HORIZON TACTICAL COMPETITION NYMPH SERIES FLY ROD A Review - Terry Babich This Euro nymphing thing is growing like crazy and with it the need for specialised rods. More and more anglers are trying their luck at Euro nymphing with great success. I find this type of fishing to be very technical and it calls a rod with a very specific function.
Both models are designed as specialty Euro nymphing rods. This means that they have a softer tip action for bite detection, the taper necessary for the casting action required to get the flies down in the best way possible and the subtlety to not break the light tippets that are necessary to fish most effectively. These rods also have a back bone to them that allows you to pull rather hard and land fish in conditions that you previously would never have dreamed of on a light rod like a three weight.
The whole technique is geared up to increase the sensitivity of the rod and to detect subtle bites while getting your light tackle rig into the zone where the fish are. Seems obvious? The technique requires that you cast light leaders with lighter flies than what we have been accustomed to fishing with when using other methods. The flies need to be placed accurately and one has to get them to sink quickly. All of this needs to be done with a rod that still has the ability to pull strong fish in fast flowing water and land them on tippet that previously we would not have dreamed of using. These rods are designed with all that in mind.
So having fished these rods and having landed a few stream trains (and catfish) in the river I was pleasantly surprised. I have always been an advocate of fishing as heavy as possible without limiting your catch rate and getting the fish out quickly for a safe release. Never did I dream of fishing a three weight in the Vaal for yellows and being able to horse them out in the way that I can with this rod. The six weight also works well in the river but being that little bit heavier it means that you will probably use it for extremely fast water and maybe line-up on the tippet. Not a bad thing at all. Although I haven’t fished it off the boat as yet it has also doubled-up as a fast-loading casting rod. I did test it on a few grass carp and was surprised that it handles fish in the twenty pound range without any trouble. I would however suggest using a longer net for such large fish as I don’t think that this is what it was designed for with that soft tip. But staying true to myself I am inclined to really test tackle to its maximum and maybe a little beyond that.
This brings me to the rods itself. Frontier Fly Fishing has developed two models in their rage that are specifically geared up for this competition-style method of nymphing. That doesn’t mean they are only for the competition guys. These rods are for anyone who wants to refine their fishing and catch more fish. The rods come in ten foot long three weight and ten foot long six weight derivatives to fill the two basic niches of flyfishing - trout and yellowfish.
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