Here’s part of a video series called “Advanced Fly-Fishing Tactics,” which focuses on tips and tactics designed to take your fly fishing to the next level. Check them out on the Orvis YouTube channel, in a playlist called “Advanced Tactics.”
In this great video from Dave and Amelia Jensen of Jensen Fly Fishing, Dave discusses three ways to set up a dry-and-dropper rig, outlining the pros and cons of each. His final set up may be new to a lot of you, and once you see it, you’ll understand its utility. The way both the dry and the nymph can move independently is ingenious.
I love fishing a dropper rig and never thought to use double surgeons knot to allow for a variance in depth of the nymph. I cannot wait to try this the next time I am out on the water.
The sliding dry setup might work to get the nymph at the right depth, but without a tight connection to the dry fly, there is no way to set the hook if the fish takes the upper fly. The leader will simply slide through the eye of the hook. And if you make a big sweeping set to bring the leader tight, you will jerk the fly from the fishes mouth if the dry is close to the lower knot. To make it worse, the sliding dry fly cannot act as a strike indicator to detect subtle strikes on the nymph. This one looks like a lose/lose setup to me.
Even with that thick string, it looks like that double surgeons would slip through the eye of the hopper with any amount of tension. Kinda hard to imagine that one in action…
Looks like a brilliant set up! can wait to try it and work out the concerns that others have brought up!