Hi all. I am heading out for a weekend of nymphing and wanted to try a dropper rig for the first time. Just wanted to see what everyone thought on the most productive approach, IE 2 or 3 flies and should I use different sizes of the same pattern or say run a pheasant tail and a hareās ear. Iāll be fishing in a medium size mountain stream, rainbows, brown, brook etc. Also, am I better to use a splitshot above flies or at the end of my tippet under the flies? LOL probably gonna get alot of different views on this, but thatās kinda what Iām looking for.
If youāre fishing unweighted flies, like softhackles and wets, I find that 2 or 3 flies works fine. The number depends upon the size of the stream. The idea of a team of flies is that they each should come down a different ālineā to cover more water, so a small stream might get covered adequately with just two flies spaced about 2 feet apart, while a larger stream might fit 3 flies.
If, however, youāre fishing with weight, I would think 2 flies would be enough. For a dry and nymph rig, itās typical here to use a large dry (i.e. large royal wulf) and tie a small nymph off the bend of the dry to suspend about 18" behind the dry. A team of nymphs, again, the top one heavily weighted as a ābombā to get the rig down to the bottom, then a small unweighted nymph trailing off the bend often does most of the catching.
Those are a few popular set ups here, though there are others as well (such as 3 nymph rigs, with the middle one being the weighted one, etc). The nymph rigs are often ālobbedā more than cast, so you tend to fish quite close to yourself.
You some questions that have some wide possibilities for answers.
First off, on a double nymphing rig, I usually have the larger and heavier nymph on top with a smaller, hence lighter nymph below it, usually using one step down in size of tippet. If the bottom fly hangs up on the rocks and wonāt come loose, it is better to lose just that fly rather than both flies.
I have nymphed with the same nymph of either the same size or one size smaller but only after the fish have demonstrated that that is the only nymph they want to take. Otherwise, use two different nymphs, you are trying to determine what the fish want so give them a choice. Do not be afraid to change up every 15 minutes or so if you are not producing any hits.
The key factor in nymphing is being down on the bottom. If you are not on the bottom you will be missing out on a lot of fish. So your question of split shot will be determined by the flow rate of the water and the depth of the water you are fishing. The split shot can either be placed above the top fly or some people prefer to actually have it below the bottom fly. Personally, I prefer it above the top fly.
I use fluorocarbon tippet on all my flies. Fluorocarbon and split shot do not mix well so I place my split shot just above the knot between the top tippet and the tapered mono leader. Mono is far more friendly to split shot than fluorocarbon.
If you use weighted nymphs, either with lead wrapped ones or bead headed ones, you may not need spilt shot. But, if you are not ticking bottom and sometimes hanging up then you need to add some shot to get deeper.
I usually use a large dry with a small nymph tied to the bend of the hook like Jeff mentioned. I will put the nymph on a piece of tippet from 18 to 24 inches long.
My standard nymph rigā¦ 1 or 2 BB size splitshot above surgens knot attaching tipet to leader, about 8" of 3 or 4x to top nymph. (this will be the larger of the two), tie 4 or 5x to the bend of the top fly and then 8 to 12" to the bottom fly. That is generally what I start with then adjust depending on water conditions. The more I am ticking the bottom the more fish I am catching.
Generally I use a tippet ring and put a large dry off the ring with about 8 inches of tippet lineā¦ then follow with 24 inches of tippet line and a nymphā¦
I have long vowed but never yet remembered to try rigging so that the weight is actually at the end of a multi-nymph rig. What I envision is something where the two nymphs are tied in as per normal, whether the second is tied in at the bend of the first or through the eye of the first, and then maybe I leave a long tag from the last nymph and add the weight at the bottom of that. The principal benefit would be that I would have a better and more or less straight line connection to both nymphs, rather than having the bottom one floating somewhat disconnected, with me being less able to detect takes and subsequent rejections. Has anybody ever tried anything like this? I realize that it somewhat resembles the rigging instructions for ābounce nymphingā, but the difference here is that I would fish it dead drift as per normal.
Hi John, that does work, but having the heavier nymph on the bottom reduces the action of the smaller nymph. I find I get more bites if the bottom nymph is the smaller unweighted one and is on a tippet of about 10 to 12 inches. This lets the smaller nymph move with any variations in the current. If you want to have the bottom nymph be the heavy one I sugest you tie in a dropper above it and put the small fly on the dropper.
All the best.
Mike
I used to get tangled ā¦ but with 8 to 12 inched of tippet off the ringā¦ the dry fly floats up and the rest of the second tippet ( 24 inches with the nymph) from the ring runs below the surface nicely. It seems to straighten itās self out when you lay it on the water. If your shorter than 8 inches it seems to tangle more.
The most efficient rig i have found it to thread the tippet for the dropper THROUGH the eye of the lead fly. Using a Pitzen or similar stiff knot and separating the knots on the eye 180 degrees, the lead fly will stand out perpendicular to the line. I was taught to put the weight ahead of both flies and have never changed.
I have been putting my nymphing rig together this way for a couple of years. I read an article about the set up ( I canāt remember where I saw it) and decided to try it out. It has been very effective. I lose less flies on the bottom of the stream. The flies suspend in front of a fishes nose rather than below it. I tie a 6-8 inch tag on the end of the bottom fly. Try it with the right angle system and you can clean out a whole stretch of river.
Good to know Loufly. Iāve figured on tying that last section with lighter tippet than that used for either of the flies, so if the weight snags, hopefully that lightest tippet breaks and I salvage both flies. Beyond that, I thought it might be smart to tie that section in with some sort of slip knot just above the last fly, so that I can have the flexibility of sliding it up temporarily if I elect to change that bottom fly. Of course, if I canāt get the rain to stop here for a while and the streams to fall, hypothesizing about this stuff is all Iām going to be able to do!
In cold water, early season, I use an olive bh or ch bugger with either a hareās ear or a pheasant tail off the hook bend. Choice #2 is a big BH stonefly with a bh muskrat nymph or an emergent stonefly nymph around a #16 off of it. Catch 90% of my early trout on one or the other until the serious hatches begin.
Hi all. I am heading out for a weekend of nymphing and wanted to try a dropper rig for the first time. Just wanted to see what everyone thought on the most productive approach, IE 2 or 3 flies and should I use different sizes of the same pattern or say run a pheasant tail and a hareās ear. Iāll be fishing in a medium size mountain stream, rainbows, brown, brook etc. Also, am I better to use a splitshot above flies or at the end of my tippet under the flies? LOL probably gonna get alot of different views on this, but thatās kinda what Iām looking for.