Rigging Droppers

[Old Hat]

You can skin a cat, but...."do you know how to skin a grizz?"

Sorry, a line from my favorite movie. Couldn't resist.

[redietz]

I've been using the rings more and more myself of late, but must say that I've tied the point fly to a piece of tippet tied to the bend of the hand fly for years and have had no problem with it, other than the inconvenience of changing the top fly.

I usually start with 9' leader tapered to 5x, with another couple of feet of 5x tippet appended to that. I either tie the ring or the top fly to that, and then use about 20 inches of 6x to the point. If I'm using the ring, I use about six inches of 5x between the ring and the dropper.

[redietz]

You can skin a cat, but...."do you know how to skin a grizz?"

Sorry, a line from my favorite movie. Couldn't resist.

Sounds like a Montana/Montana State rivalry question.

[flyfishwithme]

Andrew, did you re-read the reference that Carl posted above from Mike. I did and it was interesting about rod length and fishing spiders. I agree with him in respect to having better control using a longer rod when fishing NC flies. Interesting, this week I have been out with Bob Smith (a forum member) and he has been trying a 10' rod and was mildly impressed with the extra control he got.
Now as for furled leaders. I know a lot of people like them but the jury is still out with me. I love the design of my leaders which seem to work well even in the wind. AND a single fly does work.

[Ruard]

I did used the litle rings but also had the idea that the nylon got damaged by the little diameter of the the ring wire. I use a leader of braided nylon tapered to eight threads and than make a little loop in it. With a loop in loop I attache 12/100 normal nylon. My dropper by a waterknot comes about 40 cm (1,5 foot) from the point and I use only one dropper the length is about 12 cm. The length of the braided vary between 1 meter and two meters and the length of the nylon also between one and two meters. that length depends on how deep the water is. When I have to fish at a depth of about three meters my braided will be only 30cm and the nylon 3,5 till 4 m. The thin nylon sinks much quicker and better than the braided and you can better see when a fish takes the fly and moves only a little bit.

If I fish on rivers, about one week a year, I reduce my leader to 10 feet and with a dry fly taper the nylon also with first 16/100 on the braided and then 12/100 for the point. If there are bigger fish to expect than I can also make a point of 14/100.

Greeting

[GlassJet]

Now as for furled leaders. I know a lot of people like them but the jury is still out with me.

I fished a furled leader all last season and I loved it - I like the look of them, the simplicity, and they turn over beautifully.

Mate of mine - far better fisher than me - says, like you, not so sure. His reservations come from the spray they give off when you cast. I thought he was being overly picky when he mentioned this, but when the sun is at a certain angle, you can really see it, and it is pronounced, advertising the spot your fly is about to land with a fine spray of water picked up from the previous cast!

I suspect how much this bothers you depends on the kind of fishing you do. If you are used to casting to sighted fish, and you see a few scuttle off in response to the spray a few times, then it is going to bother you. But if like me you are mostly fishing for unsighted fish, or seen only by the presence of the rise, and you do catch some, it maybe won't bother you so much. (Though |i am now wondering if the spray is the reason I couldn't get those midge feeders yesterday! )

Re the 6 footer - I only use that as it is short enough to keep strung-up in the house, which makes nipping out for half an hour feasible. But it is fibre-glass, and a lovely actioned rod in its own right.

Andrew.

[grinr]

Hey all,new member here,just chiming in.I live in New Brunswick,Canada and mostly fish for brookies and atlantic salmon.Anyhow,back on topic,I don't fish droppers too often but when I do I use a very simple set-up.I simply tie on a length of tippet(6lb maxima chameleon) with a double surgeon knot and leave the upper tag end(towards butt) long enough (8-10"?) to tie on another fly.In using the upper tag as opposed to the lower,with 6lb Maxima it is stiff enough to keep a light dropper fly away from the main tippet when swinging wets and rarely ever fouls or tangles.A black beadhead bugger on the point with a non-weighted olive bugger on the dropper quite often results in a pair of greedy 12" brookies.....lotsa fun on a 4wt!

[CM_Stewart]

I've never tried the method outlined by flyfishwithme, but I will next time I fish multiple flies. Was out last weekend playing around with "pesca alla Valsesiana" (four reverse hackle wet flies fished with a long rod, horsehair line and no reel). Twice I ended up losing all four flies at once after snagging my line in the treetops - once on a missed strike and once on a LDR. I hope that if the main body of the leader is 5x and the droppers and point fly on 6x, I'll only lose one fly at a time (unless more than one get snagged). Luckily the flies are quick and easy to tie, but losing four at once is just too much.

[Roadkill]

Old Hat,

Most of the time I rig my multi fly casts inline with the next fly coming off the bend (or the eye) of the first fly. I didn't like untangling extra dropper leaders when a bird nest was created. Not that I don't have to cut off a Gordian knot and rebuild occasionally.

[letumgo]

"Gordian knot"

What a great way to describe it! I started laughing when I read your comment.

(oh, and welcome aboard grinr)

Chris (CM_Stewart) - I just checked out your Tenkara web site and am very impressed. A lot of great information!