** NOTE ** Find the Companion YouTube Video Below

Last week, I published a detailed breakdown of tightline dry dropper styles on a Mono Rig. It’s a thorough, lengthy look at a fun and effective tactic that I use frequently. The information is in both article and video form, and throughout the material I made the distinction between a competition approach vs one for the rest of us.

Inherent in modern nymphing styles is the baggage of competition fly fishing, and the term Euro nymphing has become synonymous with tight line tactics. It’s all intertwined, and that’s unfortunate, because there’s more available to every angler without the biased limitations of competition rules. (That’s an honest fact that I’ll detail below.)

Fishing within the constraints of euro nymphing is a fraction of what I do with a Mono Rig on the river. I write and teach about this endlessly, but it’s hard to get the message to stick. No doubt, that’s due to a few misunderstandings and constraints that are rarely acknowledged by other educators.

The Questions

Following the recent article and video on tightline dry dropper, I received another half dozen of the same questions that come in all the time, like this one from @lheftw1376 on YouTube.

“. . . I absolutely love Troutbitten and all of you guys. I have a question about Micro Leaders. With almost every top comp angler using a micro leader these days, how can you guys say that the advantages don’t outweigh the drawbacks?”

So, there are two parts of that question to unravel.

First, why don’t I more often recommend a Micro leader, like almost every other tight line proponent out there? Because, as we’ve all seen, that’s what has happened in the last few years — an entire group of people have followed each other into a narrow tunnel. (I’ll get to what I mean by that in a moment.)

Second is the common assumption that competition fishermen are the top anglers in the world. They must be the best, right? They’re winning competitions. But that’s not necessarily true either.

Photo by Josh Darling

No Better, No Worse

I’m not here to argue what’s better. I nymph with about five different leaders and seven distinctly different nymphing methods, and I would not argue that any one of them is better. But I would argue that having all of these options at my disposal puts more fish in the net and is a lot more fun than being limited and restricted to a narrower set of options.

The Best Anglers?

Honestly, I’ve shied away from this topic for many years, because it’s been hard to get my full point across without running into roadblocks or hurting somebody’s feelings. The truth is, we as anglers are a stubborn lot. And people have a hard time allowing new information to sink in or even replace their old beliefs — especially when they’re already catching trout.

Competition fly fishing, as the system is set up these days, does not produce the best fly anglers in the world. More accurately, it produces the best FIPS competition fly fishers. Last year, I heard George Daniel make exactly this point on a podcast. Given George’s influence, I was glad to hear his thoughts, and I only wish his words had gotten more traction, because it’s an important message and distinction to understand.

I’ll add that top competitive anglers are the ones who’ve learned to fish within the specialized rule set of what FIPS (the governing body for fly competitions) calls fly fishing. These are skilled anglers who have excelled within that framework. I know some of these guys. They are excellent at what they do, and many are well-rounded fishermen who could catch a trout from a drainage ditch with a paper clip.

But the odd rules and limitations of competition fishing have forced good fly anglers into a strange way of fly fishing that does not naturally carry over, outside of those restrictions. Meaning, there are better tools and tactics once the rules are dropped. (And there might be more fun, too.)

Also, there’s no money in competition fly fishing, especially in the United States. And I’d guess that less than one percent of fly fishers even know what fly fishing competitions are, let alone spend significant money to enter them.

So does this system really attract the best anglers? And does it produce the best ideas? Not necessarily.

Here’s the video, and the article continues below  . . .

(Please choose 4K or 2K for best resolution.)

Who Cares?

None of this would matter if the specialized comp stuff stayed in the comp scene. Instead, the set of tactics and the gear has migrated over to the mainstream, for better or worse.

Publishers and editors in our industry have routinely featured the voices of competitive anglers who are good at sharing and describing the methods that win them competitions. But what hasn’t come along often enough is a notice to the general public that many of these specialized tactics are the result of a hefty set of FIPS rules.

I’m often told that the competition rules have been beneficial, helping anglers innovate and find new techniques. And part of that is true. New gear, and novel rigging has been introduced to meet the restrictions. But that doesn’t mean they’re better.

Instead, imagine If FIPS rules specifically banned weight in the flies, yet everything else was legal. There’s no doubt that drop shot would be the standout nymphing method for comp anglers, and proponents would argue that nothing is better.

Why Not Micro All the Time?

As I was writing this article, another of the same questions dropped into my email.

“Why have almost all the top competitive anglers gone to a Micro-Thin leader, but you haven’t?”

The answer is simple:

Since I don’t have to follow FIPS competition rules, I can attach other things to the leader, like split shot or indicators. I can use a leader as long as I like, and I can build it however I choose. I can attach flies with any design and tie them onto the leader in whatever manner seems best for the moment. All of those options leave me with a much wider set of solutions than just Euro nymphing.

