Mono rigging

[spiralspey 0]

I don't think they're making the rules, but guys see that tournament guys are tight lining and catching lots of fish and they want to catch lots of fish too, so they're interested. The specialized rods aren't a bad deal for the manufacturers either, they like to see guys buy another rod. The trout spey/switch thing seems to be losing ground because of new SH spey lines and the perception that spey casting is difficult to learn, but tight line/euro nymphing, what could be easier than that?

[goofnoff 0]

it almost seems like tournament fishing is making the rules for everyone else..the power of group think, maybe?

If there is anything I don't think fly fishermen are infected by it's group think. However, when you try a number of methods against each other, under relatively controlled conditions, and one method continuously produces more and bigger fish, you'll get some interest.

 

The key is are you having fun. I'll bet a lot of guys here experiment with new patterns even though they know they could catch a lot of trout with their old standbys.

[SilverCreek 0]

it almost seems like tournament fishing is making the rules for everyone else..the power of group think, maybe?

 

No, no, no.

 

The rules in world tournaments is stricter than fly fishing laws in the USA.

 

In tournaments, you CANNOT add any weight to your leader. No non toxic shot or moldable tungsten putty. In the USA, you can add weight to the leader..

 

In tournaments, you cannot use strike indicators like thingamabobbers or yarn indicators. There is nothing that can be added to the leader. So all "indicators" or sighters as they are called in tournaments are brightly colored mono that is a part of the leader. Most nymphing in the USA is by using floats.

 

In tournaments, the leader can not be any longer than 2 X the rod length. In the USA, leaders can be of any length.

 

Because of the restrictions of tournaments, the bead head nymph was invented by tournament fly fishers. Because of tournaments, rods longer than 10 feet and of of low line wt were invented. Because of tournaments, slim nymphs without dubbing were invented to get flies to sink fast.

 

If you fish with bead head nymphs or a long low wt rod, you owe that to tournament fly fishers. In the USA you can fish using methods you cannot use in tournaments so how can they be making the rules for you or me?

[Poopdeck 0]

I think the industrial revolution was responsible for upgrades to tying materials. A quick google search shows beads have been in use in fly fishing for a hundred years. I think it's a stretch to claim we can thank tournaments for beads.

 

I also see no difference in using lead At the end or the middle of the leader. Same with sighters, I see no difference between brightly colored line and yarn. In fact everything you attribute to tournaments is questionable at best.

 

I do agree that tournaments are not making the rules for fly fishermen. They are making the rules for other methods to satisfy the rules of tournaments regardless if it's fly fishing or fly spinning. personally I think this is great, The more methods the better. I can't understand the need for shoehorning the method into another method for the sake of winning the grandmaster flyfishermen world belt.

[ben bell 0]

Silver C..i guess what i,m trying to say is that tournament fishing has too much influence on the way we fish..i,ve seen it happen in bass fishing and it stinks now it,s happening in fly fishing..so get ready to hold your nose..as my old fishing buddy used to say, "it,s all about separating fools from their money"

[SilverCreek 0]

Ben,

 

I see what you mean. But allow me to say that magazines and bloggers need and must write about new methods and gear. BUT that does not mean that you or I need to incorporate those methods. There is no mandate that we all fish the same way. I am interested in reading and learning about new methods but that does not mean everyone does or even cares as you can tell from the variety of posts on this thread.

 

For me, nothing beats casting dries or emergers to surface feeding fish.

 

It would get pretty boring on this forum if we mostly posted about where to buy material and what vise to buy.

[mikechell 0]

We should all be as glad of tournament fishing as automotive and motorcycle buyers are of racing.

It's in the race circuits that manufacturers test the concepts we eventually enjoy on our vehicles.

It's on the tournament trails that methods, lures and patterns are perfected.

Obviously, there are innovations regardless of tournaments ... but competition always advances the sciences faster than any other inspiration.

[mikechell 0]

By segregating ourselves into fly vs spin vs ??? we are only aiding and abetting the interests who seek to profit from degrading our environment

What? I don't get this comment at all. How does maintaining specialized fishing methods help degrade the environment? A kid casting a bubble and fly with spinning gear is spin fishing, not fly fishing. I hope he catches some fish, but it's not fly fishing.

How does that attitude contribute to pollution or environmental destruction?

