Articles With the Tag . . . the Mono Rig

Many of these nine essential skills happen within the first couple seconds of the presentation — often less. And immediately after we stick the landing on the sighter (putting it in the perfect angle and height) we must begin recovering slack, to gain control of the system and keep it.

In this video, we highlight three different ways to recover slack and talk about why combining all of them is so important.

Part of what distinguishes fly fishing from other styles of fishing is retrieving line by hand. But then we need to get the line back out there. When should we shoot the line back through the rod guides? No one ever seems to talk about these options. But there are four of them.

We can shoot line on the pickup, on the backcast, on the forward cast and on the forward cast following the power stroke . . .

Sticking the landing is about putting the sighter in the perfect position for a great drift. The fly hits, tippet enters, and the sighter sets up in the air at an angle. Sticking the landing puts us in immediate control and it enhances strike detection.

Tight line drifts are short, so the entry of the fly must be efficient. Line on the water takes away our control, so everything drags. But sticking the landing maximizes our control from the beginning and sets up an efficient and effective drift of the nymph.

The tuck cast is at the heart of a good tight line nymphing presentation. It’s the result of good turnover in the air. It’s a simple fly-first entry. The tucks cast is not a specialized cast; it’s a one-hundred percent cast. Every time, all the time, this is how we cast a Mono Rig. No lobbing. Real casting, with control and accuracy that sets up a great drift.