Jim Craig

I love it when I tie as small soft hackle and DON’T crowd the eye!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Jim Craig.

Bob, That was such a great idea, all my boxes are now labeled.

JRC

Dave,
Congratulations!

I am glad to offer my 2¢.  I don’t have a lot (or any) rod construction experience.  But, I have fished hard with two very different Euro rods.  My first was an 11’ 3wt.  I opted for that rod to get the max length.  And, it worked well.  However, although it was a 4-piece rod, the pieces were so long the rod case only fit into my gear bag diagonally, and that was still a stretch.  It was just a pain to pack for trips.  For that reason, I sold it and got a 10’ 2wt.  That has worked well for me.  It fits my gear bag and honestly, I haven’t missed that extra foot.

Another consideration for not going with the longest rod is something called rod recovery.  That describes how quickly the rod tip stops moving after the cast.  It is hard for rod manufactures to minimize this tendency the longer they make these soft-tip rods.  The slower the rod tip recovery, the more difficult it is to start a controlled drift after the cast.  Therefore, I would pick the 10’ 2wt.  By the way, the 2wt has plenty of backbone to handle big trout.

Sorry, I can’t offer any personal experience with the grip or thread wrap options.  However, I do know that with a Euro rod, you want the down-locking reel seats to position the reel close to the butt-end of the rod to help counter-balance these long rods.

Here’s 2 more cents.  Some parts of the Henry’s Fork are conducive to euro nymphing such as the canyon area.  But, a lot of that river is wide, flat and shallow and the fish are spooky.  That requires fishing farther away than usually doable with a Euro rod.  So, be ready to nymph at a distance with your favorite indicator or dry-dropper.  But, the Yellowstone is full of Euro nymphing water.  Try your best to get to Soda Butte creek.  It is great Euro water with chunky cutthroats.

Fins up!

JRC

Awesome.  Thanks for the details.  I think lots of guys on this forum will benefit from this information.

Hey Dave,
I find myself asking the same question as I am tying.  I usually tie/take four or five of the same size of the same fly.  Similar reasons as you.  If it turns out to be a hot fly then 1 or 2 to share (even though guys are usually shy about taking any you offer), a third one to lose on a snag (tree or rock—actually that would be a bit optimistic for me if I fish with it most of the day) a fourth one to break off on a fish and the fifth one to get me to the end of the day.  But, many times I will tie two or three sizes of the same nymph, soft hackle, or emerger to cover different water types I will encounter.  That’s when things get out of hand and I really start jamming flies in my box.  It is a curse.

I am very interested to hear what others do.

Jim Craig

Yes, there are lots of opinions on that question.  So, let me add mine.  I have successfully tightlined fished using reels spooled with the recommended euro line as well as reels spooled with traditional floating fly line.  Since, you will be fishing with a very long leader, your fly line should never leave the reel while you make your drifts, and you will not be using the fly line to cast.  Therefore, I have found it doesn’t matter and I would buy the cheaper choice.

BUT…consider this.  What if you are tightline nymphing and you see fish rising.  Now you want to fish dry flies or soft hackles.  That would be nearly impossible with your tightline rig.  But, if you put traditional fly line on your tightline reel, now all you have to do is replace your tightline leader with a tapered leader.  Voilà.  You are in business. I have done this with my TFO Stealth rod and found it casted those flies remarkably well.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Jim Craig.

I definitely believe so.   When you look closely, you will find most hooks manufactured to be barbless have a longer point that slightly curves up toward the shank of the hook.  In my experience, that design really holds fish on the hook, despite the absence of a barb (assuming you maintain tension during the fight).  Take a close look at something like a Firehole 316 or 317.  I credit the design of those hooks for holding fish on when I am fishing size 18 and 20 zebra midges and Barr’s emergers.  There are times when I have to use my forceps to reverse those hooks back out, and yet there is minimal to no damage to the fish.

When you mash down the barb of a hook, you are left with a short-pointed hook where you have neutralized its primary fish-holding feature.  As a result, you have just reduced your odds of landing that fish.

Sure, you can mash the barb and get away with it.  Many of us have done that.  But, now you are asking that de-barbed hook to do something it wasn’t designed to do.

My 2 cents.

JRC