I fish upstream with a tuck cast. At twenty-two feet, I can fish a single #16 with no consequential leader sag. Within that range, my Standard Troutbitten Mono Rig allows for a pure presentation without drag, just like a Micro-Thin leader. Yet, I still have all the versatility in presentation and style that the Standard leader provides. When I fish with that #16 beadhead past about twenty-four feet, I can easily add a small yarn indicator or Thingamabobber. I can float the sighter, or I can simply add a #4 split shot five inches above the #16 nymph, therefore counteracting the sag, and drifting with precision once again.

In short, I have more ways to approach things because I’m not under the constraints of competition rules. And some of those ways are better solutions that simply catch more trout.

Why Call it the Troutbitten Mono Rig?

Just a few years ago, nearly everyone who talked about tight line rigs was fishing something close in design to a Standard Mono Rig. You can confirm this by reading the excellent nymphing books from George Daniel, Devin Olsen, Jonathan White, David Martin, Karel Krivanec and others. Watch the videos too. While precise tapers and materials varied, the butt sections of most leader formulas in these resources were powerful enough to carry the flies to the target (although no one seemed to mention this benefit).

Then, when competition anglers moved to the thinnest leaders, everyone followed.

Recently, I’ve realized that the modern nymphing scene has moved so far away from what I first called a Mono Rig, in a 2014 Troutbitten article, that it’s become necessary for me to make some distinctions.

I refer to the Troutbitten Mono Rig as a hybrid system that incorporates all fly styles (nymphs, dries, wets and streamers) and multiple leader types (including Thin and Micro Thin) into a full set of tactics centered around all that is possible with the tight line advantage. Likewise, the Standard Mono Rig, compared to the currently popular Micro Thin leader, is as different in its abilities as a seven weight fly line is to a two weight. They are both great options but very different tools.

To be clear, I take no ownership of these ideas, and I never have. A couple decades ago, I simply put all of my favorite fish-catching methods together into a system that worked well for me. Turns out, it has worked for many other anglers too, and I’ve always thought that their attraction was the same as my own — it’s just a fun way to fish.

Those Damned Rules

Most anglers are not aware of the severe limitations imposed by the FIPS organization. But those rules have led popular nymphing tactics into an odd, hyper-specialized form that integrates the tight line advantage while also remaining comp legal.

Here’s what Euro nymphing has become: Micro leaders with super-thin diameter, the skinniest tippets, oversized beads on small hooks to maximize drop rate and get the smallest flies down, and frequent use of water haul casts to get these light rigs out there.

See what I mean? Objectively, that’s a peculiar way to fly fish.

Those specializations are a direct response to the comp rules, which I covered in a three part Troutbitten series, What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules.

The Rules

Rule #1: Nothing attached to the leader but the flies themselves.

That means no split shot or drop shot. Instead, all of the weight necessary for fishing subsurface must be in the flies themselves. That changes EVERYTHING about fly design and presentation styles.

It also means no indicator of any kind. No yarn, no bobber, no foam tabs, no Backing Barrel, all of which I use on a regular basis as part of the Troutbitten Mono Rig system to extend the tight line advantage further and fish effectively in challenging weather and water conditions.

READ: Troutbitten | What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules, Part One

Rule #2: Leaders must be no longer than two times the length of the rod.

Before this rule, most comp anglers nymphed with a long Mono Rig. After this rule, fly line companies began producing competition fly lines, getting as close as possible to a Mono Rig while still meeting the FIPS rules.

This rule is why we find so many Euro nymphing leader formulas ending at eighteen to twenty feet.

Competition fly lines add drag when out of the guides, and when they’re inside the rod guides, the line to leader transition is always something to deal with. No matter how clean the connection, the comp rules force an angler to handle and deal with two very different things — a fly line and a mono leader. I prefer a clean, uninterrupted butt section in the guides and in my hands. The casting is better, and I have a better feel for the drift.

READ: Troutbitten | What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules, Part Two – Leader Restrictions

Rule #3 Flies must be attached to the line and at least twenty inches apart.

This prohibits any tractor-trailer style rigging, and it eliminates the bait and switch method. Also in fast or complex water, flies twenty inches apart can be difficult to keep in one lane. This is a big reason why we’ve seen the push to fish one nymph only.

READ: Troutbitten | What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules, Part Three

It All Makes Sense

Given the limitations of these rules, good anglers have repeatedly come to the same solutions of ultralight nymphing, with the lightest leaders and tippets often paired with light nymphs.

It all makes perfect sense . . . for the competition angler. But what about the rest of us?

