Rigging

Do yourself a favor and cut off the loops that come on both your flyline and your leader. Tie a piece of Amnesia to your flyline using a Needle Nail Knot. Tie the other end of the Amnesia to a micro swivel with a 3-turn Clinch Knot. Whenever you want to change your leader just cut off the old one and tie the new one to the other side of the micro swivel with another 3-turn Clinch Knot. And then say goodbye to getting those huge Perfection Loops that come on you leader caught in your rod guides.

I like to start with a versatile graphite rod so that I can adjust my approach quickly and easily from tight line nymphing to streamers to dries the moment the conditions call for a change. Glass, bamboo or Euro Nymphing rods are specialty pieces of equipment meant for specific situations and for have no place in my collection. This is because I’m not a “Dry Fly” angler or a “Streamer Junkie” or a “Euro Nympher” I’m a trout fisherman who likes catching as many trout as I can in various conditions all year long. For me, that means a rod that is plenty long- at least 9 feet or longer, with as much power as I can get- meaning flex closer to the tip, but with as much sensitivity in that tip as possible. My rods are usually paired with a floating 4 or 5 weight line, but the heavy winds and big flies I often deal with makes me lean towards the 5 weight more often. With that said, I often stay away from weight forward lines because they are less versatile, not as delicate, sag more when high sticking, drag more when drifting, and don’t last as long as a traditional double taper line.

Next, I cut off the welded loops that fly line manufacturers only include for anglers that don’t want to learn knots. Then I tie on a 6 to 12 inch section of 25lbs. red Sunset Amnesia nylon (monofilament) connected to the fly line with a Needle Nail Knot and on the other end to a 7.5mm micro swivel with a simple Clinch Knot. The other side of the micro swivel gets the butt section a 7.5 foot 3x tapered nylon leader connected with another Clinch Knot. The 3x tip of the leader is connected either to a 2mm tippet ring with yet another Clinch Knot or directly to a single section of level (non-tapered) tippet with a Blood Knot.

If I’m using a dry fly, that section of tippet is always nylon, usually 18 inches in length and its diameter is matched only to the size of the fly and not to how difficult I think the fish are to catch. I believe fish are rarely turned off when they see tippet, rather they are turned off when a fly is not presented accurately or drifted naturally. Using tippet that is too small won’t help with an accurate cast and too large will drag. I prefer 5x for size 18 and smaller, size 4x for 14-18, 3x for 10-14 and so on. I tie on the fly using a Davy Knot not a Clinch Knot. Davy Knots are faster to tie, have a very small or non-existent tag end and have a very small profile on the hook eye. If I’m using a subsurface fly as a dropper, I tie another single piece of tippet to the eye of the dry fly using another Davy Knot. The length of that tippet is determined by how deep I want the dropper to sink, and the diameter is again matched to the size of the fly. The main differences are that I always use fluorocarbon and I sometimes go with a slightly smaller diameter for subsurface flies so that they sink a little faster due to the decreased drag on the thinner line. The subsurface fly is connected with another Davy knot.

If I’m only using nymphs, I put a single piece of fluorocarbon tippet onto my tapered leader to a heavy fly (often referred to as an “anchor” or “point” fly). using a Mono Loop Knot to the eye of the hook. The length of that tippet is at least 1.5 times what I estimate is the average depth of the water I’m fishing. I then tie an 18 inch piece of fluorocarbon tippet to the eye of the hook of the heavier fly using another Mono Loop Knot and a Davy Knot to the second usually lighter fly. The Mono Loop Knots on the first fly allow it to move freely in the water similarly to tying it to a tag. I will either use a yarn indicator, like a New Zealand type, or I will tie on a piece of blaze orange Dacron Backing using a Uni Knot with the tag left long to the tippet below my initial leader-tippet connection and use it like a Euro Nymphing sighter that is adjustable.

I prefer a simple piece of Dacron backing to a monofilament sighter. They are adjustable, quick and easy to tie onto your leader, and may even be more visible. If you’ve ever left the tags long on your monofilament sighters, you’ll love how supple Dacron is and therefore virtually tangle free.

If I’m casting streamers, I forgo the entire tapered leader for a 3 foot section of 0x nylon tippet connected by Blood Knot to a 3 foot section of 1x level fluorocarbon tippet attached to a fly with a Davy Knot. Tapered leaders are designed to dissipate your cast’s energy and slow down the fly before it enters the water which is the opposite of what I want when casting a streamer. Using a short leader without really any taper will help me deliver my big heavy fly to a distant target with power and accuracy and helps my flies sink quickly once they hit the water. I use two pieces of connected tippet, so I have a breaking point when I inevitably catch my fly on a snag. That way I only lose my fly and a little tippet instead of potentially more of my rig. This is my setup with almost any size streamer.

This style of rigging may sound complicated, but once you have the rod, line and tapered leader set up you only need to make small adjustments to attach the various flies you may use.