MONO LINES RIGS what are the pros and cons, your thoughts?

[losthwy]

I am very curious about mono line rigs. What are the pros or cons? Experiences from those that use or have used it what are your thoughts?

 

[partsman]

For me it works great for tightline and euro style nymphing, which for me means lob casting. I have tried to cast streamers and some dries and to me I just don't enjoy it. So I have a mono leader attached to my flyline and fish nymphs with that, if dries start going I either take the leader off and go to conventional dry fly leader or swap reels out. Its a hassle for sure, but tightline nymphing is very effective for catching fish, Im really torn as I love to fish dries and I love casting a conventional flyline. Im kinda leaning towards fishing the nymph rig during the early spring and fall, and fishing dries and conventional rods and lines during the rest of the year.
Mike

 

[AzTrouter]

I’ve fished mono rigs quite a bit under certain circumstances and they work well, but I really like traditional fly casting with a well balanced rig.

That said I do carry a 30’ mono rig in my leader wallet and use it when I’m tight lining a contact nymph rig or certain types of streamers to get to the bottom of deep plunge pools in the creeks I hunt, Watching big browns dart out of cover and slurp baby crayfish will have me re rigging in a heartbeat :- )

IMO mono rigs are just another tool in the tool box and I enjoy fishing all the water column and not just the easy fish slurping in the film :- )

 

[trev]

I went through this phase with Humphrey's Cobra flat mono about 40 years ago, with a long rod, split shot or heavy weight nymphs it works. But you work too, it took about 18 months for me to get cured, so a couple hundred outings. Book says 1981, so that must have been the year. Cortland made the flat mono but I always thought it as at J.H.'s because he was the only advocate of it that I can recall.
This guy makes a decent argument for it; https://troutbitten.com/2016/02/03/the-mono-rig-and-why-fly-line-sucks/
You want to try casting a hair popper or slider with all mono to appreciate the negatives.
Mono and an automatic fly reel with a 9' 6wt rod makes one fine way to fish live bait for stream bass, pitch them crawdads into them deep holes and have plenty of lever to hoist em out of the wood and slab rocks.

 

[patrick62]

I fiddled around with the mono rig described on Troutbitten but frankly it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I can tightline two or three nymphs with a long leader and a weight forward fly line just fine, and it's an easy re-rig if I decide to do something different.

 

[AzTrouter]

I like Domenick’s enthusiasm for experimentation and his writing style and look forward to his articles in my email. Don’t know the kid and we live a country apart :- )

.....and he sent me a sticker haha

 

[losthwy]

That was thoughtful of him.

 

[old timer]

I'm not a nympher but I did study euro-nymphing once and even bought a Syndicate rod and Rio Euro line. The thought behind the mono line is to keep it from sagging in the guides. It does that well but so does the Euro lines and they cast better than straight mono.

 

[trev]

Domenick’s rig at 34' isn't that much more than a really long leader. He linked other articles throughout that one and they are relavant if one is interested in the subject.
It's also worth noting that this is not strictly a nymph rig, it is used for streamers as well.
If you build your own leaders the 20# Chameleon won't be wasted if you decide it's not for you; That's the .017'' that I like as the butt section.
You can get almost to the same place by turning any WF line around on the reel and using the runing line as the casting line. Or if you are like most and never cast the full line, you could cut 20' of runing line off a WF and keep it as an add on leader extender.
My solution to the line sag was to wade a little deeper so the rod tip is closer to the fish, much like Ted Fay and the Wintu Indian did.

 

[trev]

they cast better than straight mono.

If you are using two or three flies that are as heavy as Towendolly's there won't be any ''casting'' it will be lobbing of a short line.
Many ways to accomplish the same thing and what may work best for one person may be an anathema to another person.

 

[old timer]

If you are using two or three flies that are as heavy as Towendolly's there won't be any ''casting'' it will be lobbing of a short line.
Many ways to accomplish the same thing and what may work best for one person may be an anathema to another person.

