The Experts Review The Primal Zone Euro Nymph Fly Rods

With the cold stuff about to hit the Primal Zone, specialist euro nymph rod range, is just the contact nymphing style rod to add to your fly fishing options for chasing Taupo's winter run rainbow trout. These days euro, or czech, nymphing is a far more popular tactic when you consider how people were choosing to target these fish even just five years ago.

Where some people might spend hours upon hours watching their big old budgie indicators doing laps in the water in front of them, the czech nymphers get straight to the meat of it with flies that get in the zone quickly and using a rod that can transit the feel of subtle takes that a big indicator is likely to miss. The Primal Zone euro nymph rods have more than proven themselves after a couple of seasons of use and are well worth checking out.

At the heart of all Primal rods is a helical core of Nano Matrix prepreg. In simple terms the first layer at the core of the fly rods are off-axis fibres that give the rods incredible hoop strength as well as torsional stability. This makes the rods not only strong but means they cast a very smooth tight loop with very little tip bounce and exceptional tracking. Basically this means more control, more stability and a more responsive, fishable fly rod that you can set hooks with all day.

Bringing a specialist nymphing rod to the range packing this tech was a no brainer, however as I’m no expert on the finer points of euro nymphing, we thought we’d call in the big guns for their views on the new, Primal Zone, specialist euro nymphing range.

The 10’6” 3 Weight - The Ultimate All Rounder With Tarn McEwen

So picture this, you’ve just fished a pool with nice uniform currents and sure you’ve pulled a fish or two out with your standard nymph/indicator rig or dry dropper but at the head of the pool you’re faced with a swirly mine field of currents and you spy that big brown nymphing away down deep against the far bank.

It’s only natural to want to put a few drifts over him but no matter which angle you approach from your fly line and leader are inevitably being dragged around by the various currents in the back eddy, your flies drag past and the fish slinks away never to be seen again.

If only there was a technique and more importantly a tool that could put that fish in your net right? Well I present to you the Primal Zone 10’6” 3wt.

The Primal Zone is one of the nicest euro nymphing series of rods currently available to us in NZ. The 3wt in particular being 10’6” with its extra length will allow you to suspend a long euro nymphing leader off the water at a long distance with only your flies and tippet entering the water thus bypassing any currents between you and your flies making that impossible drift possible.

It’s also incredibly lightweight for a rod of this length which will reduce fatigue from casting and suspending your rig/leader all day. Everything from the lightweight guides to the fighting butt and down locking reel seat have all been thought out to perfectly balance this rod.

Don’t be fooled by the term ‘3wt’ either, these rods with their length have the power in the butt section similar to that of a 5 or 6wt rod and will handle those tanks no worries whilst still maintaining the finesse of a 3wt in the tip. I personally got to put this to the test a few weeks back on some hard-fighting pocket water rainbows and didn’t lose a single fish all day so no complaints there!

When testing it I trialed a range of different weight flies and it performed great with all, but especially stood out with the lighter flies as I was able to drop them on a dime in the tightest of pockets.

The last thing I’d like to touch on is that even though this rod is designed for and is the ideal tool for the job when it comes to euro nymphing it is not only limited to just that. It cast an Airflo SuperFlo Tactical 3wt floating line with tight delicate loops and can be used to deliver tiny to medium sized dries to fish sipping under the willows.

As well as swing wee wets and even slightly bigger streamers. Once again the extra length helps makes a single hand spey or roll cast a breeze. This 3wt is seriously the all rounder of the series! Now all that’s left for you to do is go add one to your kit and put that fish in your net.

If you're in the Taranaki region then make sure to swing in and see Tarn at Hunting & Fishing and chew the fat. This man has a depth of fishing knowledge worth tapping into, and if you see him on the banks of the Tongariro then ask him for a quick demo of the Tongariro Roll Cast, it'll blow your socks off.

The 10’ 4 Weight - Big Water Power With Lubin Pfeiffer

Every time I go to NZ I’m faced with the decision of taking one rod with me out on the river. Coming from a competition fishing background this is always a tough ask, as I need a rod that covers most bases while out on the water. I need to be able to euro nymph, cast dries of various sizes and work the water with a dry/dropper if need be.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of testing out one of the new Primal Zone 4wt 10ft rods. This thing is a weapon! It’s not often, if ever, that you get a rod that covers such a wide variety of techniques but this is it.

Over a couple weeks of testing I caught more than 350 trout with the Primal Zone. It is just outstanding for working pocket water with euro nymph techniques. I was able to effectively control a range of both heavy and light flies with the 4wt, and it had plenty of grunt for stopping large rainbows that went charging downstream.

I also used the Primal Zone 4wt 10ft during the filming of Big Angry Fish catching sipping trout on the Mohaka with tiny dries and light tippet. It was awesome. If you asked me which one rod I’d take to NZ, the Primal Zone 4wt 10ft is without a doubt it.

Check out more from The Full Scale Fishing Adventures on Youtube