Greg is the man. I really appreciate you guys sharing all this knowledge. My fly box is the envy of the whole river after practicing the methods you guys have shared over the years 😅
Most of the time when I’m fishing smallies I run a 10’7 weight for the big rivers with a roughly about a 7 foot leader. Most of the time I’m running a type 5 sink tip for the deep holes but I also have a 9ft 6 weight with a floating for clousers and crayfish then I have my 9’ 10 weight rigged with a short and stout leader for musky. Most of the time I have a big popper on for Muskies that push a lot of water and on the 7 weight I also running the swingin d which the fish on the west branch of the susky and juniata river love. Caught several fish in the high teen range but got two over 20 inches
I slammed Smallies on this in NE Ohio yesterday. Among them was a 20.5” and 19.25” fish. Love this fly. Order incoming Schultzy! Thanks for all you are doing for our sport. Hopefully going to see you next year.
Gotta be the only guide in the world that has a dry erase board in the boat. Haha! Best shop in the country. Mike has everything in the shop. If not he will find it for you.
What is the difference in using the blood knot over the double uni knot? My thoughts are the blood knot has both tag ends on the inside verse the uni with the tags on the outside of the knot. This may let the knots travel through the rod guides better. Your thoughts please.
So at what water temps should we be looking to fish for top water? Good stuff. Looking forward to the next drop. Leader build for this style of fishing!
good but not great, those knots are not seated completely.... not even close. I know they work for you. try to BREAK every knot you tie... all the way down to 6 and 4 lb test.....
Another good video and informative for folks learning to build out their own leaders. Hopefully they practice the two knots shown, and pick up the needed materials and actually carry it with them on the water, or build out a bunch of leaders in advance. Just like tying your own flies and having the ability to customize every aspect of your bugs, building out your own leaders is a good way to be able to customize your leaders on the water and without fear of messing something up that you can’t fix yourself. 100% in agreement on the fluorocarbon as well, and it sinks whereas mono floats, learned these lessons years and years ago during my time spent on trails tournament fishing.
I’m with you man, running 6’s,7’s, and 8’s depending on the fly, the water/current conditions, and the mood of those little brown, camoed up, angry footballs! Also running 230 grain 6wt line on my 7 wt rod and wondered if I was the only one out there doing it, guess not….. Great video series, keep it up man!
Sure! So does a cane pole and a crawler. You can put in however much effort you want…but for turning over big flies accurately, this build or at least some taper is the way.
Thanks very helpful. I have trouble with blood knots. May I ask what you are doing when you put the knot in your mouth twice (I assume you’re not just lubricating it). Are you straightening or lengthening the tag ends. Thanks? Maybe a separate video on how you tie the blood knot? Thanks!!
How often are you running lower weight line on heavier rods and why? I know you mentioned conditions a lot in this video but is that more flow/wind related and just making sure you have enough backbone for bigger fish? or have you found it just as successful year round for a more stealthy approach?
I’m sure you already try this but what about just longer 40, them 30, then 20 (or 16)? Do you feel that going very “taper” with a 5 section leader makes an actual difference with delivering a big fly (bass fly) vs a simpler 2 or 3 section leader? Just curious to have your opinion about the “plus” of a 5 section leader vs a simpler 2-3… Thanks for sharing!
The taper definitely helps. You can fish the leader you’re describing for sure, but if you’re striving for the best the full taper does cast better in our opinion.
Just clarification on your Airflo line recommendation. I assume you are specifically talking about the Airflo Sniper 4 Seasons Ridge 2.0, is that correct? If so, which of the 3 intermediate lines do you recommend for normal conditions Intermediate Head - Floating Running Line, Inter/Di3 Head - Floating Running Line or Di5/Di7 Head - Intermediate Running Line? Thanks
I don’t want to speak for him but here is my answer, I he’s specifically talking about that line in particular due to the heavy nature and make up of that particular line. If you research some similar lines from other companies you will see that sometimes there’s a big difference in the head grain weight. This also will depend on what rod you’re using (power and action will change between sticks, in turn they will like different weight lines to perform their best). And the big question, the best for “normal conditions”… this is impossible to answer because normal conditions are beyond subjective. Fish a lake? Shallow slow river? Fast deep river? Etc. will require different lines and presentations and leader lengths. My normal conditions are usually a river of moderate to slow speed and fish 5 foot and less. I also fish shallow sections of lakes as well and for both my go to is the intermediate head, I can change the length of leader and weight of fly to achieve 1-3 ish feet deep. Otherwise I like the Di3 to get down a bit deeper faster with unweighted streamers and a short leader or if you want to work the fly faster but keep it up near the top. The Di7 would be for deeper pools or fast water where you gotta get down ultra quick. I’ll use this type of line in the spring streamer fishing browns in high fast water with small holes where i gotta get the fly in the game immediately. This is just my opinion and what works well for me, others may have different thoughts and may work equally as well or even better. Hope this helps you.
