One of the best, yet often overlooked, ways to angling success is to double your offerings. For fly casters, this can occur through the use of a fly fishing dropper rig, which is mostly useful in fishing for trout and panfish and when casting small, streamlined flies.
A fly fishing dropper rig is simply a two-fly combo where one fly is above the other on a leader. It is achieved by affixing an auxiliary fly on its own short tippet to a leader ahead of the principal fly. Anglers call this auxiliary fly a “dropper” fly, which is not a type of fly (as in dry, wet, or streamer flies) but merely a term to describe how it is placed on the leader.
Construction
Dropper flies can be used in nymph, wet fly, and streamer fishing, and in combination with dry flies. They are easiest to employ when you tie your own knotted, tapered leader by leaving a few inches of overlap hanging down from the knot used to connect different strengths of leader material. Tie a dropper fly to the protruding line and the primary fly to the end of the tippet.
For further example, a fly fishing leader is composed of a main length of leader line with a section of lighter line, called a tippet, at the end. The tippet and main stem of the leader are joined with a Blood or Uni Knot. When tying the knot, leave about a 12-inch strand dangling from the lighter line, then attach your auxiliary fly to the end of that, leaving a dropper fly extending roughly 6 to 8 inches from the main body of the leader. Finish the fly fishing dropper rig by attaching your primary fly to the end of the main tippet.
Continue reading, Double Your Chances with a Fly Fishing Dropper Rig, from our friends at TakeMeFishing.org here.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
