** NOTE ** Find the YouTube Video Below
I use one fly rod for everything. It doesn’t matter if I’m fishing dry flies, nymphs, wet flies or streamers, the rod I leave the truck with is the rod I’m using all day.
That might sound like I need to make compromises for this work, but I do not. And in this video I share how to take one fly rod, one reel with one spool, and fish any type of fly by simply changing leaders.
There’s more to it than the leaders, of course, and I cover a lot about rod choice and casting nuances too.
So if you’re locked into the mindset that you need a bunch of fly rods to fish different tactics and flies, think again. I promise, there’s an easy, efficient, effective way to use one rod for everything.
Resources
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
ARTICLE/VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Best Fly Rods for the Mono Rig
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Lightning Fast Leader Changes
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Splitting the Fly Rod
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Dry Fly Leader — Design, Adjustment and Fishing Tips
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Lagging Curve Cast — Dead Drifts for Days
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Dry Fly Fishing – The George Harvey Leader Design
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Fish and Film – Fishing Fall Streamers
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Loop to Loop is Bad — Try Attaching Your Leader This Way
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Full Pint Streamer
Here’s the video . . .
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
What is your 10′ 4 wt? I don’t see it linked anywhere….
It’s in the video description. It’s actually 9’9″ Hardly Ultralite LL, or the Hardy Marksman. Cheers.
This video/article was great! I love just using one rod to do just about anything on the stream. Not sure it was covered, but do you have wf line in the reel before your leaders?
Thanks. And yes, you need a fly on there!! If you’re thinking about the Mono Rig, it’s just a leader, longer than most, but just a leader. Change it out like any other leader. And you can’t get anything done with dry flies without a real fly line on there. Make sense?
Gotcha. With my current mono rig set up on my euro rod (t&t contact 2, 10’9” 3wt) I have the orvis euro fly line to fill the spool and then at 30 ft mono leader attached to that (maxima butt section like one of your leaders). I was asking instead of having either the orvis euro line (which casted dry flies in before -it ok) or a full spool of mono, you have wf on there and just switch leaders from that line. Do I have that right? Thanks and love your content!
Got it. Yes, regular fly line, because Euro lines are useless unless you’re forced into competition rules. Cheers.
Morning Dom,
I have noticed that several influential fly fishermen are changing their leader formulas.
Have you changed or updated for mono rig formula?
In your opinion, why are these influential fly fishermen changing their formulas?
Hi Michael,
I can’t speak for other anglers, but I can speak to your perception and for myself.
MANY anglers follow comp scene trends without even knowing that they’re doing it or having any idea why. The comp scene has moved in the micro leader direction to solve problems that the FIPS rules create. I did a full article/video on this reality, and you can find it here:
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Straight Talk About Competition Nymphing
Also, every industry has trends, and it’s human nature to follow them. I think that’s all you’re seeing, honestly. And in fishing, almost no one gets the kind of time they need to test things thoroughly, and they also don’t want to be left behind. I think if you talked to whom you are calling influential anglers, you’d find that many of them still fish multiple leader setups. I do the same. I Fish a Standard Mono Rig the most, but I’ve fished a Thin and Micro Thin leader for a very long time. I’ve written about that here a lot, and shown it in videos. I few years ago, I started fishing what I call a Crossover leader. Inspired by the thinner leaders and wanting to solve some problems, the Crossover has found a real home in my pack.
READ: Troutbitten | The HV Thin Crossover Leader
Make sense?
Dom
Hello,
Me again.
Do you ever use a store bought leader, i.e. Rio Leader? Or you always use a mono rig?
Those are two different question and not mutually exclusive. I very rarely use store bought leaders anymore. I used to. But I came to realize that I can build a leader for my own purposes and the way I cast far better than just picking something off the shelf that is designed to suit every angler.
Second part: I use many leaders other than Mono Rig.
Harvey Dry Leader, Small Stream Leader and an Indicator leader to name a few. Dig in deep here, and you’ll find a BUNCH of stuff unrelated to the Mono Rig. Search page!
Cheers.
Dom