Knots, Line, and so on

[tjm]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I'm curious about reasons for fishing 3, or 2 for that matter.  

I never was, or will be, a dropper kinda guy.   I'd rather fish ONE FLY properly than multiple flys improperly.....or should I say "less proper".   

But that's just me. 🤷‍♂️

This says "I only know one way  and don't want to know any other way." And that is cool, if your " "proper way" is the only method that you practice, you must become very good at it. We all have our quirks, I can't fish any fly under a bobber with a fly rod,  or call the point fly a dropper, the dropper is always the fly or flies nearer to the  the rod, with the first dropper sometimes called the "bob fly" when fished at or near the surface.  I myself prefer to use a single fly but I rarely fish it properly. However, on the occasions when I feel like messing with a dropper, it's almost always two droppers and the point fly.

My question was probably misconceived, because  of my lack of bobber skills I never think of that method, but if I consider it,  with a bobber taking the place of the bob fly and another dropper plus the point fly under it it makes a three fly configuration. I think I answered my own question, the fourth fly tend to make the rig unwieldy. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, Mitch f said:

. I actually hate to use spinning reels but some applications require it. 

Ned😆

[Al Agnew]

I can and do fish both with "bobbers" and without.  Both have their place.  Where indicator fishing really shines for me is in wading bigger waters.  Out on the Yellowstone where the majority of my fly fishing is done, there are a lot of runs and current seams that require a fairly long cast to reach.  I don't know how anybody gets a good drift with a nymph without an indicator when you're fishing 30-50 feet away from where you're standing, with no way of wading any closer.  Using the indicator, the fly or flies are drifting beneath that indicator, and mending at those distances is easy.  Try getting a drag free drift and good mends without using the indicator.  

I've also started using an indicator when streamer fishing from a drift boat or raft.  Summer before last the Yellowstone stayed fairly high and murky through much of the summer, and I was catching good fish on streamers with a nymph dropper.  I discovered that I could cast the rig with an indicator on it up close to the bank, twitch it off quickly  to the distance from the bank where the water was 3-4 feet deep, and then let it drift for a bit under the indicator, giving the streamer time to reach the bottom, and then twitch it so that the streamer "jumped" off the bottom and back down.  The drifting indicator kept the streamer in the strike zone longer as it moved downstream in the current, without the current dragging the streamer as much.  I caught fish on both the nymph and the streamer, both drifting and twitching.  It was pretty deadly and a different look than what the fish were used to.

On the other hand, for fishing smaller waters, I like to nymph without an indicator.  You're usually fishing more close in to you, and I can let the nymphs sink naturally at the bottom of a shallow riffle and drop down quickly into the deep water below.  I also use more lead than a lot of guys do, I almost "guide" the drift downstream with the split shot ticking along the bottom.

I've tried to figure out EXACTLY what the nymphs are doing both under an indicator and without an indicator.  I believe that we get far fewer "drag-free" drifts than most of us think.  On a typical drift, the surface current where the indicator is will often be faster than the current along the bottom.  With the amount of lead I use, the indicator will be dragging the nymphs along as the lead ticks the bottom.  I think it all balances out; the indicator is speeding up the drift, while the lead is slowing it down.  My top fly, closest to the indicator, is almost always bigger and has a bead head, so it is kind of wallowing along the bottom to the side or maybe even a bit downstream of the lead.  My bottom fly will be lighter, no bead head, and it's waving in the current a lot more freely.  I think this makes both flies look a little more alive and swimming rather than just dead drifting.  It also makes detecting strikes pretty easy; when the lead is dragging along the bottom being pulled by the indicator, you have tight line between indicator and the lead, and when a fish takes the bobber just stops if the current is fairly strong.  Of course, there are problems with this; we know a lot of fish take and immediately reject a fly before the take is shown on the indicator.  But that's a problem no matter how you fish nymphs.

I've just always fished two nymphs ever since my fly fishing guru showed me how to fish.  But I think that having two different weights of nymphs makes them a little different in presentation, as well as appearance.  Some days most fish hit the top one, other days the bottom one.

[Flysmallie]

Y’all took Mitch’s high tech bass fishing knot discussion and turned it into a bobber fishing fly fishing post. His head is going to explode. 

[Mitch f]

3 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Y’all took Mitch’s high tech bass fishing knot discussion and turned it into a bobber fishing fly fishing post. His head is going to explode. 

Nah, I’m ok

Off subject, but I would like to know if any of you guys from this forum ended up on Epstein’s list.

[Flysmallie]

22 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

Off subject, but I would like to know if any of you guys from this forum ended up on Epstein’s list.

But I thought it was okay to grab them by the feline. 

 

[Mitch f]

1 hour ago, Flysmallie said:

But I thought it was okay to grab them by the feline. 

 

I just have this concept of stealthier line with no stretch and want to perfect the knot. When it’s all said and done a bunch of well respected fisherman use straight braid on their spinning rod and catch a ton of fish. I’m just trying to convince myself that it doesn’t matter to the fish. 

 

[Mitch f]

Edited 

[rps]

13 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Ned😆

Not necessarily so. I built and use a casting rod for Neds. Champ and Quillback have seen it. Choose the right blank, use micro guides, spiral wrap, put a quality reel, like a Revo MGX or a Daiwa Steez or Zillion, on it, and you do not need to mess with hay balers.

[rps]

As for knots, I trust a double palomar for braid and mono to hook, a Crazy Alberto for braid to mono connection, and a uni to uni for mono to mono.