Nearly every competition nymphing “refinement” through the years can be drawn back to one of these rules. And I’d argue that most of these are not refinements at all. While they are logical efforts to deal with the handicaps of an odd set of strict rules, they come with unnecessary and unwanted handicaps for most anglers.

What’s wrong with a Micro leader?

Nothing is wrong with the thinnest leaders. They’ve gained a permanent place in my pack, and I enjoy their advantages. But rarely are they my workhorse, because I don’t like trying to force a specialized tool to do a job that it doesn’t LIKE to do.

For fishing indicators, heavier nymphs and most streamers, for floating the sighter, drop shotting, fishing in the wind or fishing dry dropper, I much prefer the advantages of a thicker leader because it can help push itself, the flies or an indy to the target. This ability makes the Standard Mono Rig a true hybrid system. It’s a tight line leader that retains the unique advantage of fly fishing — that ability to decide where both the fly goes AND where the rest of the leader goes.

A Micro leader lacks that quality, so it’s truly as far down the line, away from traditional fly fishing, that we can go. That’s fine with me, but it’s never as much fun — not because it’s ineffective (certainly not) but because casting options are limited and creative possibilities are slim.

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Fish and Film – Standard vs Micro

What’s wrong with putting all the weight in the flies?

I probably fish more beadhead flies than unweighted ones. I love the simplicity and the look of a good beadhead, and trout often prefer them. But when the tungsten bead isn’t enough to get my fly down, I’d rather add a small split shot than over-bead the fly.

And when trout are shying away from beadheads and the way they drift, I choose split shot and unweighted flies.

ARTICLE/VIDEO: Troutbitten | Split Shot vs Weighted Flies

What’s wrong with never using an indicator?

An indicator on a Mono Rig is an elegant system in the hands of a skilled caster — one who thinks about placing the flies upstream of the indy and in the same lane. Then, by keeping all the line off the water, the indy drifts true and holds its lane, taking the tight line advantage far beyond the possible range without an indicator.

With no option to add an indicator or weight, comp anglers are forced to take a pure tight line approach into distances that are not a natural fit for the tight line advantage. So at longer range, leaders and tippets must become thinner to compensate for the inherent drag — if you don’t add an indicator.

READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line Nymphing With and Indicator – A Mono Rig Variant

Why Don’t You Compete?

I field this question a lot too.

Regarding competition fishing, it’s not for me. Competition is the last thing I want to bring into my experience of trout fishing.

I’m obsessive about the details, I pursue the refinement of tactics, and I care greatly about catching the next fish, because a trout at the end of the line is the only true confirmation that I’m on the right track.

I enjoy improving my own game. But I have no interest in comparing that to others through competition. It would ruin what I enjoy most about being part of the woods and the water.

Why has everyone in nymphing moved in the same direction?

Very few anglers get the kind of fishing time necessary to truly test things for themselves. So too, we’re all looking for the next big idea and we’re naturally enamored with something different — especially if it catches trout. And that’s the thing about ultralight nymphing — it works! It’s a great way to catch trout. And the ability to hold a few more feet of line off the water — to extend that tight line advantage — is remarkable, especially when you first see it. Likewise, the extra feel with thinner leaders is addicting.

The mass migration to gear and tactics happens in every sport, and then it often returns closer to the center. I think that kind of shift starts with a fear of missing out (along with the misunderstandings about competition fishing).

I’ve spent the last three years testing and going down the rabbit hole of Micro leaders, with the skinniest tippets and lightest flies to match. Thin-to-win sounded great, and it made some sense, so I tested exhaustively. But the truth is, in all these years of A/B testing, I’ve found just a handful of times where going ultralight made an undeniable difference. And just as many times, I saw the opposite to be true.

Knowing your system, and fishing within its strengths and weaknesses is what catches trout. For me, versatility wins more often than specialization. Instead of going all in with the ultralight concept, I keep it as part of a complete set of nymphing tactics that meet a specific moment. And then, for so many other situations, another method is the better choice.

What Do You Think?

In the comments section below, I’d love to hear your thoughts — not so much about what tactics work better, but if you’re a competition angler, what am I missing here? What do I have wrong? And if you’re an educator who teaches Euro nymphing, what’s your approach? Is it the only way or one of many? Is it Micro all the time or a mix of things? Lastly, is teaching a beginning fly angler ultralight nymphing as their first tactic a good idea?

So I’d love to hear your thoughts. Again, it’s not this vs that. It’s this AND that.

Fish hard, friends.

** Donate ** If you enjoy this article and video, please consider a donation. Your support is what keeps this Troutbitten project funded. Scroll below to find the Donate Button. And thank you.

Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com