Part four of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on recovering slack. To dead drift a nymph, we cast it upstream. And as the river flows downstream, it sends the fly back toward us, creating slack. Usually, we simply pick up that slack and maintain contact with the fly (sometimes directly, sometimes slightly).

Slack maintenance is a critical skill. It’s line management. And if the goal is to be in contact with the nymphs and know where they are -- if this is a tight line rig -- then allowing too much slack in the system destroys everything that we’re working toward.

Managed slack is part of an advanced skill set. And that’s very much what we do by starting with a tuck cast. Then, after sticking the landing, we’re in a great position to continue those advanced skills.

We recover the slack in three ways: by lifting the rod tip, by leading the rod tip, and with the line hand.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins me on Episode Four for an in-depth discussion of these techniques.

(Season three will return to my full panel of friends, with longer form discussion about all things fly fishing.)

We Cover the Following

• Maintaining contact
• Slipping contact
• Letting the river decide
• Managed slack
• The Lift and Lead
• Line hand recovery
• The Pulley Retrieve
• Trimming the sighter
• Dealing with wind

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ; Troutbitten | #4 Recovering Slack -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing

 
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | The Pulley Retrieve (with VIDEO)
READ: Troutbitten | The Lift and Lead
READ: Troutbitten | Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding

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