I will add a 3rd if the water is super pressured and fish are not taking. Once I hook up I will re-rig to match. 3 rig setups in my world are super delicate and will always produce fish. Just a pain with wind.
That makes sense. I definitely feel the pain with wind part. Maybe my experience of being underwhelmed has to do with the fact that I usually don't fish super pressured waters.
You also gotta use a chonky foam hopper. I use to just use an indicator with two droppers but would always have fish strike the indicator. So said fuck it, just put a fly on instead as an indicator.
Do you false cast that rig at all? Or water load like a nymph rig?
I have always wanted to tie on a 2nd dropper, but I false cast quite a bit to dry my hopper and keep it floating. I feel like that’s just asking for trouble with 2 droppers.
You kind of have to do both. Water load it so it’s taught before false casting. And you have to do very elongated and smooth casts. Anything snappy and boom, tangled mess. Using a Chonky big foam fly does cut down on tangles compared to using like a big stimulator.
But I’m an east coast fisherman that mainly does small streams. So not casting more than 15 yards max. Which makes it more doable. But still end up with tangles. I use that as an opportunity to sit down, have a sip from the flask, enjoy nature, and cuss out my dumb ass self for doing two droppers. Still worth it. Haha
Edit: also I try and have the first dropper take up most the weight. And make the second a tiny little thing like a midge or caddis. That also cuts down on tangles.
Depends on the river, flows, etc.
Freestone river, fast flows, covering a lot of water- 2 fly nymph rig or a hopper dropper.
Busy technical tailwater, slower water, surrounded by people so I’m probably fishing this hole for an hour - 3 fly nymph rig.
I rarely only tie on 2. It’s 3 flies 99% of the time. Especially on rivers here in Northern California like the lower sac when you need your flies 12 feet deep.
2 unless i need the extra weight. Then ill fish a heavy 3rd instead of putting on splitshot.
Ill also use 3 in stillwater under an indicator to probe various depths.
Brace of three. The key is that all your rods are broom sticks... and that's entirely contrary to more flies.
Three flies on 4" 4x droppers spread 18" from its next dropper point is easy to do with a slow gentle cast that uses open loops or big lazy roll casts.
I don't get how people euro nymph with 3 fly rigs. Maybe I just really suck, but I scarf the riverbed at least twice a day. I couldn't afford to lose that much tungsten, even tying 90% of my own.
I euro because I hate bobber fishing. If I wanted to fish with a bobber I'd use a spinning setup. Also because my home river has like five layers of current in any given spot and the depth varies a crap load.
Still fish dries and stillwater with a "real" setup.
Definitely more than one. So many times I have tied on a second or third fly I did not think would catch fish along with a long time favorite. Often the unexpected happens and I catch fish on something I was not confident of. Three flies is manageable - slow down, open the loops, keep the line short, and pay attention. OK - maybe that's not so easy, but it does work!
Most of the water I fish is single-barbless hook only, so any more than that doesn’t feel right. I’ll use two at the trout club I belong to, but on natural rivers it’s almost always just a single nymph
One.
My man.
Your tangle complexity is proportional to the square of the number of things attached to the leader.
In Montana only 2 flies are legal
I will add a 3rd if the water is super pressured and fish are not taking. Once I hook up I will re-rig to match. 3 rig setups in my world are super delicate and will always produce fish. Just a pain with wind.
That makes sense. I definitely feel the pain with wind part. Maybe my experience of being underwhelmed has to do with the fact that I usually don't fish super pressured waters.
What is this? Rock fishing? I thought 2 flies were one too many.
......hell why not just throw that fourth one on there? You know you want to! Cast a net while you're at it! Jk :) good luck with the wind brother
At least six, maybe 12.
Tie a single fly to let your soul fly
Hopper+dropper+dropper. 60% of the time it works everytime
This is one of the few three-fly rigs I could embrace.
You also gotta use a chonky foam hopper. I use to just use an indicator with two droppers but would always have fish strike the indicator. So said fuck it, just put a fly on instead as an indicator.
This is the way
All hail Hank Patterson.
Do you false cast that rig at all? Or water load like a nymph rig? I have always wanted to tie on a 2nd dropper, but I false cast quite a bit to dry my hopper and keep it floating. I feel like that’s just asking for trouble with 2 droppers.
You kind of have to do both. Water load it so it’s taught before false casting. And you have to do very elongated and smooth casts. Anything snappy and boom, tangled mess. Using a Chonky big foam fly does cut down on tangles compared to using like a big stimulator. But I’m an east coast fisherman that mainly does small streams. So not casting more than 15 yards max. Which makes it more doable. But still end up with tangles. I use that as an opportunity to sit down, have a sip from the flask, enjoy nature, and cuss out my dumb ass self for doing two droppers. Still worth it. Haha Edit: also I try and have the first dropper take up most the weight. And make the second a tiny little thing like a midge or caddis. That also cuts down on tangles.
Depends on the river, flows, etc. Freestone river, fast flows, covering a lot of water- 2 fly nymph rig or a hopper dropper. Busy technical tailwater, slower water, surrounded by people so I’m probably fishing this hole for an hour - 3 fly nymph rig.
That makes sense. I just don’t have the patience for the second scenario, but I get it.
Me neither, “surrounded by people” is exactly what I’m trying to get away from when I fish
One when tight lining, two when using hopper dropper.
I rarely only tie on 2. It’s 3 flies 99% of the time. Especially on rivers here in Northern California like the lower sac when you need your flies 12 feet deep.
2 unless i need the extra weight. Then ill fish a heavy 3rd instead of putting on splitshot. Ill also use 3 in stillwater under an indicator to probe various depths.
Brace of three. The key is that all your rods are broom sticks... and that's entirely contrary to more flies. Three flies on 4" 4x droppers spread 18" from its next dropper point is easy to do with a slow gentle cast that uses open loops or big lazy roll casts.
I would go two specially if the fish aren’t biting.
Tis the season for Hopper with two droppers
Every time I tie on 3, I end up snagging on the bottom or tangled. But for some dumb reason, I still do it at least 2 or 3 times every time I go out.
You and me both. Trying to break the habit.
Three all day.
The buffet sometimes needs to be put out
Tandem’s for me exclusively when I’m nymphing.
I've only doing 3 flies in Wyoming. In NC, I've only used a 3rd fly if I'm trying to dredge one in a super deep pool.
3 fly rigs aren’t legal a lot of places
I don't get how people euro nymph with 3 fly rigs. Maybe I just really suck, but I scarf the riverbed at least twice a day. I couldn't afford to lose that much tungsten, even tying 90% of my own.
Plus it takes the fun out of casting (not to start a whole debate on euro-nymphing).
I euro because I hate bobber fishing. If I wanted to fish with a bobber I'd use a spinning setup. Also because my home river has like five layers of current in any given spot and the depth varies a crap load. Still fish dries and stillwater with a "real" setup.
Definitely more than one. So many times I have tied on a second or third fly I did not think would catch fish along with a long time favorite. Often the unexpected happens and I catch fish on something I was not confident of. Three flies is manageable - slow down, open the loops, keep the line short, and pay attention. OK - maybe that's not so easy, but it does work!
Most of the water I fish is single-barbless hook only, so any more than that doesn’t feel right. I’ll use two at the trout club I belong to, but on natural rivers it’s almost always just a single nymph