The Troutbitten Podcast, Episode 12, is now available everywhere that you listen to your podcasts.
** Note ** The Podcast Player, along with links to your favorite players is below.
In Episode 12, my friends and I talk about nymphing tactics — specifically, how we take tight line principles and the tight line advantage over to an indicator nymphing system.
We know that with refined skills and tactics, we can often make something happen, even on slow days. And there’s really no better way to consistently fool trout — in all conditions — than to get good drifts with a nymph. These small aquatic insects are the primary food source for most trout. And with nymphing skills, we don’t need to wait for rising trout or a streamer bite.
Being a nymphing angler is a sustainable and successful approach. We can do it all year long — anywhere that trout live.
So what’s the best way to nymph?
In this episode, my friends and I dig deep into one of the best ways — a nymphing tactic that I call Tight Line to the Indicator. Because when tight line or euro nymphing fails — for a variety of reasons — the answer, most often, is to take those contact principles — that tight line advantage — and combine it with an indicator system. Because the indy allows us to do things that are simply impossible on a pure tight line.
So . . . I often make the point, or make this argument, that tight line or contact nymphing tactics can’t be beat — that using the tight line advantage is almost unarguably the best way to get great dead drifts while having control over the course of the flies and great strike detection. But what I mean by that is not just pure tight lining. Because tight line to the indicator style is also part of my system.
When it’s the best tool for the job, then putting an indy on a tight line rig is a deadly variation. I build my leader to be ready for it. The rod I carry is designed for it. Because tight line to the indicator is a problem solving approach that gets the job done when pure tight lining simply cannot.
We Cover the Following
- What does this rig look like?
- What is this Tight line to the indicator approach?
- Why isn’t this style more popular or well-know?
- What is so special about going tight line to the indy?
- When do we use this style?
- How to line everything up in one seam
- Landing with contact and without
- Indicator styles
- The downsides of this approach
- Gear for this approach
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Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line Nymphing with an Indicator — A Mono Rig Variant
READ: Troutbitten | Nymphing Tight Line vs Indicator
READ: Troutbitten | One Great Nymphing Trick
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
You’re quite right: this is a terrific podcast. It’s such a pleasure to listen to folks who are obsessed by fly fishing and who can articulate their ideas in precise and literate English.
I want to emphasize one point that hovers over much of your discussion. The chief advantage of the current preferred comp rig (micro leader, etc.) is that it doesn’t sag much when cast at some distance across stream. Almost all of the comp guys, with the significant exception of Pat Weiss, fish this way. Your hybrid model makes this advantage almost superfluous. One doesn’t need a micro leader to prevent sag when fishing at short distances upstream, and sag is not an issue when fishing at greater distances and up-and-across or across stream using an indie on a mono rig.
Again, thanks for the excellent discussion.
Thanks for the kind words, Alex.
You nailed it. And I’ve made this point in Troubitten articles for years. The Standard Mono Rig, as I now call it, is designed for doing many things almost perfectly. But I write about this all the time — angle and approach, casting up and over only one rod length, etc. are critical to getting great dead drifts. When I need or want to cast further, yes, the indy takes care of that. And the truth is, it does a much better job that casting across seams, even with a micro leader, which still pulls the line across.
Incidentally, Pat also incorporates a tuck cast. We central PA guys have got this one down. And it is also critical to getting the most out of the Standard leader. It’s also a better way to fish and get dead drifts, and a tuck cast is not nearly as effective with skinny leaders. But most anglers do not turnover their rigs before entry, so they benefit from thinner leaders and tippets. A tuck cast makes all of that unnecessary, and in my opinion, better anyway.
https://troutbitten.com/2020/08/26/euro-nymphing-what-youre-missing-by-following-fips-competition-rules-part-one/
I got off topic there. But yes, too many anglers follow the trend of comp fishing without understanding how the restrictions these anglers are under really limit things.
Indys are great. Just gotta employ them with a tight line advantage.
Cheers.
Dom
I thought the science behind using a euro rig as opposed to an indy rig, is that the surface water speed is faster than it is at the bottom where you want your fly. The euro rig allows you to connect to that bottom water and get a nice long dead drift. Fishing with an indicator connects your fly to the surface, and so rather quickly the indy is dragging the fly downstream, and the dead drift doesn’t happen. This is particularly true when the fly starts upstream from the indy — as soon as the indy hits the water, the drag is on. I get that there are places where the indy is necessary (long distance away), but isn’t using an indy is really a compromise that sacrifices a decent drift for the ability to get the fly way out there?
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the comment and question.
“Fishing with an indicator connects your fly to the surface, and so rather quickly the indy is dragging the fly downstream, and the dead drift doesn’t happen.”
Respectfully, that is not at all true. But it is a very common misconception. Heck, Orvis even had a video out not too long ago showing how what you said is going to happen. But I promise, it does NOT always happen that way.
I talk through this and address it in the podcast around 28:45. Start at 28:10, and give it a listen.
But I’ll briefly explain here: When set up as described, the weight or the weighted fly bosses the indy around far more than the surface current. It’s line on the surface that causes drag, and no so much the indy itself.
How can we know this? Give it a try, and you’ll see that by going tight line to the indy, with the line up and no tension on the indy, the indy will SLOW down, when the fly reaches the strike zone — not the bottom, but just the strike zone. So we can read the indy the same way as we read the sighter, in that manner.
In traditional rigs, what you said often happens. With this method, the flies are in charge of the indy speed, and not so much the currents.
Make sense?
Dom
Ok, I hear you, and it makes sense. In my case, I only use indy’s when I’m fishing significantly further away than I can wade, so I’m not sure I can get that much line off the water, but I’ll give it a try. I’ll be using nymph line, so that may help. I have set up a mono-rig, but haven’t spent much time with it.
Good stuff. Give it a try.
“I’ll be using nymph line, so that may help.”
The comp lines weigh a lot more than a standard Mono Rig, so they sag more.
Cheers.
Dom
Hello everyone thank you very much for an excellent discussion.
As a New Zealander I wanted to say thank for your positive comments about the use of the NZ Wool Indy and more especially the in-depth conversation on the use of woollen clothing for outdoor activities. The analysis of why wool works so well in harsh conditions was spot on.
Wool is a great sustainable natural fibre. Here in New Zealand we grow some of the finest Marino fibre in the world it is in high demand for use in performance outdoor clothing and other high quality garments.
Thanks again for a well executed and informative conversation. It helped to pass an hour on my long drive home from fishing the other day.
Please keep up the good work. Best wishes for the festive season.
Dom,
Great podcast. From my very early use of your standard Mono-Rig I realized I needed the bobber to round out my technique, particularly on larger rivers. We very quickly started applying the Mono-Rig to our steelheading in Northern California and it was incredibly productive, but again the bobber was a must on the big water to be able to fish all seams; tightline up the inside and bob down the outside. We often utilize as you and the fellas mention, an oversized hard bobber and heavy flies to get a longer cast. Often having zero room for a backcast we do a technique we call the “Euro-bomb.” The trick is to carefully coil the mono in your non-casting hand as to keep it off the water pre-cast. The drag caused by the mono on the water will kill the bomb. The first coils are large and may even dip in the water, then the subsequent coils are smaller and smaller and held carefully in the hand as to separate the coils. It takes practice, and doesn’t always work, but when it does a flung-cast bombs the bobber and flies a huge distance… to where the fish are and the wading is impossible.
Cheers, Brett