 Hello, and welcome all back to the channel Fish and Freaks. We are back in Texas from Tennessee by goodness, and I think we brought back some cooler weather. It's only 97 today. So here's what we got going on today, y'all. Me and OSG, we're starting to prep already, especially me. I am so pumped for this. Going to Colorado, we do this every year, and this year is going to be a little different. I'm not focusing on hunting, but I'm taking a buddy with me that also does family camping, and we are going to attack trout. We are going fishing hard, harder than I've ever fished up there. I'm trying to learn a lot of new techniques in the fly game. So I'm going to carry some conventional gear, carry fly gear, and I've really been trying to learn. I'm studying, and there's a technique that I'm really trying to get familiar with. I think it's going to be a key element to catching some bigger fish up in Colorado. So we're going to be experimenting with that today out on the lake, because I got some brand new gear and I'm anxious to try it out. Look at this little buddy right here. Look at this little guy. You guys know what that is? You know what that's called? It's a pretty good size. That might be a big female or something. So camouflaged. Hey there. Some of these are actually pretty friendly with us. They won't let us pet them, but they, I think that, yeah, that might be one of our locals. That is called a Texas Fence Lizard, and they sit on my front porch and demolish all kinds of bugs. So I love them. They're a great addition here at the tree house. Now, since it's only 97 today, we are going to take the silver bullet out, and we're going to go visit some crappie spots where I've had very tough, I've hardly been able to get a bite, fishing brush piles and things like that. So this is actually a technique called nymphing. And if you don't know what nymphing is, it is a, it's basically, if you're not throwing a dry fly, something that's floating on top of the water, or if you're not stripping a fly like a streamer, everything else you're doing is nymphing. It's when it sinks down into the water. And I got to thinking about it, studying this, and I said, this is like crappie fishing. This is, this is like finesse crappie fishing, the way the technique works. And I've done it just a little bit on some rainbow trout, and it just reminded me of that. It's a more in tune way to go crappie fishing. So I'm looking to expand this and tune this to where when I get on a crappie bite and it's very tough, I'll be able to break this system out. So even if you don't care about trout fishing, this might be something you want to pay attention to, because you can apply it to your crappie and your bass. And it's a different style of finesse fishing that you're not gonna see many people doing out on the water. I can promise you that. Okay, friends, we are floating. So here at the ramp, I actually have to put together my rod. Now, the crazy thing about nymphing versus like a standard fly rod, they're a lot lighter usually and they're longer. So the other day, I actually, I cracked one of the guides on my crappie fishing pole, which was a 10 foot pole. And I said, man, I really need to get a replacement, but I also need a nymphing rod. So I think I'm just gonna start using this for my scoping rod as well, if it all works out. So this is my nymphing rod right here. I ended up going with a Cortland. Wasn't too, too crazy expensive. It was around, it was close to 300 bucks, but this is a 10 and a half foot three weight rod. So a lot of the standard fly rods, they're around eight or nine foot or so. And I've got a four weight, I've got a five weight, just standard, you know, throwing a fly on top of the water, all that kind of stuff. But this is gonna be longer and you need that reach in order to kind of stay in the riffle as they say, stay in the little currents and brakes and all those things, which is gonna be useful for crappie fishing. So we're gonna be kind of leading that around branches and also bluegill. Oh my gosh, I took this thing out the other night. I caught more bluegill than I ever have in 30 minutes. It's just insane. You would be hard pressed to find one of these. I'm probably one of the few people in the United States that has a Shimano Asquith Fly reel. The reason I have this is I used to sell Shimano reels. I was a part of their sales force and this was one of the reels. This was a sample that I purchased. I don't think I ever sold any of these. They were not well received on the market. They probably kind of come up with a better name. If you can imagine being a salesperson and you're trying to sell a reel and you're like, hey, you should check out this Asquith. I never really got the name right. It didn't really take, you can understand. But what I do like about this is it is like the perfect weight. This is a four weight, three or four weight size reel but it goes perfectly balanced on my rod. So I've already tried it out. And the balance is kind of important because you're kind of holding your arm out and you don't want it to be tip heavy. You also don't want it to be like real heavy in the butt section. So anyway, this reel goes