I used my Marryat tactical 10ft #3 for the first time yesterday. It is a lovely rod for Czech and French style nymph fishing and I am very pleased with the purchase. However during the day, I happened to change tactics and put on a klinkhammer as indicator and 2 droppers. Whether the set up was out of balance I don’t know, as it was late in the day and I didn’t have enough time to experiment, but I found that I couldn’t cast with the new rod. I already use the same make of rod but a 9ft #5 and can cast with ease (well to my limited experience anyway)most of the time and can change from nymph fishing to dry fly easily. The action of this new rod felt strange when trying to overhead cast.
Question- When the trout season starts and I go wondering down the river nymph fishing and decide to change to the dry, will this new rod perform well? Is it just a matter of getting use to the softer action of the rod, which should come with practice, or is the rating of the rod not suitable for dry fly fishing? Looking forward to your advice--------Peter.

I don't know the tactical, so I'm going to make some assumptions. I'm going to assume that rod has a fairly low amount of power and a fairly moderate (or even slower) action. That is a great combination of atributes for a nymph rod where you're in constant contact with the flies and using light line. That's how my 3/4 wt fishes.

What it doesn't do is give you a distance rod or an easy time making tight loops. Long whippy rods are tough to stop crisply on the forward and back strokes. A crisp stop makes a nice loop. With dries, you get into the habit of false casting at a quick tempo and dropping on the last forward. There is no quick tempo with a long whippy rod.

It will fish dries just fine, but you need to adjust your stroke to it. It will take some work and practice. I'd suggest 20' of line plus a leader on grass. Just cast the rod. Try to make the tightest loops you can. See what limit you can get to for you and the rod. Then practice making that cast over and over again. Do the same at 10' and 30'. Get a real feel for how you have to cast the rod with a dry on. Lobbing doesn't take practice, casting does.

Thanks
Rick

[QUOTE=morrisdancer;878251
Question- When the trout season starts and I go wondering down the river nymph fishing and decide to change to the dry, will this new rod perform well? Is it just a matter of getting use to the softer action of the rod, which should come with practice, or is the rating of the rod not suitable for dry fly fishing? Looking forward to your advice--------Peter.[/QUOTE]

A good 3 wt rod will never throw out as much line as a good 5 wt its simple physics.

Hi Peter,
I too have a Marryat 10ft 3wt and have extolled it's virtues several times on here. Don't worry, it will cast a dry fly reasonably well but you have to get used to the action. I have my shortline nymph set up on one spool and a dry set up on another. I carry the one I'm not using in my pocket. I find changing spools easier than changing leaders. Initially try it with just a small dry on 10 to 12 ft tapered leader and don't try to cast too far. Presumably you are river fishing so don't need a long cast anyway. Hope it works out.
Cheers
Bill