The Mono Rig

[NewSal]

The "European" nymphing techniques seem to have caught fire here in the states, some swear by them, and some shy away from them.
One of the most interesting aspects of this type of nymphing is the all mono set-up, or the no-fly line set up. For those that don't know, this is nothing more than using a 20'+ leader, and not allowing any fly line to come off of your reel. The principle behind this is that fly line is heavy, and because fly line is heavy it creates drag, or pull on your nymphs, and can cause them to drift towards you, out of the specified seam, due to the pull created by heavy fly line.

I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of the set-up or technique here, but if you don't know about it, and are interested check out Domenick Swentoskys article about it here at his blog "troutbitten":

https://troutbitten.com/2016/02/03/the-mono-rig-and-why-fly-line-sucks/

I have experimented with it, and have found that it truly is beneficial in getting your nymphs to stay in the seam you want them to stay in, as well as keeping a great sense of contact between you and your nymphs. The one drawback for me is the lack of casting ability.
Which brought me to were I am now, I am currently using a 5wt 10' rod, and going by the same principles of using a no-fly line set up, with the goal of reducing weight and pull, I strung up a 2wt fly line. This has given me the opportunity to cast a bit better and more accurately, and still reducing a bit of weight, while keeping the backbone of the rod for fighting fish.
So the questions are:
Has anyone experimented with something similar to this?
What are your opinions on using an all mono set up? Do you consider it fly fishing?
If you have used all mono set ups, what do you think about it, likes dislikes?

 

[ryansheehan]

I use a 10 foot 4 weight for trout almost exclusively, I see big benefits to the long rod. I have used an all mono rig for a while but found myself more successful using about 2 feet of fly line out of the rod tip, so a total of 12 feet. I feel like the advantage I gain in accuracy off sets the weight of the fly line pulling down through the guides and in turn onto the leader. I believe those drag issues can be helped with good positioning in the river as well as using my reach, I'm 6'4". My fly line never hits the water and my target allows my rod tip to stay over the flies, in theory of course.I've read his blog for a while now and it definitely gets me thinking. There are so many things that can cause degrees of drag unnoticeable to us when nymphing. All mono wasn't for me but definitely a tool that I won't hate on others for using.

 

[CodorusTUTom]

Lately I've been using a Tenkara line on conventional tackle to achieve what you described. I've been using Patagonia's Simple Fly Fishing Line, which is a stiff .027" level line. It's obviously very short compared to a conventional line, but more than adequate for the techniques you're talking about. I back mine with a level shooting line (Rio Powerflex .024") but I imagine any fly line would work just as well. I highly recommend this setup - it has been a game-changer for me this season.

 

[moon1284]

Sometimes I use s short rod with a reel loaded with a couple hundred yards of mono. It's great for throwing little cleos and super vibraxes. In a pinch it will also toss natural egg patterns. Caught my first steelhead on a rig like that. Extremely effective.

 

[pcray1231]

Lol. Going back to the advantages of spinning reels on long noodle rods here. Steelheaders have been doing this since the salmon days. The advantage of fly gear is you don't need as much weight to cast and get it deep, and weight causes drag too. But if using the weight anyway, well, there is no advantage to fly gear.

Centerpinners also benefit from the same, though typically they need the float. Still, untapered leaders does give a better drift with any tackle, no question.

I still use fly lines but I have tended towards flat leaders when pure tight line dredging and trying to get an optimal drift. The fly line stays off the water or nearly so. Just a straight 2x leader for 7 ft or so, then maybe a foot of tippet. It's not so much the thickness of line that's to be avoided. It's the DIFFERENCE in thickness. For all line that touches water, you want as constant a diameter as you can get so that currents don't act differently on different portions of it. But what stays above the water doesn't matter. You still have the advantage of some fly line for casting and thus don't need as much weight. The drawback is that you are limited to high sticking distance. Else you gotta put fly line on water, forcing mends, and no more tight line nymphing.

 

[SteveG]

It's only my opinion, and let's not forget this is the USA and I'm allowed to have one, but no, I don't consider rigs where you have a long (+15-17') leader flyfishing. It's basically jigging, as I have done when I was younger with nymphs, highsticked, with a spin rod.

I could really care less if others do it, and it is an effective way to fish.

Things I dislike about the setup; inability to cast a dry fly or soft hackle, some specialty casts are hard or due to physics outright impossible to execute, limited range you can fish, and requirement for some sketchy wading at times.

I like having more flexibility in my setup, and my personal rig is a heavy butted 9' hand tied leader. It has performed well on every type of water I've fished, under any possible conditions (even Montana wind). With just a few adjustments, I can go from casting a heavy stonefly nymph in a deep run, to gently landing a midge dry fly on flat water, to mending a soft hackle downstream and having it lift right in front of a fish taking emergers.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yeah. At some point, why not just centerpin?

 

[bikerfish]

might as well dunk some worms!!! haha!

