A forum to discuss tying and fishing wingless wet flies and other soft hackle fly patterns
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It depends on how you rig, especially how heavy/stiff the "snell" is, and on casting conditions. I can usually cast all day without tangles on a calm day with plenty of room to cast, but if I tie the dropper to the tag end of a blood knot of 5x/6x, and I'm fishing a small, brush lined stream on a windy day where I might have to get creative with how I'm casting, eventually the dropper will tie itself in knot around the leader. (In which case, I just change how the flies are rigged.)Theroe wrote:
Ok - So what am I missing here?? I always fish two and three flies, and I never have the tangles everyone is mentioning in this thread.
Spot on, Bob. Not neccesarily a slip knot, but using knots already existing in the leader, adding the dropper north of these knots. I have sometimes tied tippet rings into my leader and used these to attach my droppers to. This works fine too and I believe it gives a stronger connection. Maybe. This last bit (comparison of strength) is not tested by me since my fish haven't co-operated in a scientific way and I don't want to jump to conclusions. We all to often do that.redietz wrote:
Something I haven't seen mentioned here to attach a short piece of 3x to the flies to be used as droppers, and tying an overhand knot in the end. (Or several.) Then make slip knot in the leader and insert the knotted end of the 3x into the slip knot. Pull tight. I'm not sure I'd use it if I were fishing for large fish, but in my local stream where a 12 incher a good fish, it works just fine.
Besides casting long leaders in many directions in strong winds, you just need to put a lot of tension on a furled leader butt pulling the hook out of a big fish's mouth or off a tree, brush, or snag in the water to see how some dandy tangles form!Theroe wrote:
Ok - So what am I missing here?? I always fish two and three flies, and I never have the tangles everyone is mentioning in this thread.
Anyone?
I’m not sure how New Zealand could claim to come up with method of tying “droppers”, but as a guide I’ve been doing it for more than twenty three years and I was show how to do it by a guide who was guiding in my neck of the woods for a lot longer than I. It has one big drawback and that is if a fish hooks onto the dropper then whilst playing the fish there is a good chance of the tippet and point fly wrapping itself around the diagrams jerking the hook out of the fishes mouth. You will often also find the fish is fowl hooked as a result. But it’s quick and easy. These days I use tippet rings when fishing more than one fly, not that I do that much either!redietz wrote: ↑Sun Jul 22, 2018 3:23 pm I don't see how this rigging would restrict the movement of the dropper any more than a "New Zealand" rig (attaching the point fly to the "dropper" via a length of tippet tied to the hook bend) which I use regularly, especially on windy days. I still catch plenty of fish on the "dropper". The method shown in the video, in fact, probably results in more hookups, since there's less obstructing the hook point. My only problem with it is that it makes a bit harder to change the hand fly.
My general rule of thumb is to start the day with a conventional dropper, and if I have to untangle twice in the same day, I switch to a New Zealand rig.
I'm not sure that they're the ones who claimed it, but I frequently see it called that. I've been using it for decades myself.
Sorry if I came over as a bit abrupt, but it kind of pisses me off when someone makes a claim to fame over something that’s been around for very many decades. There is something seldom new in fishing. I ca come up with several examples but I don’t think this thread is the place to do it.