I am about to build my first rod for euro nymphing, a CTS euro XS. Is there anything special I should consider, except for keeping it light? It is a solid tip 10'6" #3
Claus

I can't really help you on this type blank as I'm not fully up to speed on that type use, but I'm responding here in the hopes that some other forum members might see it again and take a shot at a response.

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Claus,

Just to get the party started:

How long a leader are you planning to use? Some Euro Nymph techniques have very long leaders (25 ft. or more) and there is no 'fly line' in the guides during the cast or presentation. Though I am not 100% certain about this, but I think some use backing as the 'fly line'; that's what I would do. Short drifts with heavy flies bouncing bottom, and pinpoint casts to specific spots. Drift it through a likely holding location, pick it up at the end of the drift, and repeat in relatively quick fashion. Competition style fishing.

If this is the case, and you see your fishing as mostly making relatively short casts and drifts with heavy flies, I'd look at using a guide train that is tilted more to smaller ring, single-foot, ceramic guides. I mean, if you are fishing nylon/fluoro leader through your guide train from reel to tip most of the time, I don't see the need for a large butt guide and a bunch of wire 'fly line guides' out to the tip. Keep it light and crisp at the tip for subtle bite detection, and fast line pick up at the end of the drift.

I'd look at using a Fuji KW 8 or 10mm as my butt guide, go to a KW 6 or KB 6 for my second guide, and go on out to the tip top with KT5's or 4.5's if your leader is in the 4X to 0X range. Go up a size if your leader and/or sighter is larger....or you see a larger fish running your leader out and getting into the backing. I'd go with an FG knot from leader to backing in any case.

That's my take to get you thinking about options. I've caught a gang of trout with Euro techniques, but not with a dedicated Euro rod. I almost think the Euro technique would be great with a shallow spool fly reel that holds about 60 to 80 yards of mono/fluoro.....no 'fly line' at all. The rod and appropriate flies don't need the weight of the fly line to cast them.

Now, I've got to build a dedicated Euro rod....what's a boy to do?!

A long, light rod, with the appropriate AA, can fish a #12 to #8 bead-head nymph/double rig, Perigon, Frenchie, Epoxy, or other heavy nymph just fantastic.

I think keeping the rod/tip light and making sure your leader doesn't sag between guides is most important for my taste.
After doing my two-line static load test, I rig up the rod with the leader I plan to fish in order to check for line sag between guides and stripper/hand.

I have been liking the REC RSF in size 1 as running guides and a size 6 stripper using the RSFX. I am currently converting my tips to wrapped on RSF size 1 guides to save a little more weight.
Of the five fly reel seats I have tried, the REC AUSL seems like the nicest as well as the lightest by 4ish grams depending on insert; this may be because it is milled flat on one side for the reel foot. The Struble U20 is a close second. I think the milled flat on the inset for the reel foot on the AUSL is what pushes me to the REC over Struble...

I milled a cork ring to accept the recessed hood of the uplocking reel seat, then built a small fighting butt with another rubber cork or burl cork ring glued to that recessed ring. I turned the fighting butt on the end of the same mandrel at the same time I made my own cork grip on a homemade flex coat style drill lathe.

I think the Euro rods really shine when you start fishing flies smaller than 12's on leaders smaller than .007"; don't get me wrong, they are great for jig streamers and all sorts of stuff, but I think the bigger flies could still be fished with conventional fly tactics, although often times with lower success rates for me. I often fish a pair of 18's with 2mm tungsten beads in winter and will fish size 20 midge dries on the same leader/rod setup if it turns into a dry fly bite.

I'm always happy tp answer any specific questions
Harry

Is there a standard definition for a Euro rod? I’ve seen the term also used for carp spinning rods that are similar to surf rods in length and form.

Claus, I built my euro rod on an 11' 3wt. CTS affinity MX, so not the same, but similar to your blank.

When I built mine the most important features to me were locating the stripping guide closer to the reel than a conventional fly rod to reduce line sag (even with a mono rig), a down locking reel seat that recessed into a fighting butt to help balance the rod, and the using lightest guides I could find.

One thing I didn't do that I sometimes wish I had tried (and may still try at some point) is using one or two snake style guides as the last ones before the tip top to try to reduce tangles. I don't know for sure if it would have helped, but every now and then my line wraps up on the single foot guides I used near the tip. Just some food for thought.

From a technical standpoint, I think Euro rod is probably a bad term, but the more technically correct descriptions would probably be less helpful, such as the Level Line rod designation or any of the French/Spanish leader descriptions. If we call it a Nymphing rod, we generally get something a lot heavier.

For me, a Euro rod is a Keiryu/Tenkara rod with a reel, but that description probably means even less to most…


I would define a Euro rod or tightline nymphing rod as a rod that can cast light mono lines and hold said line off the water for the entire drift. The lighter the line, the farther away you can fish, but they get hard to cast as they get smaller than .007”, even with the proper rod. It is also very tiring to hold a heavier rod in proper position to control a drift while holding the line off the water…

Here is a great video from Devin Olsen comparing the Hardy LL to most of the other high end “euro rods” Devin discusses stripper position and gives a demonstration of how he compares Euro rods:
[youtu.be]

I ended up liking a tip section on my Euro X with six running guides, with one on a ferrule wrap. With six RSF guides, I don't seem to have tip wrap issues; I can always shake any wraps off the tip with a little slack and wiggle. I don't want to jinx myself, but I havent had any issues with line sticking to a wet blank either...

Thank you all
I think the point about light/small guides and moving the stripper closer seems worth trying. I plan to fish it with a proper fly line and a longish leader, depending on the water and the day. Mainly for grayling, but I do have on stream with sea run browns where it also might be the right tool.
Claus