Squeeky’s Techy Dry Fly Set-Up
Rod: Sage X 9′ 5 weight. This is a sharpshooter rod. Quick, fast, hyper-accurate. Light in the hand and love casting it.
Fly Line: RIO InTouch GOLD. Went back to the GOLD when the InTouch no stretch lines were introduced. Awesome!
Leader: RIO Powerflex Plus 12′ 4X.
Tippet: RIO Powerflex Plus. 4′-5′ of tipper attached the RIO Powerflex Plus Leader above.
Flies: Small down winged caddis. Midge Clusters representing clustered Trico’s. Trico Spinners.
Pants: SIMMS Guide Pants. Love them. Cell Phone Pocket on the side of pant. Clutch.
Shirt: SIMMS Ultralight. Love this shirt. No itchy feel. Lightweight. It’s ultralight! Cool summer colors.
Sungear: SIMMS Sungaiter, SIMMS Sungloves, Straw Hat.
Wading Boots: SIMMS Intruder Boot
Shades: Smith Wolcott.
Sunscreen: SunBum 70. Goes on easy and smells like coconuts!
Reach: I love Craig to Stickney Creek. The best all around dry fly reach. Islands, flats, slicks, riffles, runs, early morning shade spots, wing dams, bridges, hard banks and inside bends. See, perfect! Mitch Kowalski and I speak about this stretch often. Once Mitch said to me, “Remember when we used to fish Craig to Stick, all day long?” He’s right. Make the day of it.
Mark Raisler for PRESIDENT!
17′ of leader….dayum.
17 foot of leader!? C’mon son!!…really?
You don’t have to Hog Snatcher. Lot’s of ways to skin that cat!
The most exciting way to fish tiny dries! Tie a 20 or22 dry on a lo-o-ong leader, use a fast rod (the only time I use one myself) and laser beam the fly to about 2″ in front of a riser’s nose. Sometimes you scare the shit out of em, but you can also get an instantaneous grab followed by a rocket ride! We used to call it “ping the ring”. But the cast requires use of that dreaded p word- “practice “. Like I said, I dislike fast rods, but I keep upgrading mine just for this purpose. And if your line isn’t going Mach two from 50′ leaving a flame trail it doesn’t work very well due to accuracy issues. Old guys on fixed incomes don’t buy pricey techy rods they only use for five or six weeks a year without a good reason so stop in and have Mark show you how it’s done.
By the way, I too endorse Mark as leader, however these days the term president tends to evoke dark mental images which can cause people to jab an ice pick deep into their eye socket. How about a softer title like “Kast maestro ” or my personal favorite, “Squeekmeister”?
Reel? He don’t got no reel. Markie don’t need no stinkin’ reel!
Marc, did the X replace your beloved Method? What line do you like on the X for nymphing? Thanks much.
I like the RIO In-Touch Xstream nymph line. Hydro phobic 10 neon orange tip with a larger than normal front end for ez casting and ding weighted nymph rigs. But I mostly nymph with my Sage PULSE. Also lined up with the RIO Xstream In-Touch Nymph Line. And yes the X has replaced my beloved METHOD. That rod still rules. Used it in that Blackfoot vid we just posted. A rocket that rod is.
I hesitate to write this but on a cold winter day here we go……….so everybody is fishing with broomsticks now???—-never having rallied back from the rod manufacturers line speed wars of the early 2000’s—not me, my old friend, I’ve cast THEM ALL—and still throw the same rod I’ve been chucking for over 40 years–likely a little too springy, softee, spongy for “modern fishing” but I never catch anything anyway–so who knows–whoops, sorry –couldn’t help it—-Best—LT
LT. Yeah, I have gone away from the soggy rod. Probably too much time in the guide boat. As you remember I used to love a Winston Tom Morgan Favorite 8′ 4wt or the classic 8 1/2′ for 5 Winston. I had all of the Scott G series as well. All gone now. Passed on to somebody with some fishy soul!