Tandem rigs
Being a relatively new flyfisherman I have been reading up on tandem rigs. I did experience some success last year with tandems myself and was wondering if others would like to tell about their favorite tandem rigs and fly pattern combos. Last year I had good success with an Olive BH Bugger with BH trailer of a #14-16 PT or GRHE. I also had good success with a Dry and Dropper of a #12-14 Light Cahill with a Lt Cahill wet about 15-18" down and a White Wulff with a Lt Cahill wet.
Tandems
I like to trail a dry with its emerger conterpart. Works real well during a hatch. Also a BH pheasant tail trailed by a GRHE is a classic tandem.
Work is something for people that don't fish.
When fishing in the mountains, my go-to rig has been a size 14 Stimulator with a size 16 nymph, either a Tellico, Beadhead PT, or Copper John.
Tailwaters, I normally fish a two-nymph rig under an indicator. The first fly is almost always a size 16 Sparkle Pheasant Tail, with either a brassie or zebra midge in 18 - 22 behind it. Sometimes I will fish a soft hackle in place of the Sparkle PT. If I get a lot of strikes on the indicator, I'll put on a Chernobyl ant or Madam-X in place of the indicator. Casting 3 flies on about 12 feet of total leader can get kinda interesting.
When fishing in my favorite spring creek, with slooooow-moving water, I fish with a Parasol Emerger as the top/indicator fly and trail two nymphs underneath. Usually a size #16 Bead-head Pheasant-tail nymph followed by one of my special spring creek scuds. In slow water I drop my first nymph just above the depth of the bottom and trail the bottom bug on an 18" dropper attached with a loop knot. Slays 'em!
Tight Lines,
Kelly.
"There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."
Roderick Haig-Brown, "Fisherman's Spring"
Why stop with just two flies (tandem) and not use three, e.g., elk hair caddis, caddis emerger, and nymph?
Remember the old timers of 100 years ago typically fished three wet flies in their setups (Or, so I've been told and read. While aged, I'm not THAT old as to have actually witnessed the setup).
No man can have too many fly rods;
no woman too many shoes.
We can only use up to two flies here.
My favorite is a Cripple with a WD40 or a Zebra dropper, also Copper Johns and Prince Nymphs. That is rivers
Still water is will be a leech or streamer or larger nymph on the long side of a "V" connection and a smaller nymph, scud, chironomid on the shorter side. Looks like bigger object chasing food...works really well.
Yes, they did but they didn't complicate things with a dry fly. Big open loops, slower action rods and a minimum of false casting. It was the dry fly and the need for false casting that caused the three fly rig to go out of vogue.Originally Posted by HCR
From what I understand, three flies is still the standard rig on British reservoirs.
Two is usually enough for me.
I can wrap a single fly around the tip of my rod a gazzilion times just standing in one place contemplating my next cast. I sometimes look at the mess on my rod tip and have to ask "Is that even possible?"
I can't imagine how many times a dropper would wrap around it in the opposite direction at the same time. Enter in the split shot and I'd go through three to four spools of tippet material each outing.
I've been there cj!
Tandems
For bigger rivers, like the South Fork, I like a couple stoneflies - typically a weighted size 6 4XL salmonfly nymph trailed by a weighted size 8 2XL golden stone nymph - under an indicator. Sometimes it will be two of the bigger salmonflies. This set up works particularly well in stretches where the bottom is irregular and there are lots of changes in the depth - one of the flies is almost always on the bottom. In the shallower water, most fish take the lead fly, in the deeper water, they usually hit the trailing fly.
The big stonefly nymphs can also serve as weight to get a small trailing fly down, as well as an attractor for the small fly. In midgy water, the t.c.t.k. midge larva is my go to trailing fly. In other water, it might be an unweighted pheasant tail nymph or soft hackle, copper john, etc.
On smaller streams, most of my fishing is with a single dry or single nymph. I usually start with a dry / dropper combination, and if the fish are splitting pretty regularly between the two, I'll stay with it. If the fish show a real preference for either the dry or the nymph, I'll go with that fly exclusively, with the nymph under a very small indicator if they prefer the nymph.
I rarely swing a tandem of wet flies, but that can be effective. Also, when fishing nymphs under a griffith gnat, for example, you can let the tandem swing across and down at the end of the drift, and let it hang for a couple seconds before you pick up for the next cast.
John
The fish are always right.
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