very nicely with it. Also with the gear, if you're wondering what this thing is around my neck, I'm replacing my chesty. After a decade of rocking a chesty, neckies is the new deal, I'm guessing. I was trying to come up with a system for filming in creeks and rivers with my little, my fly fishing pack here. Just a real simple setup. And I was going to put a camera in here to film for you guys, but then I was just looking around and I saw this thing and it just sits right above this and I'm good to go. So I kind of like this system. I don't know how shaky it's going to be. We'll find out after this video. Cool piece of gear. If you guys are filming fishing, you don't want to wear the bra, you can get one of these. So put it in my Amazon store, link down below. So I'll put together the rod and then I'll show you the menagerie of lines that are associated with nymphing. So on the very end, attaching to our nymph or fly, in this case, you know what? A nymph can also be a croppy chick. They're basically nymphs. I have 5X tippet, which is around four and a half pound test line. Attached to that, after about two feet, I have a tippet ring. If you guys have never seen a tippet ring, they are microscopic. They're tiny. There's actually a little, it's not even a split ring. It's a solid ring that's right there. So attached to that is a citer line. Cite, not like cider, like sip and cider, but citer, like eyesight. And that is a colored line that I can see. It's multicolored. So I can look at it and determine what depth I'm in. And when I'm getting bites, I can remember that color that I'm on. I also have some little tag ends on my citer and on my connection to my tippet ring. So I can kind of see, like, oh, I'm at two foot. I'm at four foot here. And then after all of that, we have our monofilament. And this monofilament is integrated into the fly line. This is a product that Rio makes. They make a lot of different fly stuff. And there's a specific nymphing line on here. It's less drag. If you just have a fly rod laying around and you want to nymph, you want to try it for crappie or gills or whatever, you can do it with a regular system. You can do it by tying some connection knots, but dealing with those connection knots going through your guides is going to be kind of a pain. So I went ahead and just got to straight up your own nymphing line. All right, let's do it. Tiny little nymph. Just start off with some gills here. It's a tiny weight, but I can see my citer going down. I know that's two foot. The idea around this is you just want to use the rod, just like crappie fishing, to manipulate where that nymph is going. I felt, oh, I got one already. Woo, got one. Wa-bam. Now the crazy thing about these nymphing rods is the sensitivity. It's going to be way more sensitive than your typical crappie rod setup. So if I can fill a bluegill thump like that, a crappie thump is going to be amazing. There's tons of little micro minnows right now too. Very small shad, which makes me think that this is going to be a good, good technique for fishing on crappie, even those little tiny shad. Oh, there we go. My gosh, you can feel that. I mean, that tiny bluegill, I felt nothing thump. Oh, there we go. Oh, we got a drag puller. That's a little green here. Got a bigger mouth. Oh, there we go. Oh yeah. All right, I think you guys get the point here. Now this style is naked. There's nothing else on here. Straight nymph, naked nymphing. So we're going to experiment with this a little bit, see if we can get on some bigger fish. Just floating around out here, I came across a new brush pile. Actually, two of them. I've never fished before. So let's drop that nymph in there and see what comes out. Let's see if we can get a crappie on a nymph. Actually, I'm throwing a crappie jig now. So let me show you. All right, so this is what we're going to be dropping in here. This is a little custom-tied crappie jig. Kind of looks like a fly. Someone tied for me. Interesting thing is going to be casting this bad boy on a three-wave. That is interesting. Got to watch out for the poles on the back. Oh, just saw my jig. Yeah, there it goes. Dropping into the juice. There goes my fly line. All right, here we go. Dropping into the zone, boys. Something's coming up. Something's all over it. I mean, we've got him. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, the feel, the sensitivity. Woo, wait for this boatway. I got clobbered right there. There's some big creatures crawling around down there. Probably bass. If I hook a bass on this thing, woo, look out, Sally. One sees it. I better get ready. Got him, got him. Got him. Got him on the nip. Come on, baby. Let's go. Let's go, boys. First nip-free crappie, yeah. Oh, and he wanted it so bad, that little light presentation in there. Woo, baby. Woo, baby. Five minutes in the nymph, and we doing it. Shoo. Thank you, whoever made me these. It's kind of a wintertime deal, but I thought I'd try it with this. Yes, sir, let's go. I am just super connected to everything with this line. Basically inching it down there by hand. Starting my drift. Oh, my gosh, one sees it, he's coming. