Tandem Rigs

[kobalt335]

I understand how to fish multiple nymphs and I do so regularly. I just recently learned about fishing two dry flies though. I am wondering if anyone has experience with fishing two dry flies. How do you determine what flies? Do you use a more visible first fly then a less visible second? Also, do you tie the tippet to the eye of the first fly or to the bend of the hook. I normally tie to the eye for nymphs, however i heard that the bend of the hook is better.

Thanks for any help!

 

[afishinado]

kobalt335 wrote:
I understand how to fish multiple nymphs and I do so regularly. I just recently learned about fishing two dry flies though. I am wondering if anyone has experience with fishing two dry flies. How do you determine what flies? Do you use a more visible first fly then a less visible second? Also, do you tie the tippet to the eye of the first fly or to the bend of the hook. I normally tie to the eye for nymphs, however i heard that the bend of the hook is better.

Thanks for any help!

Two dries can work at times. I usually tie the second fly to the bend. One problem I've had is in tricky currents the flies drift into different current lanes and tend to drag on each other, therefore the rig seems to work best in flat water or still water.

 

[streamerguy1]

I've used two dries a handful of times....

Sometimes when I locate a few rises but have no clue what they're taking(and there's nothing obvious flying around), I'll often tie on an EHC and then maybe a small adams or griffiths gnat off of that. Some days I'd average about 50/50 as to what fly they take.......


I've also fished two caddis at the same time before. One example is during the grannoms back in April. At first I didn't get a whole lotta action with a size 14, so I dropped a size 16 off of it to see what would happen. The fish, as they're known to do during the grannom hatch, didn't want a perfectly dead drifted fly. Even had trouble getting them to eat it on the swing, but whenever I would bounce the fly along the surface I would get some pretty aggressive strikes. Fishing two flies made it easier to "bounce" the first fly with the second one creating tension on the water. Ended up catching a lot of fish that way.

And I agree with afishinado about the flies going into different lanes which can mess you up at times....

 

[kobalt335]

Thanks, I will have to experiment next time I go out and find a slow spot. I wanted to try to tie something in front of an ant because i have a terrible time seeing them (mine don't have easily visible markings)

 

[just_jon]

I sometimes fish 2 dries during the trico hatch. I use the first fly (flo orange ant) as a sighter to help pinpoint the trico spinner. It is surprising just how many fish take the ant. Presume they focus on the contrast in color.

 

[bigslackwater]

I fish tricos the same way as Just_Jon. I've tried tricos without a sighter and I'm totally lost finding my fly on the water.

 

[csoult]

During a caddis hatch, using an EHC or CDC caddis trailed by a sparkle pupa can be deadly. Same goes for any mayfly trailed by a softhackle in the film or emerger.

 

[dc410]

I often will fish a trico spinner off of the bend of a larger Griffiths Gnat. I key on the GG (simply because I can see it) and this system has produced well for me. It is really amazing how many times you hook up with a fish almost certain that it was on either the top fly or the dropper and when you bring it to hand it is on the other fly.

 

[jdaddy]

afishinado wrote:
One problem I've had is in tricky currents the flies drift into different current lanes and tend to drag on each other, therefore the rig seems to work best in flat water or still water.

This is the trick/problem.

Flat/still where you can control the micro drag OR in fast moving water where the fish don't have a lot of time to over analyze.

 

[jdaddy]

csoult wrote:
During a caddis hatch, using an EHC or CDC caddis trailed by a sparkle pupa can be deadly. Same goes for any mayfly trailed by a softhackle in the film or emerger.

And this absolutely. Completely different from trying to fish tandem dry flys. Fish are much less forgiving on that sparkle pupa or softhackle as its still emerging.

 

[kobalt335]

Thanks everybody, I stumbled across my first trico spinner fall and these tips worked like a charm. I tied a size 22 trico spinner off a stimulator and had a blast. The current was slow and the drift was no problem, the biggest problem I had was the getting the line connecting the two flies straight on the cast, but a simple mend fixed it.

 

[IneFishent]

I had success this summer in Wyoming with a size 18 rusty spinner trailing a size 12 parachute Adams. I tied the dropper to the bend and landed fish on either fly. The Adams was a good indicator because the casts were kinda longer. The water did have a decent amount of flow but drag didn't seem to matter.

 

[boogeyklat]

I have been seeing trout rise to super small bwo and I can't really spot anything under size 18 and that's with a parachute. I was curious if a big stimulator can cause refusals because I have had them refuse the big fly and then not recover in time for the smaller one. What's a good length to tie on the dropper fly?

 

[J55tyger88]

Boogeyklat,
For slow moving water with trout sipping up top on specks of dust, I'll usually tie on a sz 16 cdc and elk or maybe something closer to what would actually be in the stream, with a smalll midge fly 12" -18" off the bend. I cant see the midge, but its close enough, with any surface commotion, i can spot a fish taking it. I tie the caddis on because for me, it seems more like something that theyve seen that day, than a big foam cricket, or big stimulator. The bigger flies in slower spring creek pools seem to spook than attract fish. In faster water, where the fish are rising sporadically, I'll tie on an attractor type fly, and tie a small weight nymph off the bend. I keep about the same length as far as droppers go.

My logic might be off, but I try to get the fish looking directly up taking bugs off top with the dry, AND the fish that are targeting emergering bugs and/or nymphs.

 

[boogeyklat]

Thanks for the tip. I was trying a size 20 gnat and guessing where it was but in a riffle it was impossible to get a good drift. So i tied on a stimulator and it just seemed giant for this small stream where the browns are on the small side. I will try something smaller next time.