Hey Friends,

I tried euro nymphing on my 10' 5wt rod this past weekend and I must admit it was exhilarating to feel the hit of the fish. Caught two rainbows and a few creek chubs, it was a lot of fun. So I'm thinking about building a euro rod. I see CTS makes a euro blank but I can't find any reviews on it. I saw some folks have built euro rods with the Affinity X or MX and liked them. Wondering what your thoughts are? Has anyone here built on the CTS Euro X? What has the feedback been? How does the CTS perform against other top brands like Orvis, Sage, T&T (aside from price or the fact that you get to build it yourself).

Also, are there different guide spacings that should be used on a Euro rod to eliminate line sag? Or just go with a static load test and go from there?

Thank you in advance for any replies :)

Joel

Hi Joel,
The reviews of the CTS product has been excellent - but you would expect me to say that.
If you decide to stay with the CTS product for this project - all the info is here:

Mike,
CTS' internal model name for the old Euro Nymphing blank is "FY" -hence the XY.

Let's make it easier to understand:
There are only two dedicated CTS Euro Nymphing
Blanks:
#1. The original 10'6" Euro X #2 or #3. It is no longer shown on the CTS website. It is, however, still available to be ordered.
#2. The new 10'6" Euro XS with the solid tip - also in #2 and #3. It is the only Euro Nymphing blank shown on the website.

Also - don't forget the 11'0" Affinity-X #3 with a depowered , by 1, tip section.
While it's not considered a "Dedicated" Euro Nymphing blank by CTS - it was designed as such upon request of a customer. Now available to anyone interested in a longer blank.
Hope that clarifies.
Herb

Beulah makes a 3 wt. Euro.

I love my Euro X 2wt so far.
I have only fished a couple of the rods you mention, so my experience isn't complete and I havent weighed any of those rods on a scale. Having said that, I have at least wiggled most of them in fly shops and I havent felt any rods that are lighter in hand the the Euro X I built...

I have built and fished a NFC FANY1102 quite a bit now. While both rods are 2wts, the NFC has a more moderate action than the Euro x. The FANY blank is about the same overall weight as my Euro X, but the Euro X tip section is half a gram lighter and the S3 section is 2 grams lighter. I need 20 grams of Counterweight in my Diamback Nymph reel to balance the NFC while the Euro X balances with no weight and could even stand to be a little lighter. The NFC was my favorite rod all winter. It doesn't cast dries as easily as the Euro X, but it does everything I ask really well. I prefer the faster action of the Euro x and love the light weight, but I could fish the NFC all day and still be happy.


I feel like the tip on the Euro X 2wt has a perfect balance between being soft enough to throw weightless flies on the Micro leader, but not so soft that the heavier jig streamers are overpowering it on the cast. For the Tailwaters I fish most here in Utah, I think the 2wt is perfect. If I wanted a dedicated rod for heavy Jig streamers, a 3wt would be beneficial, but I think I would opt for an 11' option since this would be geared more towards the bigger rivers...

I used a Struble U20 reel Seat with Buckeye burl insert that weighed 16.34g total and a 61/2" torpedo style grip with matching fighting butt I made. I mention this because I could probably drop another 5 grams from the butt section of the rod and still have the balance where I like it. If I would have waited for the REC AUSL with Buckeye burl insert to arrive(3 month lead time), I could have saved 2.36g. I will certainly use the AUSL seat on the next one of these I build. I mention the insert I used because I notice the Birdseye maple inserts I have for both seats are at least 4g heavier than the buckeye. While this weight obsession may seem crazy, it feels amazing to have a Euro rod that balances with no Counterweight.

After a week of static load testing different guide spacings, I went with six guides on the tip, with one of them on the ferrule wrap. I went back and forth a bunch of times trying to convince myself to run five guides to save weight, but with the sixth guide able to land on the ferrule wrap, I felt like it was worth the weight penalty(0.04g) since it prevents the line from sagging between guides better than the five guide setup. I used the REC ultralight guides in size 1, with a size 10 single foot titanium stripper guide. In the future, I think I will use a REC single foot size 10 as my stripper, mostly so the color of the stripper and running guides match.

CTS Euro X 10’ 6” 2 wt blank:
S4: 2.75g
S4: 2.57g
S3: 6.52g
S2: 12.08g
S1: 24.09g
totals=
45.28g
45.47g


CTS Euro X 2wt finished rod:

S4: 3.70g
S3: 6.98g
S2: 12.65g
S1: 64.94g

88.27g



Here is the spacing I used on my 2wt:
Tip
4.5”
9.5”
14 5/8”
20 1/2”
26 1/4”
32 3/4”
39 1/4”
47”
56 1/8”
66 3/4”
77 7/8”
88 3/4”
101 3/4”

I forgot to mention that Herb was great to deal with and got me the blank much faster than expected..

