tippet? Or do I need to use a dry dropper so the weight of the point fly can get some weight into the line?
I want the reach, sensitivity, and the light line weight of the 2wt rod for effectively fishing wet flies, and I really don't want to carry around two reels or spend a lot of time switching between setups if a rise starts and I want to switch to dry flies. Some part of me is on the verge of just throwing 2wt WF line and then just changing out my leader. Again, this feels so overwhelming.
edit: video for reference
Posted by glizzycrits
3 Comments
If you wanted a versatile set up you probably shouldn’t have bought a specialized rod. A 10’ 4wt or even a 3 wt would have been much better. You need a rod that is sensitive and flexible in the right ways but also versatile enough to handle a WF line. 2 wts are designed to cast light mono leaders with light flies. A euro fly line serves no purpose other than sitting on the reel to comply with regulations for competition which has no relevance to 99% of anglers (although some people like it because it’s easier to grip than a micro leader).
Check out Troutbitten.com and the podcast. It has answers to all the questions you’re looking for from the rods to the leaders. There are also resources from Oliver Edwards and Davey Wotton online for wet fly fishing.
There isn’t really an all round tight line nymph set up that uses weight forward line because the weight of the line sags and drags the nymphs. You could put a weight forward line on and just use a mono rig for tight line nymphing which leaves the fly line on the reel and if you want to go to dries, replace the long mono leader for a tapered leader. Personally I just take another reel with me rather than messing about taking off long leaders etc.
I use mono rig. From my own reference the euro fly line is just like regular fly line that floats and thinner. Essentially casting out and having leader and tippet to drift underwater while the fly line floats along. Which imo very similar to dry fly except fly sits on top.
For casting mono, it’s essentially using the weight of the fly that’s in contact with the water. When you cast, the water holds tension on the fly and release all that energy the moment it leaves the water. It sounds silly but it just works. If your just casting without nymp in contact with the water, it’ll be difficult the thinner the mono.