Kenny Klimes

Hey Wily9c

I agree with the Sensei. Many of our guys avoid the “small” flies but shouldn’t. BIG fish eat small flies! Don’t believe me go fish the San Juan River in New Mexico. So don’t be afraid to “experiment” with small flies. Take the time to fish them and perfect your technique fishing them. You will be rewarded!

K

Mike

that sounds awesome! I’m going to have to get down there to fish with you soon!! In Montana now fishing the Gallatin river, Madison and Yellowstone.

I feel that at times I’m patching holes in my bucket every day. Kind of like the three stooges when they are in the boat – they keep putting holes in the bottom thinking that the water will GO OUT one of them. To “patch up” my lowest hole I need to realize I can’t do it myself. I need Him. It’s an every day thing – not just on Sunday for one hour. If that’s all the time you spend “patching up” that lowest hole then the water will eventually empty!

Just saying…..

John,

I am sort of an Eldridge geek. I have been to his four day retreat in the mountains of Colorado several years ago and have read many of his books. Beautiful Outlaw is one of my favorites by far. It is an easy read and a great read! It truly gives the sense of who Jesus was/is and His personality.

After I read it, I said to myself, “Hey, I would have really liked to hang with this guy!!”.  Sometimes, we make Jesus out to be unreachable – you know with a halo over His head at all times – like some of the pictures in churches today. No, I don’t think so. He walked in the mud, sweated, cried, was tired – just like us. Again, I really think I could have hung with this guy back then. That’s why I hang with Him now!!

To answer your question in a nut shell the answer is – keep the “sighter” out of the water while you ESN. Here’s some reasons why.

1. The sighter, if made of different material or is a thicker diameter than your tippet being used, will not drift correctly underwater (too thick of a diameter could slow the sink rate of the flies or slow the drift).

2. The sighter should always be out of the water so I would extend the tippet if going to fish in a deeper hole. In other words can’t be lazy – add more tippet and hold your sighter a little higher in the water.

3. Your tippet below the sighter should be the smallest you can get away with – one of our guys was shown how to do it with the tutelage of Jason Randall and caught a 21 inch brown on 7X tippet. It can be done!

4. Some of the latest techniques are using a paint contained in a Sharpie like pen to mark the tippet. So the entire leader is tippet with fluorescent paint used as the sighter

5. We just finished our advanced nymphing class – our next class will be ESN techniques. Watch for it

1. Washing your waders after a few trips is important to keep the “breathable” pores open and functioning properly.
2. I use a tub with Dawn soap. Swish waders up and down to clean. Not inside out. The dirt is on the outside.
3. once a year in the washing machine on gentle cycle with light amount detergent (oxyclean) is ok. Take out wet and then use ReVivex spray to re-enhance the water proof material. Then after spraying with ReVivex put in dryer on lowest setting just until the waders are dry (keep checking) do not get them hot.
4. then you’re ready to go!

Dave,

You might have read this already but I found this on the tacticalflyfisher.com site – Devon Olsen and Lance Egan site. They know their EURO!

I (Devin) was fortunate to fish prototypes of the longer rods during Joe’s development process and have fished the 10′ models as soon as they were available from the factory. Below is a quick rundown of my experiences with each model.

10′ 10″ 3 weight: This rod is very stiff/powerful overall but has just enough softness in the tip to protect tippet. Given it’s length, it provides very good reach and allows you to stay further from the fish. I like this rod a lot for floating the sighter methods where tuck casting is paramount. It is also excellent at fishing heavier nymphs and streamers. It does have swing weight that feels like most 11′ 3 weights so I suggest pairing it with a reel that is at 5.5-6.5 oz to provide balance in the cork. When I fished it with a lighter reel, I found it more difficult to make quick casts and hooksets and to hold the rod extended. With the heavier reel, it fishes much more comfortably.

10′ 10″ 2 weight: This rod very good for fishing micro leaders on wider rivers where reach is important but loading a cast with light nymphs is still necessary. It has plenty of power to fight large fish. So far, I have landed a carp of around 7-8 pounds and a rainbow that I taped at 25″ on this rod. The cushion in the tip allowed me to handle both of them on 6x tippet without much trouble. It is a very good all around nymphing rod as long as aggressive casts are not mandatory. The soft tip does recover slower than the 3 weight, and the shorter 2 weight, so I find I need to wait longer for the rod to unload on my back cast to maintain accuracy. This characteristic means that this rod also performs best in calmer conditions as it is difficult to punch accurate casts into the wind or to tuck cast with authority. Given its length, it performs better when paired with a reel in the 5.5-6 oz range for balance, but it does have a bit less swing weight than the 10′ 10″ 3 weight.

10′ 2 weight: For smaller rivers, this is a very good choice as an all around nymphing rod. It has more power than most other 2 weight Euro nymphing rods I’ve fished, and quick recovery, so it is possible to land large fish and accurately cast into tight quarters. I have enjoyed using this rod for floated sighter methods and dry/droppers on a Euro nymph leader on the smaller waters I frequent. It tuck casts well and is very light in the hand. With its shorter blank and light overall weight, a reel between 4.2 and 5 oz is sufficient for balance.

10′ 1 weight: This rod is a ton of fun for small water. I compared it to a couple of 10′ 1 weights that other friends have, and it has a lot more power in the lower end of the rod but still has a lot of cushion in the upper half of the rod. It protects light tippet very well and makes smaller fish a lot of fun on the line. It loads really well with lighter nymphs and propels them without a lot of effort. It does lack hook setting authority compared to the stiffer and longer models so it is not a great choice if you fish a lot of larger heavier wire nymphs and streamers. Similar to the 10′ 2 weight, it doesn’t need a lot of weight to balance it and a reel over 4 oz will probably do the job.

ESN rods – I am sure that the Echo Shadow is a fine ESN rod. I have had several now and have traded them out. I had the Redington and Moonshine but now own the TFO Stealth rod.

I like the TFO – good balance and light weight. My moonshine seemed to be “handle heavy”. The balance is important because you will be fishing with your shoulder extended most of the time. I recommend if you are buying it only for ESN to get a 10″6″ rod length. If you may think about changing out back to dry fly fishing or swinging small flies, I would think about a 10′ rod. My rod is TFO 10’6″ ESN rod. I only use it for ESN.