Harry Sandoval Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I forgot to mention that Herb was great to deal
> with and got me the blank much faster than
> expected..


Same here. Herb is the man.

Regarding the rod(s), both the 2wt and 3wt Euro-X are fantastic. Super light in the hand, can feel everything, and fast recovery on casting. Highly recommend!
Mike B

Harry, thank you so much for that awesome reply. You are exceptionally detailed and I really appreciate all the great info - especially your final guide spacing. I would assume the XS will be somewhat different than your X, but that will give me a great place to start after static load.

I ended up ordering the 10'6 Euro XS #3. I live in PA but do 2-3 weeks out west each year, and last year fished the Green. Easily top 3 fisheries I've ever fished and I'm heading back this year. The biggest brown I caught was 21" last year but my buddy hooked one that must have been 23-25. It spit the hook after a good fight but I've never seen a trout so big in my life. Any tips for fighting/landing large fish on a EN rig with light tippet? I had a tough enough time on 4X - I feel that a fight on 6-7X would kill the fish, but maybe I'm wrong. How do you land the big ones?

Also, was every guide except your stripper an REC UL size 1? Or did you taper a guide or two after your stripper?

Lastly, this is the fourth rod I've ordered through Herb and I agree, he is great to deal with.

My fish fighting ability went up exponentially after two years of fixed line fishing on 7x; I prefer Keiryu rods for weighted nymphs...

Here are a couple of videos that helped me learn more about fighting a fish:
[youtu.be]
[youtu.be]

In practice, I pull the hook on at least 95% of the trout I loose over 20"; and have never broken off a fish on 7x using an appropriate power fixed line rod. I mention appropriately powered because I learned that a lower power rod does not mean you will have more "tippet protection". In my experience, I stopped breaking off fish Euro style on 7x when I went to a 24 penny rod from a 16 penny rod.
The Tenkara Bum Traveller 44 was my favorite rod for tightline nymphing, but I was struggling to land fish over 18", breaking off at least half the time, I switched to the Suntech Kaname III FP 43 and I have not broken off a fish since I bought it, no exaggeration. I still pull the hook on large fish, but I have not broke off a fish in two years fishing the Kaname.
With that said, I do break off fish using conventional Euro rods and 7x, albeit not very often.

As far as the health of the fish, I havent had any wild fish that have required reviving, they are all ready to swim away immediately. I believe that water temp plays a bigger role in the ability for trout to survive being caught then how long they were fought. When/if landing fish fast is a concern, I prefer the NFC P700 and an ultralight jerk bait.


I only used a stripper and then went straight to ultralights. Since sensitivity is a higher priority than shooting line for me, I felt like using the lightest guides and keeping the line as close to the blank as possible would be best. So far, that has worked well on the two Euro rods I have built.

In the Tenkara world, the ONI type 1 is generally regarded as the best casting rod out there and it has a solid tip; I own one and can't disagree. I feel like the type 1 loads effortlessly even with super light line. I imagine being able to cast light to weightless flies easier and with better presentation is why CTS would switch to the solid tip.
The downside with the ONI type 1 is that I loose more fish than any of the other Tenkara rods I own. This could be because I almost exclusively use it for dry fly fishing? I think the tip on the Oni recovers slower than the hollow counterparts and probably requires a different technique.

I'm not sure how the above info will translate to a EURO X with solid tip, but I like the Oni rod enough that I think I will have to order one of these XS models sooner than later. I think the solid tip will be an advantage for the midge dries I fish during the winter. I imagine the tip will be very soft and point straight at the fish, with the rest of the rod bending to do the fighting...


If you havent dowloaded Lance Egan's video series with Devin Olsen, those three vides will probably help people land more fish than anything else they could buy for the $20 they cost:
[www.modernnymphingmasterclass.com]


Hope that helps
Harry

Joel, Harry,

Thank you for the kind words.

Herb
CTS Rep

I forgot to add that I personally have found the TroutHunter fluorocarbon to be the strongest for the knots that I tie and fish on 7x; your mileage may vary. I mention the brand because I have tried some brands that don't seem strong enough to cinch knots in the 7x flavors, while the same brands 4x seems decent...