Dropper Rigs For Fly Fishing

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Al Agnew wrote : " I simply add an 18 inch length of tippet to the end of my leader with a surgeon's knot, tie the top fly about six inches down the tippet with a palomar knot, leaving the rest of the tippet section as the tag end (don't trim it), and then tie my bottom fly to the end of that tag end. "

You know - I've spent so long trying to keep the tag end as short as possible on re-ties and dropper rigs.... But that techinque really makes sense. I like it. I'm going to use it. Thanks Al.

ohmz138 wrote : " As a tip with tangling less droppers, open your loops up a bit and make sure your not making your foreward cast too soon. "

Excellent casting tip. I hope those who read it will try it / do it.

[fishinwrench]

I've never been one to have any confidence in droppers of any kind. I think it interferes with a tension drift and hampers control of the lead fly way too much.

I'd rather fish ONE fly well, than to fish TWO flys poorly.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Everyone should try a dropper. Why ? It works.

You gotta be able to control one fly to try two.

[fishinwrench]

Honestly. Percentagewise don't most of your fish come on the tailing fly vs. the lead fly ?

I guess if you're bobber fishing in steady consistent water like Taney, with few opposing current seams....sure. But I can't put a 2-4 ft. section of leader with 2 flys attached into a 20inch target area (between the seams) without some nasty interferance.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Slow your roll, wrench. Advice should be given from experience.

I get plenty of fish on the first bug... scud / sowbug and anything as a dropper.

[fishinwrench]

I could probably pull it off on the waters I fish IF I considered the lead fly as simply "weight" and fished the tailing fly to targets. Anything that per chance took the lead fly after the drift / on the swing would be a bonus I suppose. But flys designed for a good swing are generally not good sinkers.

I dunno, the technique just does not act friendly in the types of rivers I fish mostly.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

" per chance " ???

Lining up is exactly what I'm doing fishing a dual rig.

That's what you do sometimes to catch trout.... no ?

[fishinwrench]

If I ever get spanked by someone fishing a dropper rig I'll give it another honest effort. How's that ?

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Fine then. We agree that you disagree with two fly setups.

Still no reason to kill others confidence.

[dgames]

I will try to add a little to this discussion.

I agree with others that I don't use split shot between or below my flies.

Mainly I will comment of the depth vs leader/tippet length discussion, In general, I pay attention to the length & thickness of leader/tippet from my indicator to the top fly and to the weight of my flies & split shot. Then it is a matter of balancing trade-offs and adjusting to water conditions.

-You want your leader long enough to get the fly down, but if it is too long, you will miss more strikes

-You are using the weight of your flies and potentially split shot to get the fly down. Leader material provides resistance to the flies' sinking force. The thicker the leader material, the more resistance to sinking. So, if you go with lighter tippet or a longer length of tippet (4x of smaller) vs the thicker portion of a tapered leader, you can get your fly down deeper and quicker.

- Thicker leader material also provides more drag on the fly and makes it harder for the indicator to stay in touch with the flies. Ideally, for strike detection purposes, you want the leader material to be in a straight line and nearly tight from the indicator to the flies. Thin tippet material slices through the water better allowing your indicator to maintain better contact with the flies.

-Finally, you need enough weight to get the flies down with the leader you are using and to also keep the leader relatively straight below the water. If you go too light you won't get the fly down and leader will snake around in the varying current speeds under water making it really hard to detect strikes. If you go too heavy, you will hang up on bottom and drag your fly unnaturally. Ideally, I like it if I can get enough weight in my flies to get by without split shot. I feel I get a better drift and and have a more direct connection to direct strikes.

-another thought when using 2 flies - I always use the heavier fly as the top fly and then go smaller/lighter with the dropper. As an example, I might use a size 12 bh scud as the top fly with a size 18 zebra midge as the trailer. Or for a bigger rig, a 12 copper john as the top fly with a scud as the trailer.

-When using 2 flies, I also usually go 1x smaller for the 'between flies' tippet than I use to the top fly. For example, if I am using 6x to the top fly, I go 7x for the dropper. This way I only lose 1 fly if I hang the bottom fly and I feel it also provides less drag on the top fly.

On the water I take these factors into consideration and make adjustments based on water conditions. For example, if I am fishing knee deep light riffles, I probably have 4 or 5 ft total from indicator to top fly with 2 1/2 to 3 feet of that probably 5x & 1 1/5 ft 6x to the top fly. If I use 2 tungsten bead head flies, I probably don't need any shot. If I have things set up right, I will get a false strike indication from the bottom every few casts. If I get them every cast, I am too heavy or have too much leader length. If I never bump bottom, I need more weight.

This is getting pretty wordy. Hopefully it makes some sense.