One fly or two - that is the question. Will a second fly really help you catch more fish or will it increase the chance of a horrible bird's nest? When I'm guiding, especially when it's someone I have never fished with before, I usually start with one fly to assess the level of talent I'm working with for the day. A tapered leader, single fly is definitely the easiest setup to cast and fish. Once you add another fly and a couple of split shots, things can very quickly get very complicated. You can't catch fish if your flies and leader are in a perpetual, hopeless mess!
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Later in the summer, when I'm fishing dries close to the bank, I like a single dry. I find this to be a game of inches; and often, being 5 inches from the bank is not close enough. I like to throw it right into the grass on the bank, make a quick mend to pop it out of the grass, and land it an inch from the bank, ready to take a nice float down the bank. When you're in a situation that requires this level of precision, I think one fly is the right call. Otherwise, the dropper tends to hang up or drag in an unnatural arc away from the bank.
We often fish streamers the same way, super close to the bank. Rather than using an upstream mend, I suggest mending down stream so the bug runs close in and straight down stream. For years I fished a single streamer for the reasons mentioned above, but a few years back that all changed. We noticed that while we could get big fish to follow the fly almost all the way to the bank, we couldn't get them to eat. The problem was finally solved by a size 14 Prince, tied on about 12 inches behind the streamer. It was crazy what a difference it made. Now I almost always put a little nymph on behind my streamer. For the trailer, the recipe for success seems to be big bug/little bug - the bigger the streamer the smaller the nymph.
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After the Salmonfly hatch dissipates, the fish move back out into the middle of the river and I return to using two flies. There are two reasons for this. First, I find this helps me cover more water and show my bug to as many fish as possible. A couple of nymphs or dries spread out a couple of feet apart go a long way to accomplish this, as more fish are likely to see one or the other. Another reason to fish droppers is to up your odds when you're trying to crack the code. If you're not catching fish it's time to change something. That something is usually your fly choice. Do I go big? Do I go small? Bright or dark? Whatever. Fishing with 2 flies yields 2 different guesses. Again I like to think of it as big bug/little bug. The combinations are limitless. Come on over and figure it out. Someone has to - why not you?
The Hopper-Dropper Set Up
Another two fly situation I really like, is the hopper/dropper set up. This is when you start with a big dry like a hopper or a chubby Chernobyl, then hang a small nymph off the back. The dry makes a great strike indicator. You select the nymph depth setting and you're still in the game if the fish return to the surface.
Tail or no tail. Some people tie their dropper line to the bend of the hook on the front fly. Others go eye to eye - two clinch knots in one hook eye. I usually go off the bend if I'm fishing streamers and beads; for nymphs I like to go eye to eye. That leaves the hook sticking straight out and I feel like it hooks more fish.
So the next time your rigging up, ponder what's possible using a two fly approach. Experiment! Be the one to crack the code! You never know what you might come up with.
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