Rigging up a tandem

[wgmiller]

I haven't ventured into tandem rig fishing yet, but know I need to in order to have better success on the stream. That being said, I did a little research with regards to rigging. Is tying the dropper onto the bend of the leading fly the best setup? I found this article which does a pretty good job of explaining various setups. I like the simplicity of tying a clinch knot onto the hook, but only if it's effective.

Thoughts?

 

[jayL]

It works. As does tying both tippet segments to the eye.

You can also leave a long dropper on your blood knots.

All methods will catch fish. They will also occasionally tangle, cost you two flies per snag, and make it impossible to use a net... for what it's worth.

 

[Acristickid]

For me, it is very effective and rig this way the majority of the time. I rig them by the eye and has worked just fine for me. Casting can be a little tricky with weight at first but I don't have many problems. Practice helps.

 

[jayL]

I agree that it's often worth the troubles. It's just a real headache.

The fish in my avatar too the trailing fly in a tandem.

 

[ryguyfi]

I started a thread when I first started fly fishing on here and the guys were more than helpful

Here it is

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=265&forum=7&post_id=1141#forumpost1141


I now use it in almost every nymphing situation... 2 is better than one. To solve the netting situation, I bought a net with a rubber netting this year and is FANTASTIC. The problem with netting a fish with a tandem rig, is that the other hook is bound to snag your netting and it takes forever to get it out. The rubber netting is great on the fish and doesn't snag the other hook. I highly recommend it.

I tie a simple clinch knot to the eye of the hook for my dropper fly. My first rule is to test all knots before tossing your line in... if you have a blood knot on your leader, and 2 flies... that's 4 knots that could go bad on you, so beware!

And most of all... HAVE FUN!




(it's funny how many guys on that thread are active members of this website. I know 2 years isn't that long, but the majority of the posters there are on this site atleast weekly!)

 

[wgmiller]

I didn't pick up that thread in a previous search; it is exactly what I was looking for...

 

[afishinado]

Not to junk up this thread, but reading that old thread got me thinking about what ever happened to "Wulffman"?

 

[jayL]

Afish,

Glad you asked. I was wondering too. I liked him.

 

[pcray1231]

Methods:

1. Tie trailing fly to bend of first fly.

Advantages: Quick and easy.
Disadvantages: Line on hook makes you miss more fish on the 1st fly. Think about it, fish has trouble taking that fly without hitting the line first, which pushes away the fly.

2. Tie trailing fly to eye of first fly.

Advantages: Free's up the hook of the leading fly for better hooking ratio.
Disadvantages: I've heard people claim more tangles, and less feel of the trailing fly, but I can't verify, I never used this method.

3. Droppers. Leave a long blood knot tag. Or, just tie a piece of tippet onto the leader at 90 degrees, using a clinch knot. If you do this, it'll slide, so put it between 2 blood knots so it doesn't slide to far.

Advantages: Regarding hooking, it gets line completely out of the way on both nymphs. Supposed to be more realistic, the nymphs interact with one another less and you can get a better dead drift.
Disadvantages: More tangles, but they're usually easy tangles, just the wrap around type. Tedious to tie up streamside.

Personally I like droppers. A few hints, keep the dropper < 4", and the tippet you use on the dropper should be fairly stiff, you'll cut way down on tangles.

The old style of wet fly fishing actually used multiple droppers to hold extra flies and/or shot. They may have 4 or 5 droppers along the leader, some holding flies and some holding just shot, it leaves plenty of room for adjustment. If you snag up on the shot, it slides right off and you don't break your line or lose you're flies.

 

[jayL]

Pcray highlights a good point about the shot dropper.

When salmon fishing, lots of lead is required. I always leave a long tag on my blood knots for shot. I'll pinch a few on to the piece of tag, and put an overhand knot at the end to keep them from sliding off. A solid tug will usually cost you the weights and nothing more when you get snagged.

 

[Acristickid]

Questions:

When using the tag end method and you get a snag or change flies a couple times and your tag end becomes to small to work well do you cut the line and blood knot on another section?

