# Rocky on Weds 11-25



## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

A friend of mine and I got out for last couple hours of daylight. We were 12 miles above the lake and Water was a bit cloudy with 14 inches of visibility. I've been trying to apply Mono rig techniques I learned last Summer from Domenic Swentosky, to my steelhead fishing. These techniques are similar to "high stick nymphing" talked about by many around us. I just love the sighter and system Dom has shown me. So I'm going to Mono nymph all the pockets while my friend is swinging the pools and tailouts.

I went upstream working my way to cover every pocket and fast water spots on the fish highway for half a mile. I didn't get a bump, or spook up a trout. The last half hour of daylight, I decide to try to mono fish a long pool from the bottom up. I caught a nice 27 inch hen who took a #12 egg sucking stone pattern I tie which I attached. I had an olive/ white "little rascal" as the point or ticking the bottom. She was at the back 15% of the pool just above the tail out. My buddy fished all the water I did not, but didn't have a bump. Then he tried the pool I was in and no luck.

It was a beautiful day to be out. One fish makes all the difference. I know the winter was coming soon. Most of my better winter days I've caught fish High Sticking, rather than swinging. But I usually do a swing at the end of my drifts too.

Good luck,
Rickerd


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

Those are really nice looking. I'll have to add them to my tying list. Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk


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## fishing pole (May 2, 2004)

Nice write up. You have me intrigued.

What is the effective range of the mono rig? What about fishing an indicator with it to reduce drag from the Fly Line?


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## Karl Wolf (Apr 26, 2020)

Nice looking flies


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

The mono rig I use has 25 feet of 20# chameleon as a leader. Therefore no fly line is on the water or in the air. This is the detail of the system that makes it so effective. Drag from water and air is nil. I can cast the 25 feet of line, plus the final 6-8 feet of tippet out with my fly rod, which gives me an effective drift of 40-50 feet or so, bouncing on the bottom. I know I'm in the zone and can tell the difference between bottom bump and fish take now. I can also use a float indi or a dry with ease. I can even remove the mono leader and put on a sinktip, or regular fly leader. I see this as super effective for winter as it allows my fly rod and presentation to mimick the centerpin setups without extra weight. But I can add the weight if needed. If you want more reading on my system, I learned from Domenick Swentosky who credits George Daniel, and George Harvey for inspiring, leading him. dom's website is troutbitten.com.









The Mono Rig and Why Fly Line Sucks


The Mono Rig is a hybrid system for both tight line and indicator nymphing styles, and for streamers, dry-dropper and pure dry flies.




troutbitten.com





Keep fishing!
Rickerd


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

The fly is my copy of a fly a gentlemen gave me on the Rocky during Spring of 2019. His name is Bob, and I think what makes this egg sucking stone so good, is the egg material is tied on top and is slightly buoyant keeping the nose up in the water. A small egg is all that is necessary. I use Chartreuse and pink and orange colored eggs with the same stone fly. They have worked in 3 seasons now Fall Winter and Spring.
Rickerd


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## bassclef (Jul 25, 2013)

rickerd said:


> The fly is my copy of a fly a gentlemen gave me on the Rocky during Spring of 2019. His name is Bob, and I think what makes this egg sucking stone so good, is the egg material is tied on top and is slightly buoyant keeping the nose up in the water. A small egg is all that is necessary. I use Chartreuse and pink and orange colored eggs with the same stone fly. They have worked in 3 seasons now Fall Winter and Spring.
> Rickerd


That hackle going up the body - is that one (or more) of the PT fiber butts or is it something tied in separately just for hackling purposes?

Thanks!


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

The fly is essentially a BH pheasant tail (tail too long I notice), with ostrich herl hackle, and an egg on top of the pheasant tail back. I pick some fibers from dubbing at the front also, maybe that is what you are seeing. I tie them fat to resemble crawler nymphs. 
thanks,
Rickerd


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## bassclef (Jul 25, 2013)

rickerd said:


> The fly is essentially a BH pheasant tail (tail too long I notice), with ostrich herl hackle, and an egg on top of the pheasant tail back. I pick some fibers from dubbing at the front also, maybe that is what you are seeing. I tie them fat to resemble crawler nymphs.
> thanks,
> Rickerd


The ostrich herl was exactly what I was asking about. Thanks again


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## Seatrout (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks rickerd for the description of the mono rig and the pictures of the nymphs you've found to be successful. I plan on giving it a try. Always good to see what other folks are using. I like tying pretty simple bead heads as i'm a novice at fly tying. Was wondering if other folks would be willing to share what they have been tying and finding successful, basically sticking to nymphs and such. Here's what I've been tying and using very successfully this year as the dropper fly with an egg on top. Basic peacock herl , flashabou tail, goose biot wing on a #10 hook. More of a full grown bug than a nymph I guess by it's been a hit so far this year.


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## noahdoak (Nov 26, 2019)

Big fan of Dominic's work. I personally took the mono rig to the extreme on my euro rig, as I spooled by entire 3wt Battenkill with purely mono, and not an inch of fly line. I love it, and do great work with it on the Clear Fork, in Michigan, and mountain streams in WV and PA. I read Dom's article, and was told by a friend of mine who guides in Maryland about how much trout can be spooked by fly line in clear water, and my catch rate has doubled since ditching it altogether for euro nymphing.


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