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Date: May 13, 2006 at 13:14:42
From: ken, [pool-70-109-217-38.prvdri.east.verizon.net]
Subject: Droppers


After I published Striper moon lots of people tried droppers and liked the results. Soon after there were other books that came out and talked about droppers too and different ways of rigging them.

I knew those ways and had tried those ways and none of them worked for me.
I gave it another shot because i wanted them to work and thought that perhaps I had disregarded them too soon.
I tried the 'tying to the bend of the hook way,' several times and gave it a good chance to work.
This is what happened to me with that method. I had a big school of active fish one night under some lights.. I came back several nights over a couple of weeks. the same scenario happened with slight variations but always the same end result.

I could see them and they were very aggressive. I tied on the dropper's from the bend of the hook and dangled it right above the fish. They went ballistic. Fish after fish came up and hit the flies. None of them could get the fly in their mouth. Sometime three and four fish in succession would hammer it.
Then one grabbed the tail fly and got hooked. That fish swam around followed by other fish which were trying to grab the other flies but they could not get them into their mouth.

I tried over and over again and slacked the line thinking that that might work it didn't and cast upstream and let the flies drift with out tension on them. Nothing worked. I did everything I could think of but I failed. The fish were suicidal but they were safe.
I know that the technique works in fresh water and I also know that the fish caught is usually on the tail fly.


So I think that this method of tying flies to the bend of the hook is the worst method of using droppers in terms of results.
I do not think that the people who recommended it tested it but just thought it up so that they could also have a dropper system of their own in their book.
Maybe not but it did not help anyone catch fish or be able to test flies against each other. even if the fish only hit one fly and it was tied in the daisy chain no fish would be caught and that is - no result.

Also the idea of fouling flies.

The longer the dropper lead the more tangles you will get. The shorter the less tangles you get. The more tapes and light leaders used the more tangles you get. High line speed multiple back-casts and tight loops the more tangles you get.

This is a fishing technique not a tournament casting technique. take you pick. Fifty fish or Oohs from the caster peanut gallery about your casting.

IF the fly sticks out to the side the fly will helicopter and spin around the leader and will get knotted up. Soft mono sucks. Fluorocarbon sinks often wrecking a good presentation and abrades on fish too easily.

If the lead comes off the front of the knot it will break on fish because the angle is acute and the connection is weakened.
Barrel knots are right angle knots and weaken the dropper and cause it to spin.
I prefer surgeons knots or a double uni knot.

I like the droppers to be about 18" apart because over the years that seems to catch fish better than other lengths and/or shorter and longer lengths in combination.

Four droppers work better than three and five work better then four.

I use three3 most of the time and that gets many more fish than two. Fish that will not move will move when three flies swim by. That is a provable fact.

It is a way to find out if your favorite fly is the right fly with out taking it off.
So it is a tool to find the right fly in a single cast and without having to 'not use' your trusted favorite fly.

With the short lead dropper the fish is able to suck in the fly easily and the fly rides next to the leader on the cast and does not spin or swing out and foul the other flies.
The mechanics are sound and the system works perfectly.


IF you use droppers for a year or so you will get a deep profound education in fly selection that you can not acquire any other way.
You will get ten or twenty years of experience in a few weeks because the fish themselves will teach you their preferences by taking the flies that they prefer.
They always do that by the way; it, "is," the damnedest thing!

You will not have to listen to others tell you what the fish want or what you have to use to be in the in crowd any any longer and you can use the recommended fly and use droppers and catch all the fish on the droppers and not tell them and if they and all their buddies are not catching with the super magazine fly and you are; well if they think you are, you are going to see an interseting study in human nature pecking order rearrangement.
DO NOT LET THEM HELP YOU LAND ANY FISH..

They will think you are Merlin.
They might end up kissing your feet.

Be careful with this stuff!
It is dangerous to you and all your friends if you have a weak character.

(Old guy trickery stuff again.) :-)
That is a sport within the sport.
It is traditional actually.

the contents of your fly books will change dramatically and by the end of the year you will be fishing completely differently and thin skinned experts will be avoiding you completely.
They will leave when you come.

Catching fish intelligently is actually not acceptable to a lot of people.
Get ready for it because it will happen and it does not feel good. tehn after a while you get to enjoy it.Only good fishermen will hang around when you show up.
that is a big plus.

That is the risk in using droppers.
You can learn all you need to know yourself.

You will become your own adviser and you will know what you know and the fish will be your best source of good solid information about flies and presentations.

This is straight talk.
I am old enough now to not care about ruffling a few feathers.

Take it or leave it.
It is my opinion.
Enjoy.


Posted with TalkShop version 2.71-8

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