 

It's not that any of us denigrate other forms of fishing ... just quit trying to merge them with fly fishing. Or, as Poopdeck put it, "I can't understand the need for shoehorning one method into another method ... "

[goofnoff 0]

 

By segregating ourselves into fly vs spin vs ??? we are only aiding and abetting the interests who seek to profit from degrading our environment

What? I don't get this comment at all. How does maintaining specialized fishing methods help degrade the environment? A kid casting a bubble and fly with spinning gear is spin fishing, not fly fishing. I hope he catches some fish, but it's not fly fishing.

How does that attitude contribute to pollution or environmental destruction?

 

It's not that any of us denigrate other forms of fishing ... just quit trying to merge them with fly fishing. Or, as Poopdeck put it, "I can't understand the need for shoehorning one method into another method ... "

 

When TU started it was about preserving trout habitat for all trout fisherman, bait,spin, whatever. They drove the bait and spin fishermen out of TU. The poster was making the point that the more trout fisherman we have loving the rivers the more political pressure there will be to preserve the water. Without the water none of us will have any fishing except you rich guys who can afford Patagonia and New Zealand or private Western water.

 

When I was a kid there were forty name trout streams in Onondaga County that supported trout populations. You get that when you live in a place where you get over 120 inches of snow in the winter and plenty of rain the rest of the year. Most of that is gone now to urban sprawl and over intensive agriculture. Sediment is hell on trout streams.

 

Most serious fly fisherman in now make the long drive to the Catskills to fish.

 

I think we should save further political discussions for another board. Seriously.

[vicente 0]

taking care off nature is something we should all do there's no reason to trash it more then necessary it pisses me off seeing garbage left everywhere. Let's be real here I don't really bait fish I did it boring, I do spin fish though, so this isn't some bash on all the people whip fish other methods, I feel it is very safe to say that percentage wise, conservation and caring for the fish and the environment in general is far higher among those who fly fish them this who don't. In at least my area this is in part do to foreigners who cone from places who's only concern is getting what you want from it in that moment with no thought of preservation.

 

On the mono rigging being just an ugly child of fly fishing and spin fishing and hand lining I agree and I fail to see the point as does from what I can see basically everyone who posted not because we're elitist but because we would rather just pick up a spinning rod, then pretend we're fly fishing when a spinning rod or just stick a spinning reel on my fly rod will work better.

[Prybis 0]

I think the difference is you're still casting a fly line using a 15 foot leader for drys.

 

 

you still cast a fly line when making a 30' cast or longer when using the mono rig. So does it only become fly fishing when cast a fly line? Tenkara is fix line fly fishing using the same type of rig as the mono rig. What makes that fly fishing and not the mono rig?

[Sandan 0]

Clean water and air is all about politics and money and we ignore that fact at our own peril. Gutting the EPA, discarding regulations in the Clean Water Rules, selling and closing public lands, dumping coal slurry into Appalachian streams, etc etc. These are cold hard facts and wont go away because it is distasteful to discuss them. What better place than a forum that revolves around cold clean water.

Isn't there some political forum you could take that to?

[vicente 0]

 

 

I think the difference is you're still casting a fly line using a 15 foot leader for drys.

 

you still cast a fly line when making a 30' cast or longer when using the mono rig. So does it only become fly fishing when cast a fly line? Tenkara is fix line fly fishing using the same type of rig as the mono rig. What makes that fly fishing and not the mono rig?

I agree if you're using a 30 ft leader and actually using the weight of the fly line to cast you are fly fishing, and probably a much better caster then I am, however if your spool is loaded with heavy wet mono and you are over head casting using a weight to carry the fly and line like you would with a spinning rig is it really fly fishing?

[Poopdeck 0]

Jailberts, I'll leave the politics out of this but I'm a proud unabashed bait fishermen, spin fishermen, ice fishermen and a fly fishermen and have posted about such numerous times. I even posted a picture of a 1 oz bucktail jig in the tying bench. Although some flyfishermen are complete egotistical jerks nobody on this site has ever attacked me for being a baitfishermen. In fact I have yet to read a post such as you describe in this thread and I can spot a tweed wearing pompous ass a mile away. We are all just giving opinions on the subject and everybody has a valid opinion.

[mikechell 0]

Apparently the state of cold water fisheries and the environment is something this forum wishes to ignore and pretend is not in peril. When you, your children, and your grandchildren have no clean water to fish remember how naive and complacent you were.

If you're going to start insulting people, then this thread will need to be closed. What you call " ... naive and complacent ... " isn't. We just don't want to talk about it here. This is a place of respite from the battles of daily life.

Please.