Team of flies but no droppers.

[FliTrap]

hmm - i never get tangles, and I am NOT a particularly great caster. I do believe the custom leader works wonders, at least in my case!!

The action of the rod has a lot to do with casting a team of flies as is the length. A ideal rod is a nice slow action 10ft or longer. Not being rude to anyone but most casters couldn’t cast a tight loop if they tried. Short dropper length will also help. I’m a FFF casting instructor and I still get the occasional tangle when casting a “ team” of flies. Add a indicator and it turns into “chuck and duck”.
You can’t convince me that there is a formula to construct a leader that’s why there are so many formulas out there, maybe they all work?

Reasons for tangles:
1) Weight of vs type of fly
2) Droppers vs no droppers
3) o-rings vs knots vs type of knots vs "formula"
4) Hand tied leaders vs tapered vs chunk of unscripted mono (from my childhood!)
5) Rod length vs Rod wt vs rod materials vs action
6) Skinny water vs fat water vs still water vs fast water vs water from hatchery outlet!
7) Formal trained caster vs "un-trainable" vs wild-man-fly-chucker vs "thought we were spin fishing?"
8) Tongue held left instead of right vs sun in eyes vs distance from home to river vs "honey-do list" I skipped going to fish......

Did I forget anyone?

[letumgo]

[Bazzer69]

FliTtap you got it exactly right

[Selphi]

I was taught, and still fish with snelled flies. My leader is as follows:
1. Nail knot 6” of .021 hard Maxima to the flyline. Add a figure eight loop, 5/16” in diameter to the Maxima.
2. Add a tapered leader(loop to loop) to the Maxima - I use Varivas’s 9’ tapered to 2X. Put a 5/16” diameter figure eight loop on the 2X end.
3. Take 7’ of Umpqua 3X mono- putt a 5/16” figure eight knot in each end. Add two “no end” dropper loops, spaced evenly on the 3X.
4. Loop to loop your 3X Umpqua to the 2x Varivas. Your 15’ leader is done.

I snell all of my flies on Damyl Tectan .007, 7.3 pound test. Changing flies is a breeze, as is changing your 7 foot bottom section if it becomes nicked - I carry half a dozen premade spares. This set up has endless possibilities- in fast deep water I put a 6” mono tag on the bottom loop and add split shot. If the shot gets caught on the bottom, it pulls right off. I have caught many fish after becoming snagged, while jiggling my line trying to get loose!

All of my flies are snelled with the Damyl Tectan; 4 1/2 inches in length, with a 5/16” figure 8 loop on the end.

I’ve very rarely get tangled -

Theroe

Hello Theroe. I know this thread is old, but new member here. Relatively new to this style of fishing as well. Found this forum searching for info on leader setups and i like what i see above. Couple questions for you if you dont mind:

-Is there a thread/tutorial re tying the dropper loops? I searched but didn't see anything. Assuming this is the standard dropper loop that i found online. Is there an optimal number of wraps to use on each side of the loop? Once finished, should loop be in-line with main tippet or should it be perpendicular?

Here is one i tried:

IMG_0659.jpeg (367.53 KiB) Viewed 144 times

-any reasons you use figure 8 loop on ends it instead of the perfection loop? I can get really tight small loops w the perfection loop, but if its better to use the figure 8, ill practice it.

-if im reading this right, you use a point fly, but its snelled onto end of tippet?

-any issues with using a shortened version of the main leader for small streams? Say a 6 or 7 ft leader ending in 2x.

Thanks for any info you can provide.