After spending the past season wasting valuable fishing time trying to re-rig 2 nymph set-ups because of breakoffs (big fish, maybe? don’t mind those) or tangles (wind or bad casting? do mind those), while standing waste deep in freezing water, trying to shield from the wind, with fingers that don’t respond to any attempts to behave like fingers should, I finally decided to tie up a bunch ahead of time.:idea:
Heading to the craft store for a piece of 4mm foam to wrap them around and a box to store them in; I know Orvis has a dropper box but the price is a bit dear for something I can approximate for pocket change. I congratulate myself for something I should have thought of years ago.
When I learned to trout fish many years ago from my father-in-law we always “rigged up” the night before we went. We made up at least a half dozen “rigs” to use next day. Of course we fished with fly rods but with (GASP!) bait way back then. He had us pre-tie up replacement rigs consisting of the trusty Eagle Claw size 8 with one split shot about six inches up the piece of leader and then a loop connection knot at the end of the leader. He had us place the pre-tied rigs one to a small envelope and then into a vest pocket for quick usage and that way they also didn’t get tangled up with each other. We also had a barrel swivel clip on the rod connection line to quickly re-rig if one broke off.
Try a spinning tackle shop and ask for the Lindy rig holders for walleyes. They’re tubular, anywhere from 6 to 12 inches long and 1 to 3 inches in diameter, and have eyes and Velcro tabs that hold the pre-tied rigs. I stick them in a plastic baggie to protect them.
Trouble is, I find I’ll tie up a bunch of 2-fly rigs based on what the fish were taking on a particular day, and then the next trip out they want something else (remember, BOTH flies have to be the ones you want to use), so I have 6 or 8 combos that I don’t use. I end up wasting a lot of expensive FC tippet on them.
Where I’m planning on using them next spring, I have a pretty good idea what might work; having said that I will mix some other combos in. Thanks for the tip on the Lindy rigs; they’re pretty cool and the price is more reasonable than the Orvis box, although I’m still leaning towards the DIY solution.
I started doing this last year and really like it. I just use a block of high density foam that’s about 1" x 2" x 6". I formed the block from a the legs of a letter “H” that I found in the craft store. Tying one knot on stream rather than 3 knots makes a huge difference, especially in winter / early spring. Here’s a picture of my $1.29 tandem nymph storage block.
If I’m understanding this thread correctly you are already going to have your flies tied to a tippet? Is the leader tied on as well? How do you tie them on to your line? It looks to me like tying any kind of a knot with flies ALREADY on the line would be all but impossible because the hooks would hang on everything???
Don’t know if it helps any, as you may already be doing this, but my time spent tying two nymph rigs decreased dramatically after I watched a guide tie the dropper knot away from the fly first. Don’t quite know how to explain it verbally, but there’s a good illustration of the technique at the end of this article. Sure makes things go a lot quicker.
I pre-tie my steelhead rigs and wrap them around a wine cork. Drop the cork in the pocket of my vest and I am good to go. Cheap, effective, and floats if you drop it.
HNT,
I learned while doing training that because I thought everyone should know the basic facts of a subject they would understand what the training was about, it does not mean they will. The failure to communicate effectively has caused more problems than about anything else I can think of at the moment. I met my wife in 1964 and married her in 1967, sometimes I have no idea what’s she’s talking about without asking her to back up a little bit. It’s not stupid, it’s not understanding. Lack of understanding can be fixed.