My problem with this seems to be that the diameter of the leader at the point where I want to tie my first fly on is too small and not stiff enough. Or is when wet fly fishing I am using using too thin a tippet section?

I can see myself not wanting to retie the last section or two of leader and then the dropper when this occurs. Had very good success with 3 flies just tied to the eyes wet fly fishing on the swing. Or am I missing more hookups? Hope you can understand my questions. Thanks Paul

 

[MKern]

One huge problem I've had recently with tying to the bend is the fish gets hooked on the first fly and during the fight gets foul hooked be the second (usually on the tail or dorsal fin). This allows the fish to apply pressure to the first fly and pop it out, and I am left fighting a foul hooked fish.

Believe it or not, I can actually feel when this happens, and usually occurs when the fish fights below me, I'm guessing because they can create more pressure by using the water current.

This is the main reason I want to switch to the dropper method (attaching extra pieces of tippet to the leader. BTW, this is more of a czech nymphing set up).

 

[GreenWeenie]

One thing I do when casting tandems is to intentionally cast with an open loop, as tight loops can result in the dropper hanging below the line, which then fouls on the turnover. Because I keep the loop open I also try to keep casts to no more than 30 feet, if that.

 

[pcray1231]

Acristic,

Say I'm using 5x tippet.

I'll use 2x or 3x tippet, and add a 1 foot piece of 5x at the end, leaving a long 3x tag end as the dropper. When the dropper becomes too short, I just snip it off, and tie another on just using a clinch knot, and tie it above the blood knot. It can slide up, but it typically wants to slide towards the point fly, and the blood knot stops it.

If my 5x tippet gets short, well, sometimes I'll either retie altogether, or just add more 5x.

Yeah, 2 flies is more hassle than 1 fly anyway you slice it. I more typically use only 1 fly for that reason. I only use 2 on those days I'm not willing to waste. Winter with cold hands, or that 1 hr trip after work, I'm not bothering with 2. But that trip I've been planning and looking forward to for months, traveled multiple hours, etc., I don't feel right about it if I don't do everything I can to catch fish.

 

[pcray1231]

MKern,

With a fish hooked on the dropper, the fly usually doesn't pop out of the mouth. But its still pretty common to hook, or at least wrap, the point fly on the fish. Thats true of all tandem rigs, I think.

GreenWeenie,

Good point, I try to throw an open loop too. And then end up in overhanging trees, without fail . If I'm not expecting dry fly action, I'll even forgo the stiff leader, and basically use 7ish ft of 2x tippet followed by a ft or two of the finer tippet. Then you really need an open loop, but the drifts are perfect.

 

[Acristickid]

pc-

Thanks for sharing. Have'nt tried a clinch knot on the leader above the blood knot. I will give it a try.

Can't wait to wet fly fish during caddis and slate drake hatches this coming season. Last year, it was an eye opner how effective this method was. In addition; wish I fished more wets when starting out. Not as much casting and accuracy is not as critical as many other methods of fly fishing it seems.

I love fly fishing.

 

[afishinado]

Paul,

Try this to replace your dropper. Take a short piece of tippet material for your dropper and tie a loop on one end. Attach it above your tippet knot by running the loop through itself (like you would do when attaching a thingamabobber or yarn indicator). You can use lighter tippet material for the dropper since the loop end is now doubled on the main line, which makes it stand out 90* as desired. It's a quick and easy way to replace the dropper without retying everything. Good luck.

 

[Acristickid]

Afish- wow!

That seems like such a simple solution thanks for sharing. That's a solution I can say I doubt I would have came up with. Can't wait to try them out. Thx Paul

 

[JustFish]

Afishinado,

good stuff buddy. I never even thought about that...Thanks

 

[AlwaysWading]

When fishing two flies, I like to do it simple, and tie onto the hook bend of my dry fly. Dragging a San Juan or a nymph under a nice fluffy winged dry during the right time of the year allows two opportunities. You can grab those looking for nymphs and those top feeding trout have the chance to hit that dry.