To set this meathod up you will need a very boyant dry fly a large klinkhammer or deer hair pattern normally does the trick. A tapered dry fly leader is best as it will turn over better but standard leader material will also work.
Rather than tying a dropper on as a seperate piece of line comming out off the main line we just tie an extention to our dry fly hook at the bend as you see in the image below.
So why do this?
- This means you can fish the small nymph directly below the dry fly without having 2 lines running along side each other that could spook difficult fish.
- With the nymph swimming so close to the dry fish will often look up at the dry and then take the more subtle nymph pattern and at times come on up streight for the dry. This means you are fishing 2 options.
- The dry fly also can act as a more natural indicator when visibility is an issue.
- You are fishing the nymph suspended at exactly the depth you want.
- Your reaction is streight onto the fish as their is less slack line with this meathod.
Here you see the klinkhammer with the dropper tied to the bend of the hook with only a few inches of line, you can make this whatever lenght you need depending on the depth fish are feeding and at times I have seen it fishing like 2 inches below the dry. Alternativly on a stillwater a few ft long can be the order of the day.
How to fish it.
The basic idea is to cast this a few ft upstream from feeding fish and let the current carry the set up down this gives a very natural representation. My advice is to use a fine tapered dry fly leader down to about 4lbs point and then make the dropper from light leader around 4lbs again. In heavier water you can get away with slightly stronger line.
Rod - Any light trout rod will work for this a 9ft 5weight is perfect but lighter or up to a 6 or 7 weigh will work also I wouldn't go any heavier than this though.
The flies
Here is an example of some packs I put together a few seasons back with the large indicator Klinks and mini beaded nymphs, you could make these up from flies you have in your box but if not feel free to contact me and I can help you out. [email protected] or www.bannvalley.com
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Comment on our post with any additional tips and advice, we are a comunity of anglers and it is always great to learn from each other.
Thanks for looking
Seb