 

[notan641]

SteveG wrote:
It's only my opinion, and let's not forget this is the USA and I'm allowed to have one, but no, I don't consider rigs where you have a long (+15-17') leader flyfishing. It's basically jigging, as I have done when I was younger with nymphs, highsticked, with a spin rod.

I could really care less if others do it, and it is an effective way to fish.

Things I dislike about the setup; inability to cast a dry fly or soft hackle, some specialty casts are hard or due to physics outright impossible to execute, limited range you can fish, and requirement for some sketchy wading at times.

I like having more flexibility in my setup, and my personal rig is a heavy butted 9' hand tied leader. It has performed well on every type of water I've fished, under any possible conditions (even Montana wind). With just a few adjustments, I can go from casting a heavy stonefly nymph in a deep run, to gently landing a midge dry fly on flat water, to mending a soft hackle downstream and having it lift right in front of a fish taking emergers.

I have been experimenting with something similar to this leader, for all of the reasons you mention, but find that my heavy fluro butt section sinks my dry flies. What adjustments are you making to the basic leader if you want to cast a dry fly?

 

[afishinado]

Some would argue using a mono rig is actually not FFing, but it does work well for nymphing. But a few things first; with a rule change a few years ago for comp fishing, a 30' + mono leader is not allowed. I believe the rules state it must be no more than 2X the rod length, 20-22' in most cases. Also it not legal for FFing only areas in PA. Who cares, if you are not comp fishing or fishing in a FFO area.

Mono in your guides and in your overhang into the water has less weight, and causes less slack, allowing for more sensitivity, giving you a more direct connection to your fly.

Casting the rig takes a little getting used to, but should not be a real issue. SOP is using a water load cast at the end of the drift, lobbing the fly back upstream to begin you next drift. Also, at times, you can use a tension cast since you are casting the weight of your flies and shot, rather than the weight of your line.

The article posted in the OP gives you all the info you need to get started. I've tried it and it does work well for nymphing. The article mentioned streamer fishing with the rig. I've never tried it, but I bet it would work.

I've messed with a mono rig and it's pretty deadly nymphing with my 10' rod, but I fish most times with my homemade furled leader, which I can use with a few quick modifications for dries, nymphs, wets or streamers and fishing at all distances and water types.

But it shouldn't be all about catching the most fish....I should be about having the most fun fishing.

Give it a try...or not.

 

[NewSal]

afishinado wrote:
Some would argue using a mono rig is actually not FFing, but it does work well for nymphing. But a few things first; with a rule change a few years ago for comp fishing, a 30' + mono leader is not allowed. I believe the rules state it must be no more than 2X the rod length, 20-22' in most cases. Also it not legal for FFing only areas in PA. Who cares, if you are not comp fishing or fishing in a FFO area.

Mono in your guides and in your overhang into the water has less weight, and causes less slack, allowing for more sensitivity, giving you a more direct connection to your fly.

Casting the rig takes a little getting used to, but should not be a real issue. SOP is using a water load cast at the end of the drift, lobbing the fly back upstream to begin you next drift. Also, at times, you can use a tension cast since you are casting the weight of your flies and shot, rather than the weight of your line.

The article posted in the OP gives you all the info you need to get started. I've tried it and it does work well for nymphing. The article mentioned streamer fishing with the rig. I've never tried it, but I bet it would work.

I've messed with a mono rig and it's pretty deadly nymphing with my 10' rod, but I fish most times with my homemade furled leader, which I can use with a few quick modifications for dries, nymphs, wets or streamers and fishing at all distances and water types.

But it shouldn't be all about catching the most fish....I should be about having the most fun fishing.

Give it a try...or not.

It seems you pretty much have the same opinion as me, when I experimented with this set up, I immediately noticed the advantages, IMO it really is the perfect set up if your goal is to nymph and catch fish, and it proved this point to me multiple times.
But I did not have as much fun with it, the casts were clunky, your limited to nymphing only pretty much, no swinging wets or dry flys (I bet you could , but it would suck). and I have the most fun fishing when I'm fishing wet flys or dry fly fishing. So hence the reason I'm looking for an in-between set up.

 

[PennKev]

Salvelinusfontinali wrote:

Which brought me to were I am now, I am currently using a 5wt 10' rod, and going by the same principles of using a no-fly line set up, with the goal of reducing weight and pull, I strung up a 2wt fly line. This has given me the opportunity to cast a bit better and more accurately, and still reducing a bit of weight, while keeping the backbone of the rod for fighting fish.
So the questions are:
Has anyone experimented with something similar to this?

There are purpose-made lines that do exactly what you've done. So yes people are doing what you are doing.

The biggest thing that keeps me from going in this direction is the lack of versatility in rigging a reel with a very underweight line. I've occasionally lugged multiple rods around when I expect to switch frequently between two techniques, but it's a pain....

 

[PennKev]

Oh, and one other thing, true all-mono nymphing rigs have been around for about as long as tightline techniques have existed. I remember guys doing this years before European style nymphing became a thing. People would spool up a reel with high-vis Stren or similar conventional mono and just add clear mono as a leader and tippet.