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, baby. Oh, let's go. Oh, we got a runner. Oh, my gosh, guys, this is extremely fun. Oh, man, we got something serious here. Oh, it's a white bass. How fun, how fun. Gotta be very careful that I don't break this rod here. If I get anything big, I'm gonna have to net it. Ah, yeah, that's fun. Thought that little white and chartreuse would pop a couple. Woo-hoo, baby. Let's go. All right, this line, one of the more expensive things I have on here, this line was like $100, but just the way it goes through the guides and it's interlocked with the mono, fantastic for this technique. So we'll dig into our bag of tricks right here, our box of tricks. I'm gonna tie on a jig that I actually tied. It's got some wood duck feathers in it. I really don't know what this is gonna do on the water, but I thought it would look cool on the tackle box shelf. I'm gonna try full feather and then I might reduce it, trim it up a little bit. Got him, got him, got him on the homemade. Oh my gosh, this feels big. Oh no, nope, he's coming up. I'm gonna lose him because I'm stripping. There he is, oh, good crappie. This line kind of burns, burns my fingers. Come here, come here. Ah, there's just so many cool things about that. A, I nymphed him. B, it's a crappie jig I tied. C, it's got feathers from a duck that I harvested. I mean, amazing, that's amazing. Man, I will drink to that. That is such a cool moment. I might eat my duck, my little duck butt. Another one coming, oh my God, a giant. Oh my gosh, that had to be a bass. Just a magnum. Oh, another one's on it. I mean, floating right on it. Good crappie, that was a good crappie. We followed it out for a while. They're interested in this feather though, this longer feather. They're coming out and just staying on it. Got him, oh my gosh, that feels big. Come here, oh yeah, that one feels good. That one feels good, guys. Oh yeah, big crappie. There, that is too cool. I don't know, can I land him? Oh, let me grab my cider. I can lift him, four pound. Yeah, baby. That was one of those toadstools I was trying to get right there. Oh, shoot, yeah, gum. That is amazing, guys, that's fun. That is so cool, I cannot believe they're crushing my little homemade jig. All right, let's let this juicy one go. Freezer's pretty full right now, which is good. Just having some fun, figuring out the nymph game. Now you're gonna make me put you in the freezer? Tickle you. Yep, he's got that glazy look in his eye. All right, buddy, we'll put you back. Don't worry, you'll go into a nice sourdough sandwich and it'll be all right. Okay, y'all, let's see if we can drop on one more fresh pile with our nymphing set up and get one. I have satisfied the craving, but I would definitely like to have one more here. This feels so good when you hook up on a decent fish on this pole. Oh, incoming. Freshy, you can do it. Got him. Oh yeah, come on. Gotta have those fresh ones. Come on, baby. That rod just loaded on the thing, not even a big one. Oh, gosh. Tighten up that drag a little bit. Oh, oh, I had you underhooked there. You were thinking about it, though. So much fun. Pumped would be an understatement. I am so excited about this rig. I can't wait to do more of this in the winter time for crappie springtime. I could do double rigs with flies. It's gonna be legit. And when I hooked into that big one, man, it was just like solid weight. I thought I was hung for a second. So when I go up to Colorado and I hook into one of those brown sharks in the river and it's running and jumping on this rig, it's gonna be insane. So you guys need to subscribe, stay tuned for a couple of weeks. Mountain backgrounds, big browns. I'm gonna be making noises you've never heard before. So one thing I forgot to mention you guys about this whole nymphing setup is that you can also fish indicators on your nymph rig. So for crappie fishing, if you've ever thrown a cork up shallow with a little jig head on it, you've basically done a oversized nymphing rig. I have a bunch of little bobbers and corks and things like that for nymphing, but doing it straight up just bare, the sensitivity is incredible. I mean, I was down there 20 feet at times with this line and still feeling the strike. So the sensitivity is pretty unmatched on the bare naked version. But if you've never done this, fishing with a little indicator is really fun. It's easy to read those currents, little seams if you're fishing in a creek or a stream or something. And also you can just see when a fish bobs it under. Just a few more little fix ups on the camper. We're gonna take it for a trial run before we go all the way up into the mountains. I'm doing some cabinetry in there right now, some more lighting. So we're gonna roll out somewhere in Texas probably and do a little adventure soon and take the dangle equipment of course and just make sure it's all good for the big trip. So thank you guys for tuning in to today's episode. New and interesting, I know, kind of crazy. So thank you guys for tuning in to today's, thank you guys for tuning in to today's dangle. Make sure to subscribe right here to the channel so you don't miss a single outdoor adventure and I will see you on the next one.