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Hatchet Jack

Tandem fly terminology?

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I feel dumbererer than a sack of hammers for posting this,

but I am ever confused by 'point' fly & 'dropper' fly & 'lead' fly.

I swear I read one chap's article & he states what it is, then some

other Joe will describe their tandem fly layout and it's reversed.

 

WHAT does one call the distal and proximal flies?

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Point fly is usually your largest heaviest fly like a bugger, trailing fly or flies are then connected behind or above the point fly and usually get smaller so in a 3 fly right you might have a bugger as your point fly then a smaller maybe 14 fly behind that then maybe a 16 or smaller behind that or above the point fly. This is how I Was taught atleast.

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I believe anchor fly is another term for point fly mostly used when the trailing flies are tied above the main fly. I could be wrong on this its been a while since I fished trout waters as a kid!

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When I started fly fishing, a fly tied above the end of the leader was called a dropper. I think when we started doing things like tying a length of tippet to the bend of a hook, the fly tied to that started being called a dropper.

 

I call the fly that is farthest from the end of the fly line the point fly and any flies above that droppers. If I tie a fly off the bend of a hook, I call it a trailer. Others obviously have different terminology. I'm not sure there is a standard with so many different possible riggings.

 

To me an anchor fly or tool fly is a heavy nymph who's function is partly that of a sinker.

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Exactly, the answer you get is going to be influenced by how the person was taught, regardless of terminology the construction is usually always similar. I wouldn't get too wrapped up in what its called other thongs are more important like length of tippet between flies and how one fly will affect the drift of another.

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I've always called the trailing fly a dropper. Though I like the designation of the lead fly as the point fly. Sometimes I'll reverse the pattern and fish the heavier fly like a woolly bugger as the "dropper". Hopefully, creating the illusion of a small bait fish chasing down a nymph.

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I have to disagree with what the "point" fly is.

 

I believe the origin of the term is from England and originates from the names for the flies in a "gang" of wet flies. Point fly is the fly on the point or the end of the series of flies. It is the last fly on the leader = the fly on the point of the leader. This name for the end fly has been corrupted by usage to describe flies for nymphing and for dry dropper fishing. Read this old description of wet fly fishing from Flyfish@, the original fly fishing organization on the internet. This was before images could be posted. Note that Philip made a the drawing by using ASCI caracters. This is how we used to communicate in the dark ages of the internet.

 

http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/muse/blair.htm

 

BTW, David Hughes uses the same terminology for point fly in his book, Wet Flies.

 

Davy Wotton uses the same terminology in his wet fly leader system

 

"Though he varies his leaders from 12 to 18 feet for that water, on that day he rigged six feet of Sunset Amnesia 12-pound-test as a base, then 20 to 24 inches of P-Line Halo six-pound fluorocarbon to the top dropper, the same length of Halo four-pound-test to the middle dropper, and a similar section of the same material to the point fly."

 

http://www.flyrodreel.com/magazine/2012/april/practical-and-useful

 

When adapted to dry fly fishing, point fly then becomes the dry tied on the end of the leader. The problem occurs when a "dropper" fly is tied of the hook of the dry fly for a dry/dropper set up. Now then last fly on the leader is not the point fly but the dropper; and the second to last - the dry fly is the point.How confusing.

 

For nymphing the point fly is again the last fly, the fly on the bottom. It can be the "anchor fly" which is the heaviest fly, which is the term used for Czech nymphing. Anchor means heaviest and not necessarily the last fly when the heaviest fly is placed elsewhere.

 

So "point fly" is the fly on the point of the leader in the original meaning of the term. Anchor fly is the heaviest fly regardless of location as in the illustrations below

 

meck_tandemflies_3.gif

 

adjnymphrig.png

 

nymphrig1.gif

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In Czech nymphing the point fly is the last fly on the leader, mostly a jig nymph, but not always, the droppers are the two flies tied above it! AND THATS THAT!:-)

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Adam, I totally agree with you that the “point” fly is the last fly on the leader. In fact, regardless of the nymphing system or the wet fly system, I think the Last Fly IS ALWAYS the Point Fly.

In the case of Czech nymphing, the point is normally the heaviest fly and is also referred to as the Anchor Fly by many authors. In the French and Spanish long leader euronymphing systems, the heavy point fly can also be called the anchor fly.

My view is that the point fly is always on the end of the leader, and when the it is also the heaviest fly, it is permissible to called it the anchor fly. When the point is NOT the heaviest fly, it should never be called the anchor fly, but the point fly. If you always call the end fly, the point fly you will always be correct EXCEPT in the case of a dry dropper rig that refers the end fly as the dropper.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=czech+nymphing+anchor+fly

Here are a couple of illustrations I found.

Czech.jpg

French_Spanish-Nymphing-Leader1-1024x768

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i always thought it was this way

 

from the interweb

 

The dropper pattern can be the heavy pattern (anchor) or it can tied as the point fly. Normally, the anchor is tied in at point and the target pattern is tied in as the dropper. However, I have found that sometimes switching the location of the heavy pattern with the target pattern (as shown above) will catch fish when the normal position of the nymphs does not produce strikes.

 

You can, of course, also use two heavy patterns or two non-weighted patterns which I'll also use for stillwaters but traditional dead-drift fishing with a dropper system usually means one of the patterns is heavy enough to sink the target fly in deeper -- or faster -- flows of moving water.

 

303615570.jpg

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i always thought it was this way

 

from the interweb

 

The dropper pattern can be the heavy pattern (anchor) or it can tied as the point fly. Normally, the anchor is tied in at point and the target pattern is tied in as the dropper. However, I have found that sometimes switching the location of the heavy pattern with the target pattern (as shown above) will catch fish when the normal position of the nymphs does not produce strikes.

 

You can, of course, also use two heavy patterns or two non-weighted patterns which I'll also use for stillwaters but traditional dead-drift fishing with a dropper system usually means one of the patterns is heavy enough to sink the target fly in deeper -- or faster -- flows of moving water.

 

303615570.jpg

 

Flytire,

 

The problem with the explanation is that a dropper CANNOT be a point fly. Those two terms are contradictory as I understand them. The anchor fly can be tied at the dropper or the point, BUT a dropper cannot be a point.

 

The author then goes on to properly explain what he means, which that the heavy pattern can be at the dropper position or the point position, BUT an examination of the syntax of the first sentence shows that he is equating a dropper as the point fly - "The dropper pattern can be the heavy pattern (anchor) or it can tied as the point fly." The proper syntax is, "The heavy pattern (anchor) can be the dropper pattern or it can be tied as the point fly."

 

Notice the difference in the change in meaning of these sentences with only a slight change in syntax.

 

Jim said that he drives only a truck.

(He drives nothing else.)

Jim said that only he drives the truck.

(No one else drives a truck.)

Only Jim said that he drives a truck.

(No one else said it.)

No wonder Hatchet Jack is confused, when improper syntax inadvertently changes the entire meaning of what the author actually meant to say.

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If I have understood any of this, I'm summing it up thusly:

 

1.) There's the farthest out fly - the Point Fly. Like the soldier 'on point'.

2.) There's the Dropper Fly, tied on to a 'dropper' tag end of tippet. Above the Point Fly.

 

Any more than this, and I'm ready to call it Mutt & Jeff.

And in the case of three flies, I'm ready to call it Tom, Dick, and Harry.

In the case of four flies, it shall be known as Tom, Dick, Harry, et al.

 

Sure is nice to have on our site someone with a good command and respect of & for the King's English.

Hat's off to you a thousand times, SilverCreek.

(and also for all your other accomplished contributions)

 

 

 

 

 

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