All of us who spend time with a fly rod in our hand, over the years develop what might be called if not affection, at least pleasant famil...
All of us who spend time with a fly rod in our hand, over
the years develop what might be called if not affection, at least pleasant familiarity. We come to rely on them, we come to think of
them as our partner in pursuit of fish, a perfect cast, or just solitude. After a long hiatus from the water, that
first cast with our familiar fly rod is like a reunion with an old friend, that
understands what it is we are standing here to do.
That is exactly how I felt when I first cast what was to
become our Big Y Nano Nymph Rod. The final
version that we are selling, just feels right, a rod to rely on. I call it 10 feet of nymphing perfection for
a reason. I just love to fish it, and
fish it I have, a lot. Fish I have
caught with it, a lot, including countless incidental steelhead this past
summer. Which of course, enhances my
affection, but is hardly the reason. 
I am not, nor will I ever be a competitive fly fisher. But I have spent my fair share of time
nymphing. Always has been my favorite
form of fly fishing, unless the top water action is too good to refuse, I find
the sub-surface fish more challenging and the surprise of the hook up with a
fish I wasn’t sure was even there is exhilarating. I find the whole Czech-Euro nymphing an
improvement by simplification. The
direct connection to the fish without indicators and weights is purer.
Enter the nymph rod project.
I had some issues with the rods out there. Personally, I found any rod over 10’ too unwieldy,
too much rod for the purpose. The end of
It
just seemed to me a tighter rod at 10’ would deliver the line with more
precision and momentum so I could get the fly further than a longer rod that
needed a second to still itself after the fling of the flies. A little stiffer backbone was just the
ticket, the line and the rod worked as one to increase control, precision, mending
if necessary was immediate not after the waggle stop, each cast I had a split
second longer control and fishing time. And that makes a difference; your fly
sinks faster, you are fishing as soon as your fly hits the water, all the way
through the run. The shorter rod allows
for quick pick up and recast. the rod waggle was inefficient and a personal pet peeve, all the unnecessary side to side tip spasms were a bummer.
But the tip; ahh that tip.
Hours I have spent fishing one run repeatedly, switching rods testing
the tip the feel, the hook up. Fish the
run, go back upstream change rods, fish the run. There are worse ways to spend a day or in
this case a few months. All about that
hook up, that feel, that instinct one develops to set that hook. All the triggers that go into that moment, the
hookset, one cannot explain, I have never used sighters, just instinct, but what
I do know, is hooking up with the Big Y Nano Nymph Rod is a joyous event. And for me personally, it happened a lot. All aspects of nymphing were joyous with this
one rod, it just flat out fished better, easier, more controlled, more
pleasant, and caught more fish. The cast,
set, the hook up, release, the cast, set, the hook up, the release, it was like
a mantra. One can’t wait to get back out there and repeat.
