Dry/dropper question

[stlhdr]

I came to flyfishing on silvers and steelhead so I can swing wets, strip streamers and nymph under an indicator. I know NOTHING about dry flys other than they float and want to try the dry/dropper rig this winter. So...the question...

How far under the dry does the dropper go? I put like 8 feet of leader/tippet (depending on the water) when I use an indicator, but that seems way too deep...can it be 18-24 inches or does it vary with the depth/flow of the water?

Thanks for any help...-Mike

[fflutterffly]

article on Midcurrent.com

[darrin terry]

Mike, do checkout midcurrent.com. Loads of good info and entertaining stuff there. Also check this post, actually the whole thread, but this post is Ryan Davey, ex of AEG (Trout Bum Diaries 1 & 2):
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/boa ... ?t=12692#9

Seems like some good info and some of it has worked for me. Have fun. Yet another world is opening before you.

[STMFlyGuide]

You got it about right stlhdr...18-24" is about what you will use 90% of the time... one thing I like to keep in mind is with a dropper the longer you get the harder it is to cast accurately and efficiently, and if you are in a brushed in area with a long dropper... it can be a nightmare...but can be done if you really take your time and plan out each cast...

[stlhdr]

thanks to you all!

FFlutterffly...I had seen the Midcurrent but was still not clear about the depth...

Darrin...I'll look at that link soon...thanks...

and FlyGuide...that 18-24 inches was what I was hoping someone would share with me...I'll give her a try next week.

[dna]

You got it about right stlhdr...18-24" is about what you will use 90% of the time... one thing I like to keep in mind is with a dropper the longer you get the harder it is to cast accurately and efficiently, and if you are in a brushed in area with a long dropper... it can be a nightmare...but can be done if you really take your time and plan out each cast...

took the words out of my mouth...but i suppose you would know. I sometimes will go to 16" if the conditions are present, viz. creeks and such. also i have in teh past tried longer say 36"+ and have had good success. but casting is more difficult and windknots do occur and have to be checked for and cut off when they happen. But, almost always it is about in the range that you are talking about.

I love the dry dropper set up!!!

[Papasequoia]

Like all rigs, much depends on the stream or river you are fishing too, as well as the section of it you are fishing. Case in point was this past weekend on our backpacking trip. Nice creek, easy to wade, decent amount of water for this time of year. There were areas where the terrain was relatively level and you could find riffles with lots of pocket water and pools that weren't too deep. There were other sections where the terrain got quite steep. In those sections there were short runs followed by small waterfalls and deep plunge pools.
In the more level parts I used a very short bit of tippet, max 18" maybe even a bit shorter. I used a bead head fly but no weight. The nymph was almost a wet fly at times, trailing behind the dry (a bushy stimulator) and not bumping along the bottom as you would normally do when nymphing. Since these fish were not in deep water you didn't have to worry as much about getting it deep and on the bottom. They hit both dry and nymph.
In the deeper plunge pools I switched to a larger dry (foam hopper mostly) that could survive the white water better, and be seen by me and hopefully fish better as well. I still used a bead head, but went up one size (from an 18 to a 16) and I pinched on a very small split shot a few inches ahead of the nymph. Finally, I increased the tippet to about three feet. Since these were fairly short casts and drifts I didn't have too much problem with the longer line. The dry was more of an indicator here as the fish took the nymph more often in these deep pools, but they were agressive, wild, backcountry trout, so they attacked that hopper too!

[bigirishllp]

guys and gals
anyone tried going tandem with streamers? I have used a wooly worm, trailed by a bh wooly bugger and have caught a ton of LMB, curiously all on the trailing bh bugger.

I want to try it out both fresh and salt with streamers, but unsure of the consequences, ie casting windknots etc. I used to use a double jig set up for spanish mackeral that also worked on bluefish and jacks, back when I strictly used spinny.
Mike

[stlhdr]

thanks Spandoc...that all makes perfect sense...

and bigirish....I use a wooly worm/bugger tandem a lot in my tube and have good success. Tried it on the lower Kings last winter and caught nice fish both on the swing and strip...and on both flies...