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Post by boisker on Oct 2, 2023 21:24:50 GMT
Managed to pop to the Frome today and decided to only ‘euro’ or ‘mono-rig’. A few years since I had spent a day only nymphing on a mono-rig set up, it took a while to get the hand coordination / control of the line, but was improving by the end of the day. Picked up a few nice grayling, this is probably the 2nd or 3rd best of the day, the best managing to release itself over the net rim as I unhooked it…  Picked up a few nice trout as well… the best of the day-   I must make the effort to get back on top of casting/line control with a mono-rig again…. Fun when it’s all in sync and not too windy… |
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Post by terry on Oct 3, 2023 9:08:00 GMT
Wow that is a great way to finish the trout season. Thanks for posting those pics.
I must make more of an effort with Euro nymphing next year as well, I have the rod so it’s only my lack of experience that I need to concentrate on.
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Post by boisker on Oct 3, 2023 11:55:07 GMT
Hi Terry
Frome trout finishes 15th October(I’d last track of the date and actually have a few more days to play with than I though) so I hope to squeeze another trout day in, then have another month on one beat for grayling… after that it’s grayling on the Tone🙂
It wasn’t a bad day yesterday, although if my drift/line control could have started the day at the level it was the last couple of hours I think I could have had a few more😏
I need a few sessions focussed on it to try and get confidence in controlling the drift. I remember when I was introduced to ‘euro’ 10 plus years ago it was very much ‘lobbing’ the nymph. Amazing just how much euro technique has developed, you can definitely cast properly but it’s much more a wrist cast…. I kept slipping into a normal cast yesterday, and there is that few seconds after the cast that you need immediate line control so that you can pick up takes on the drop, it feels tricky at first😏
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Post by halfstoned on Oct 3, 2023 12:14:18 GMT
Some beautiful fish there boisker and great photos. Im very much at begginer level with euro nymphing and I'm not convinced that it suits our tree covered stretches on the Crediton waters. It doesn't seem to matter how I cast, the nymphs have a magnetic attraction to the foliage.Is the Frome more open or is there a way to side cast these rigs?
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Post by yeoman on Oct 3, 2023 16:33:12 GMT
That's a good point, aside from the tree cover, I'm not sure it suits about 90% of Crediton water full stop, but I may be wrong.
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Post by boisker on Oct 3, 2023 17:08:08 GMT
I’ll start by saying I’m definitely no expert and I don’t know the Crediton water, other than driving over it on the odd bridge!
You definitely can side cast, but until you get familiar it’s easy to stick it in a tree when you switch off, but I used to regularly fish the Tone with a ‘euro’ set up.
It works best in its true sense with a bit of flow, and obviously is in its element for how sensitive it is. But it’s also great for the duo, which perhaps works better on longer slower glides where the dry suspends the nymph, it allows for a lot better drift than a fly line; the nylon straight to the dry has much reduced weight/sag so you can drift the dry with only an inch or so of nylon touching the water.
Obviously you can bow and arrow cast for really tight spots…. I reckon a full devotee would actively fish any river with a ‘euro’ set up that you would with a fly line, certainly any smaller river, I guess it’s less effective on a 60’ wide and 6’ deep river…. A fly line would be useful in that situation😂
Yesterday did remind me of why I used to enjoy ‘euro’ at the right time, but saying that it’s so often windy down here it’s often just easier with a fly line; it’s possible in plus 20mph winds with a euro set up but personally I find it annoying and fiddly under those conditions.
If you forced yourself to use a mono/euro set up a few times I’m sure you stop hitting the trees…. It’s way more versatile than the technique first imagined 10-15 yrs ago… but a fly line can’t really be beaten for satisfaction in throwing nice loops🙂
Edit… mono/euro also great for jigging streamers
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Post by boisker on Oct 3, 2023 17:12:30 GMT
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Post by halfstoned on Oct 3, 2023 18:27:49 GMT
Thanks for that boisker.'ll take a look👍 tbh I've watched so many now that I've forgotten which ones they are. It does seem that an important part is to get the nymphs to enter the water first and keep tight to the sighter so your in contact with the flies straight away. When I've managed this, it's been successful, but I've only found this possible with what i would call a tuck cast. And for this cast, I need plenty of head space🙂 more practice required.
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Post by boisker on Oct 3, 2023 21:25:52 GMT
Yeah getting immediate control of the drift is challenging, especially if you’ve spent years on rivers dropping the rod to the water at the end of the cast. Yesterday it was not lowering the rod hand and immediately engaging the line hand to manage slack that was the issue, it got better after a couple of hours.
Obviously a tuck cast is the easiest way to get the nymph to depth, especially trying to get depth with lighter nymphs. The opposite in shallow water you can flatten the cast out so everything lands on the water straight and fairly tight which will slow the sink rate.
Under canopy I don’t think the tuck cast is as easy, but it is possible, you just need to try and make sure the fly leg is very flat and not much above the rod leg… slightly canted out so you don’t smack your rod tip with the nymph😂
The other option is to increase the weight of the nymph and cast flatter, increasing the sink rate by weight rather than tuck cast.
Another option I have tried is changing the trajectory, so that the nymph is aimed at the water and slightly underpowered, that way you will have a small amount of slack in the ‘leader’ and the nymph will have a slight impetus as it hits the water, which all helps with sink rate. Although it’s a fine line between being a bit short on the cast so it hits the water first but not too hard and smashing it so hard all the fish are spooked…. Fun things to play with though, and beats being in a tree😏. You have more leeway with this if you practice it on riffled / faster water.
Alas I’m still some way from mastering the above, or even from where I’d got to 3 or 4 years ago… just like riding a bike, I can still do it, but wouldn’t want to try and ride a racer like I could at 15 yrs… downhill whilst pulling a wheelie😏
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