Is it possible to fish a dry fly (just one fly) with a euro/mono rig?

[PaScoGi]

Was nymphing this morning with my mono rig - 20 lb butt section & 12 lb sighter. was catching fish on perdigons then noticed caddis hatching. i know i can fish an emerger with a mono rig (just move fly up higher in the tippet section), but is there any way to cast a dry fly with this rig? Sometimes i just want to float a dry, even if nymphing is more effective. something about watching that dry fly float down is awesome. anyway, i had to take off my mono rig & put on a standard dry leader with my floating line. worked great but it took a few minutes to change.

does anyone just keep their euro/mono rig at all times, even with dry fly fishing? if so, can you explain how you do it?

thanks for any help.

 

[Swattie87]

Yes, but less than ideal clearly. I solve this issue by not using a mono rig. 😜

When I’m nymphing, I do use a longer leader typically than dry fly fishing, but not that much longer. Is it as effective as a mono rig for straight nymphing, no. Is it more versatile than a mono rig for anything else you might try to do on the water, yes. Easy enough to just cut the nymphs off and put on a dry. I’ll leave the nymphs rigged on my drying patch for a while in case the dry doesn’t pan out. Can just reattach the nymph rig and get back to what you were doing before, in essentially the same amount of time it takes to make a single fly change.

There’s pros and cons to each set up, and no one solution cure all. (Or else we’d all be using that!) I’m sure you’ll get a variety of responses here, which should solidify that there’s no one right and obvious solution. Experiment around and figure out what gives you the best balance, for you. For me, I don’t want to have to carry an extra rod, reel, or spool, so that led me to prioritize versatility in my leader setup over rigs that may be more effective in one specific area, but a detriment in others.

 

[Bamboozle]

I cast dry flies all the time on my Tenkara rods using level lines, sometimes 20+ feet long but I use fluorocarbon exclusively because it is denser and as a result casts (yea, casts) MUCH better. In addition my level lines are around .013 - .014 and not as thick as the standard 25lb mono used by mono rig advocates.

I don't do the mono rig thing on my regular fly rods per see, but if I did it would definitely be a "fluoro rig" thing for that reason.

 

[afishinado]

Was nymphing this morning with my mono rig - 20 lb butt section & 12 lb sighter. was catching fish on perdigons then noticed caddis hatching. i know i can fish an emerger with a mono rig (just move fly up higher in the tippet section), but is there any way to cast a dry fly with this rig? Sometimes i just want to float a dry, even if nymphing is more effective. something about watching that dry fly float down is awesome. anyway, i had to take off my mono rig & put on a standard dry leader with my floating line. worked great but it took a few minutes to change.

does anyone just keep their euro/mono rig at all times, even with dry fly fishing? if so, can you explain how you do it?

thanks for any help.

You can cast a dry with a 20lb mono rig with some practice to get your stroke down. At some point a really large wind resistant dry fly will limit your ability to cast with a mono rig. To cast that bigger dry you can switch to a dry dropper rig with a small nymph to add a little weight.

The idea is to cast only far enough to allow you to hold your entire leader off the water and drift the dry drag free, like twenty five to thirty feet max. When dry fly fishing at greater distances, changing back to using your fly line and tapered leader is best. It only takes a couple of minutes to change over.

I recommend you read the articles and/or podcasts on the Troutbitten site for some great details on fishing mono rigs. HTH

 

[Nocktavius]

Carry a dry fly leader with you, swap out the knot. Back in business in <2 min with some practice

 

[Steelhead_JESUS]

 

[PaScoGi]

Thanks all much appreciated!