If that's all you use. A French rig is light flies cast a longer distance. Plus, you might want to fish a dry fly now and then.

 

[rsagebrush]

I fish it a lot and quite like it, I don't lob it though, sometimes, depends. I also have the sighter attached to a tippet ring and can change it out to a dry fly set up which is good to 25 feet or so, that takes good casting form though, nice drag free drifts with both setups

 

[Unknownflyman]

Guys you know that centerpin has been around a long time? I`m not knocking it its very effective if that's what you want to do.

 

[trev]

The Cobra would cast a dry or a streamer to 30' or so and I suspect some modern mono will too, but it is a fact that Humphreys eventually had Cortland build a running line type "floating nymph line" that he used in place of the flat mono.

 

[AzTrouter]

I don’t think this thread was to dispute who ‘invented’ mono or mono like rigs :- ) Heck Dominick gives all credit to Humphrey who says he learned it from Harvey. In Harvey’s day they were fishing level fly lines so mono was likely just a logical extension of that.

.....3..2..1 till someone breathlessly reports mono isn’t‘really fly fishing anyway haha

 

[mule52]

I went all in and tied on a full mono from backing -> Lazar -> Chameleon -> sighter -> leader. I've enjoyed it and found that I don't want to nymph without this setup. I've caught many more fish with this setup than my floating indicator rig. I have not casted a dry fly with it yet. I don't it expect dry fly casting to be worthy with it. When the opportunity presents itself, I can switch out my spool for floating line. It might be worth it to append a quick release mono rig to your floating line.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[sasquatch7]

I've been using Dominicks mono rig for a few years and have no plans to change .

 

[dlip]

I use it and love it.

 

[clouserguyky]

I use the mono rig almost exclusively for all subsurface trout fishing, tightline, indicator, wet flies, and streamers, as well as some dry fly fishing. The only time I fish a floating line for trout is pure dry fly days, which are extremely scarce for me and deeply cherished when they come, and some streamer and indicator work. But the mono rig covers most of that for me too. I do fish a sinking line with big streamers from a boat sometimes, but on foot it's usually mono. It works tremendously. The casting mechanics really aren't that different in my opinion. I don't really do the lob cast, I cast it like I would a regular line as much as possible. I fish the mono rig on my 9'6" and 10' 5wt rods. With some practice and adjustment, you really aren't just slinging lead like a spinning rod with this system. You can cast the mono rig with no weight on it at all with some practice. It does trequire a little more power in the cast with no weight, but with good timing and technique, it works just fine.

I've used the mono rig this way for several years now. I also got to fish with Domenick last summer and learned a lot from him. Like anything else, it does have its downsides of course. Mono can slip through the crack between your spool and reel cage, casuing all kinds of problems. Fly line is more fun to cast, no doubt, and every angler should know how to use fly line before they think of stringing up mono. The mono rig can become a crutch for some folks who start out their fly fishing life with euronymphing, and never really learn to actually cast a fly line at all. But to me, I've spent enough years fishing fly lines and enough fishing mono, and to me the benefits outweigh any negatives for me for most of my trout fishing: walking and wading, fishing nymphs, streamers, and dry flies at close to medium distances.

But to each his own! Just give it a fair try, meaning at least a handful of trips, and decide for yourself if you like it.

 

[jayr]

When I first started high sticking, I just used an old 3 weight fly line on my Syndicate P2. I also placed a reel where I thought it should balance as well.

I then went to a pure mono line (20 lb. Stren) and the difference was amazing. I do not dry fly with this reel, I do carry an extra reel with a WF line if in the even I do that.

I also went to Syndicates web site and did a little looking around as it is far better than it used to be. According to Syndicate, a reel in the 4-4.5 ounce range should balance my rod. I found out I had way to heavy a reel. I then found a reel that is right at 4.2 ounces splitting the difference. Wow! So much better now with both.