All about the mono rig, with Dom Swentosky

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, my guest is Dom Swentosky of the Troutbitten blog [33:16], podcast, and guide service. If you have not seen his stuff it's definitely one of the most informative and thoughtful fly-fishing blogs out there. Dom devotes a lot of his blog to the mono rig, which is sorta like Euro-nymphing in that it uses a long leader and no fly line, but it's more of a method for everyday anglers than pure Euro nymphing, which is based on competitive rules that prohibit things like split shot. Dom goes through why it is such an effective method, how he builds his leaders, and how he presents his flies this way. It's just one more thing to try if you're interested in new ways of using a fly rod.

In the Fly Box this week, we have some helpful tips from listeners and an assortment of questions from rigging to watercraft to fly tying, including:

If I am using a drop-shot rig with a single nymph, can I just tie the weight on a long tag from the clinch knot I use to tie on my fly?

What is your opinion of traditional Catskill-style dry flies?

Could spawning affect a trout's diet?

In your canoe and kayak podcast, you didn't say enough about canoes. If I want to use my canoe for fly fishing, what considerations should I have? And should I put a trolling motor on my canoe?

I have a stream nearby that has nice gravel, cold water, deep pools, and nice riffles. I have not caught any trout there. How can I find out if trout even live there?

A great tip from a listener for finding tiny leaks in waders

Do trout use shelf ice as cover?

A listener suggests the float tube as a great option in the inflatable category, which I did not mention in my recent podcast on inflatables.

A great tip from a listener on how to cover up items in a boat that could snag your fly line.

When do you switch from a floating to a sinking line in streams?

A great tip from a listener on using forceps to hold tiny flies when tying them on.

I am looking at monofilament thread. What is the difference between 6/0 and G size, and where did the G designation come from? And is there any application in tying freshwater flies with monofilament thread?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Orvis blight fishing podcast.
0:14.5	This is your host Tom Rosenbauer and this week we're going to be talking about the Mono
0:19.1	Rig.
0:20.1	My guest is Dom Swantowski who is a big proponent of the Mono Rig and he talks a lot about
0:27.8	it on his blog, Troutbitten which is a really, really great blog.
0:34.7	Lots of fantastically useful information on that blog and it's not quite similar to Euro
0:43.5	Nymphing but it's not quite Euro Nymphing in that it's designed not for competition fishing
0:50.1	but for just you and me every day anglers and so it's a little bit different than Euro
0:56.0	Nymphing.
0:57.8	Similar tackle can be used, similar leaders but it's just a bit different and Dom swears
1:03.7	by it and I've been playing around with it lately and you know I used it many, many years
1:08.8	ago when Joe Humphreys first came up with a concept of fishing nymphs with Mono Filament
1:13.6	long before we ever talked about Euro Nymphing but Dom has really kind of refined this technique
1:19.0	into something that's quite useful.
1:21.4	I think particularly on small to medium sized streams but can be used anywhere, Dom is
1:27.6	a very thoughtful angler and very clever and I think he'll enjoy the podcast.
1:33.5	But first before we do that we're going to do the flybox.
1:38.0	The flybox is where you ask questions or you offer tips and I either thank you for your
1:43.4	tip or I try to answer your questions and if you have a question you can send it to
1:48.6	me at podcastatorvest.com you can either just send an email and put your question in your
1:54.4	email or you can attach a voice file if you want.
1:58.0	So without further ado let's do the flybox and the first question is an email from Mario
	...

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