Some anglers learn to fish with nymphs and work their way up to dries. Spencer Durrant went the other direction. When we sat down with him for Episode 78, he was the news editor at MidCurrent, a bamboo rod builder, and an author, and he told us he grew up in a central Utah family where, in his words, if it wasn't a dry fly it didn't count. He says he didn't even know what a nymph was for until he was 12 or 13. That upbringing shaped everything about how he fishes, and there's a lot in it the rest of us can steal.
Fish the Rig That Works Almost Everywhere
Spencer was refreshingly honest about this: he admits he gets a little lazy and fishes basically the same setup across the Rockies, because it keeps working. It's a dry-dropper. A decent, visible dry fly up top, then nymphs below matched loosely to what's in the river. He leans on Frenchie-style nymphs because, as he put it, there are always mayfly and caddis nymphs in the drift. In Utah he can legally run three flies; in places like Montana, check the regs before you hang a second dropper.
The real lesson is in why it works. Spencer's view is that on the large majority of rivers, success comes down to getting the fly in front of the fish at the right depth with a good presentation, not to having the perfect pattern. So before you dig through the box for the tenth time, ask:
- Is my dropper deep enough? Lengthen the dropper tag or add a heavier bead before you change patterns.
- Is the dry drifting drag-free? If it's skating, the nymphs below are dragging too. Mend early and often.
- Am I covering new water? One good drift through a seam beats ten sloppy ones in the same spot.
When the Fly Really Does Matter
There's an exception, and Spencer described it well. On long, flat, glassy water, picky trout get a clean look at everything. He told a story about a rainbow rising in one of those flat sections that came up, inspected his fly, and swam off. In that water, your fly and your presentation both need to be close to perfect. He mentioned that fishing something like a 17-foot 8X leader with a size 28 parachute midge to risers on a glassy pool took him years to figure out.
You don't need to start at 8X. Practical steps for flat water:
- Lengthen your leader and go one tippet size finer than you'd use in riffles.
- Position yourself upstream and across so the fly reaches the fish before the leader does.
- Size down before you change color or style. Small and quiet usually wins on slicks.
- Watch the rise form. A sipping rise often means the fish is eating something tiny in or just under the film.
That dry-fly-first instinct still pays off, too. Spencer said he's the guy who pulls the car over the second he sees a rise. Keep your eyes on the water and you'll find more willing fish than the nymph-only crowd ever sees.
Why Bamboo Makes You a Better Angler
The best part of the conversation was about bamboo. Spencer builds rods, and his reason for loving cane isn't nostalgia. Bamboo forces you to slow down. The casting stroke is slower and more deliberate, and he described laying out a dry fly on bamboo as about the most graceful motion in the sport. He even joked about a buddy who can't stand slow-action rods. Fair enough, it's not for everyone.
He was also practical about it. He isn't fishing bamboo on a big stillwater where he'd wear his arm out casting all day. Bamboo comes out when he knows he'll be fishing dries on a smaller river. That's a great rule of thumb if you're curious about cane or a slower glass rod: use it where short, accurate casts and soft presentations matter most.
He also walked us through some of the build process. The cane he uses comes from a small growing region in China, prized because it grows straight and strong while staying flexible. A culm gets split into roughly quarter-inch strips, and those strips are sorted so the nodes, the weakest points, don't line up next to each other. It's slow, careful work, which fits the whole philosophy.
Slow Down on Purpose
Even if you never own a bamboo rod, the mindset carries over. Spencer said his fishing has shifted from being all about the fish to being about the whole day. Try it on your next small-stream trip: fish a slower rod, fish dries only for the first hour, and give each rise your full attention. You'll cast cleaner and enjoy it more.
Gear
If you want more rigging help, our Tips and Tricks for Fly Fishing eBook covers dry-dropper setups, leaders, and presentation basics. For those long days watching for rises in bright sun, a Five Panel Cap cuts glare so you can actually see the fly. And if Spencer has you curious about cane or a slow glass rod, stop by your local fly shop and ask to cast one. Feeling it in your hand is the only way to know.
