This was the rod I started with- The 9ft 3wt option was quite unique
An enjoyable part of fly fishing for me is finding little hacks and tricks to cut cost, modify, and create your own tools. I have repurposed Altoids tins for fly boxes, bent wire a coat hanger into hook remover, and made a stripping basket from dollar store supplies. Fly fishing is an outlet for me to be creative. The European nymphing technique (contact or tightlining) is impossible to ignore for the modern fly angler. It appears, and is super effective, but (we are being told) it requires a bunch of specialized equipment. Here is how I was able to start under $100.
Rod- There is no way around this one. You need to have a long, normally 10 feet, rod that is relatively sensitive. I considered Tenkara (perhaps I will try this in the future- that will be another post) but decided to purchase the Farglory rod sold by Maxcatch. you can fish this rod at 9 or 10 feet and longer if you add all the sections. Not having seen many 9 foot 3 weights on the market, I thought this was a reasonable purchase. It was also $75. (edit 12/5/21) The reel seat on this rod fell off! It looks like the adhesive failed. I contacted the company on where to buy a new reel seat, so I could epoxy it back myself. They directed me towards their warranty system which requires you to buy the entire butt section of the rod. I have since gone with an echo carbon xl 4wt 10 ft and plan to use it as a hybrid light streamer rod!
Reel- I wasn’t willing to buy a new reel for my $75 rod. For a 10 foot 3 weight rod, it balances more like a 4. And clearly it isn’t built with the most advanced materials, so let’s say it is a heavier 4wt. With that logic, it wouldn’t be a stretch to throw on a 5wt reel- which I have several of. Done, 5 weight reel on a 3 weight rod. It works, because of dynamics of the euro cast.
Line- The euro lines don’t have a taper. they are meant to be thin, as not to impair the sensitivity or cause drag on the water. In fact in my case 90% of the time only six inches of line is past the guides. If you have a 3 or 4 weight wf floating line, flip it around and use the back end or running line as your euro line. Extra points if the line is worn out and you thought it useless. 1/3 of line could be useless, but as long as the back 1/3 can connect to the leader; you’re in business.
Leader- There are so many technical videos about building a euro leader. Here is how I built mine. The back end is about 8 and 1/2 feet of generic 10 lb mono connected to, I kid you not, some colored stren I found on the bank while bass fishing. A lot of bass anglers use colored monofilament. I cut off 2 feet of that and tied it to the 10lb mono as my sighter. I would guess the breaking strength of that was about 10 lbs. connected to that was a foot of 1X tippet to a tippet ring and finally 5X depending on how deep you want to fish. The colored line I found for my sighter was neon yellow, but still transparent. I fished it once and did fine, but to improve the visibility I brushed on some neon yellow nail polish. That created nice beading and segmentation that didn’t impair movement.
Flies- SO SO SO many outspoken nymphers are preaching weight. They are tying patterns with massive tungsten beads, and maybe if everyday was Spring runoff- that would be reasonable. You can tightline with relatively lightly weighted flies. 2mm tungsten on a 16 pheasant tail is a great place to start. A jig hook is nice, but not necessary. Neither is fishing tandem flies. Start with one and go from there. If you can’t catch with one, you won’t catch with two.
Technique- Priceless. Find your rhythm. You’ll need to be a more tactical wader. The best analogy I have heard was “throwing darts.” Flick, pick, and lead your fly through the water and you will be set.
I would like to upgrade my rod and tweak my leader, but I’ll keep the same strategy for the line until convinced otherwise. Get out and fish. Don’t be detracted by all the gear and talking heads. They make things complicated for the sake of their own relevance. Here is a video of me using my patchwork set up.