How to rig dry dropper

[Fish For Life 0]

After reading Obi's topic about "What's your best strike indicator fly", ive started thinking about trying this method of fishing more than i have. Im curious know how you guys set these lines up. Ive done it a few ways and am not sure if i am doing it right. So how do you guys set up your dry dropper rigs.

 

Thanks

[shoebop 0]

I call them tandem rigs because I don't always use just a dry with a nymph. I mix it up quite a bit. I just started thinking one day, "If one fly is good, then two should be better." Two drys, two soft hackles, dry and soft hackle, emergers, even streamers. But I digress. Back to your question. I simply tie the second fly to the bend of the hook of the first fly. So far I can't say if this impedes hookups on the first fly. It doesn't seem to because I seem to catch as many on either fly in the tandem rig. Remember, two is better than one.

[mikechell 0]

I don't fish two flies at once very often. With the high populations of sunfish, there's too big a chance of double hooks ups. I actually don't like catching two at once. They fight each other more than me, and I end up just dragging in weight.

 

Anyway ... when I have tied on two lures, I use a palomar knot on the first one. This leaves a very strong knot and a nice tag end to tie on the second fly. I actually learned to do this bass fishing with two soft plastic jerk baits ... about ten years before the A-rig.

[Piker20 0]

I don't like tying to the bend of the first hook (google new Zealand style) especially with barbless hooks. I tie some dry flies specially for this with a loop of thin braid along the shank, this allows the dropper to be tied to this loop. I also like tying my larger more buoyant dry on the point of the leader and have a dropper coming off 3 or 4 feet higher up toward the rod, with a smaller dry or emerger off that. I prefer this to the other way with the small fly on the point.

[Crackaig 0]

I'm the opposite to Mike, fishing single fly as often as he fishes multiple flies. Yes you can get multiple hook ups, it has happened to me twice in the last 20 years.

 

Traditional loch style fishing, the majority of what I do, is usually done with a three fly set up. Two flies are sometimes used and four not unknown. Three is usual though. These are most often wet flies and the total length from fly line to point fly can be up to 25 feet. This is dependant on the conditions, generally you should use as long a leader as you can manage. This is an aside though, we are talking about dry and nymph or wet fly set ups.

 

To illustrate I have done a quick sketch of the various set ups I have used. The flies and tippet are the variations here not the leader. Therefore I've only shown the variations for the fly and tippet. The flies I've drawn are just to illustrate that "there would be a fly here", not an indication that a particular set up suits a particular fly. Also I have presumed that the indicator dry fly will be closest to the fly line. I know that this is not always the case, but it is what I use most of the time.

 

Of the three the one I use most is the New Zealand set up where a length of tippet is tied directly to the bend of the indicator fly. There is one overriding reason. Its the simplest. I like simple, simple I can do. It is very easy to form the knot as if tying the tippet onto your finger, then slip it onto the hook and tighten.

 

I've tried Colin's method of tying a loop in to the fly to hang a length of tippet off. It means having a special set of flies just to use with this method. Also I find it fiddly to adjust on the water.

 

The dropper method I will use if I feel that I might want to change and have the dry on the point. Sometimes a useful technique, but it is more difficult to cast.

 

Two in the eye I only use to overcome the doubts of people who think the trailing tippet may interfere with the hooking of fish.

 

There are, undoubtedly, other ways to set this up, these are the ones I've tried.

 

Cheers,

C.

 

[phg 0]

The most common rig, here in the southeast, is to tie the dropper onto the bend of the hook. Usually, the dropper is a smaller nymph, even a midge nymph. I always use at least one size smaller tippet for the dropper. That way, if it snags on something, the dropper will break off without taking both flies.

 

Casting a double fly rig is a bit tricky. Opening up you loops a bit will help, but the biggest thing is waiting for the back cast to straighten out before beginning the forecast. If you find you are loosing a lot of droppers, 9 times out of 10, you're not waiting long enough on your backcast.

[mikechell 0]

Nice sketch, Crackaig.

The method I wrote about is similar to the one you drew, "two in the eye", except there is only one knot. The palomar knot leaves an equally strong connection for both the main line and the tag line, so the tag line IS the dropper line.

Very easy to tie.

 

I have seen hopper patterns where the loops tie in for the "dropper" line are front and back. And the leader is threaded through both, then tied to the dropper. This allows for changing the depth of the dropper just by sliding the hopper up and down the leader.

[Fish For Life 0]

Nice sketch, Crackaig.

X2

Very helpful thanks

[Mr. Baiter 0]

I really like tying an orvis knot on the dry (something with some really good buoyancy like a humpy, hopper, or even a foam beatle), leaving the tag end 2.5 to 3 ft long, and tying my dropper directly to that.

I double up on bluegill almost daily, and the ocassional bluegill/bass combo (shown) while fishing my local warm water pond in North Carolina with that rig. I've yet to double up on trout though...

[nawagner 0]

I use the New Zealand method as posted with an attractor dry fly and nymph/wet dropper. Never thought of two drys or wets on at the same time but is a good idea. I've had rare occasions where a fish was on the dry and the action of bringing it in tempted another fish to hit the dropper.

[SilverCreek 0]

I fish 2 flies quite often as "droppers".

 

The most common is the dry/dropper with the dropper tied on the bend of the dry fly. The length of the connecting dropper tag determines how deep below the film the dropper rides. When the dry is a big fly line a Hopper or Madam X, I've had many fish come up to examine the large dry which acts like an attractor and they then take the smaller dropper. Normally a trout in fast water won't rise from 3 feet deep for a small fly; but when they are brought up by the larger dry fly, they are willing to take the smaller dropper.

 

I've fish a dry/dry dropper with a hopper and a dry fly like the X-caddis. A double dry works well with a caddis as the dropper because a caddis can skitter or move about on the surface and the fish are less put off by a dragging caddis than a mayfly. Another double dry I use is beetle and ant combination fished next to the bank or under trees. I even use a dry ant and sunken ant as a dry/dropper combination.

 

I've also use a double streamer with a large streamer on tag and a smaller streamer in front. It mimics a larger baitfish chasing a smaller baitfish.