 

[mcwillja]

I use cortlands comp fly line and very little maybe a foot at most sticks out of the fly-rod. Attached I use George Daniel's basic tight line nymph leader with a straight sighter. the setup works well and you use fly-line so i still consider it fly fishing. I guess im still somewhat old school in the fact I believe a strict mono rig is not fly-fishing. I don't care if others do it but its not fly-fishing in my opinion.

 

[pcray1231]

And so what if it isn't? I don't really think it's fly fishing either, at least by definition. But that doesn't make me less likely to use it, other than maybe in an FFO section.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

"And so what if it isn't?"

Well...this is a fly fishing website.

 

[troutbert]

PennKev wrote:
Oh, and one other thing, true all-mono nymphing rigs have been around for about as long as tightline techniques have existed. I remember guys doing this years before European style nymphing became a thing. People would spool up a reel with high-vis Stren or similar conventional mono and just add clear mono as a leader and tippet.

In Joe Humphries book "Trout Tactics" he talks about using flat mono instead of fly line.

The book was published in 1981.

He talks about guys fishing with fly rods, mono, split shot and minnows.

I've seen old school guys fishing this way with worms, and live stonefly nymphs.

 

[NewSal]

PennKev wrote:

Salvelinusfontinali wrote:

Which brought me to were I am now, I am currently using a 5wt 10' rod, and going by the same principles of using a no-fly line set up, with the goal of reducing weight and pull, I strung up a 2wt fly line. This has given me the opportunity to cast a bit better and more accurately, and still reducing a bit of weight, while keeping the backbone of the rod for fighting fish.
So the questions are:
Has anyone experimented with something similar to this?

There are purpose-made lines that do exactly what you've done. So yes people are doing what you are doing.

The biggest thing that keeps me from going in this direction is the lack of versatility in rigging a reel with a very underweight line. I've occasionally lugged multiple rods around when I expect to switch frequently between two techniques, but it's a pain....

My solution to this (for now), is I carry one extra spool with regular fly line, and a tapered leader, and have the underweighted fly line on the spool that im fishing.

Much better than carrying two rods IMO, and its not that bad to switch out between the two if you HAVE to, I haven't switched as often as I thought I would, its really not that hard to cast an underweighted line, and I kind of like the lightline for presenting dry flys, which makes me want to just buy a 3 wt fly rod now as well... ohhhhh the rabbit hole.......

 

[pcray1231]

He talks about guys fishing with fly rods, mono, split shot and minnows.

My grandfather used to fish like that. And I'd be lying if I said I've never done it. It's been a while. But I was a spin jockey minnie guy for some time, and during my switchover to fly gear, yes, I have fished bait on a fly rod. I'd also occasionally "tip" a fly with maggots and the like.

Not all that different than the erie deerie's and the like that the boat bound troll guys use. Basically spinners tipped with crawlers or minnows.

I've also used nymphs, wet flies, egg patterns, and streamers on spin gear. I think this is virtually universal, though. Most spin guys do so on occasion. The hard part is dry flies, of course. You can do it, with casting bubbles, but it ain't ideal.

Got a buddy who loves his Joe's Flies! Spinners tipped with wet flies. He does well on them.

I guess I never really saw this huge divide between styles. Where this type of bait/fly has to go on this type of gear. There's nothing innately magic and better about fly gear. It has some advantages. It has some disadvantages. Centerpins, noodle rods, and the other "tweeners" just pick different trade-offs.

 

[SteveG]

Notan641, although I use all mono, with the exception of fluoro tippet if I feel I'll be mostly nymphing, the leader will still sink at times. I don't really find it to be an issue, and I know there are varying opinions. But, putting some silicone paste on the butt will help it float.

I only make adjustments to correspond to fly size, or for presentation e.g. wind or flat water. For a 5wt my base leader ends at 4x tippet. If I'll be fishing tiny flies (regardless of dry or nymph) I'll cut back the 4x a bit and add a section of 5x, or rarely 6x. If I'm on flat water and there isn't any wind, I'll lengthen the mid section a few inches for a more gentle turnover (as the base leader is pretty powerful). If it's fast deep boulder strewn water that requires a lot of weight to get down for a short drift, I'll cut off the 4x and add some 2x or 3x and a big stonefly nymph.

The only section of leader I never touch, are the butt sections. I believe they're the key. I never want less power being transferred from the flyline. If there's too much, I'd rather lengthen the mid sections and let it naturally dissipate. Done properly, you can build it out to about 13' until it starts performing poorly.

In case you're interested, here's the formula:
36" .021, 16" .019, 12" .017, 6" .015, 6" .013, 6" .011, 6" .009(2x), 20" .007(4x).

I wish I could say I was the creator of this taper, but I founds it on a website awhile back. I think a lot of people get confused about leaders, but the best way to learn is to tie some up, make adjustments, and see how those changes affect your presentation. Feel free to try out different stiffness and colors of mono too.