Cold Water Dry Dropper System // Powerhour Tip of the Week

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Early spring or late fall, the "dry dropper" which is a two fly rig composed of a buoyant dry fly and a nymph can still work! There are many reasons to use this setup, but the ingredients are key.
Tungsten Jighead Nymphs: redsflyfishing...
5X Fluorocarbon Tippet: redsflyfishing...
Dry Fly Chubby Chernobyl: redsflyfishing...
7.5' 3X Tapered Leader: redsflyfishing...

[@NoRodnoReel]

I used this exact rig a week ago and it definitely worked well on the Yakima

[@richardharrod378]

Nice job

[@farmerbob4554]

Definitely good tips. I see you used a pretty substantial dry so the tungsten bead nymph wouldn’t sink it. I’ve mis-calculated on that situation more times than I’d like to admit! Thanks for the informative video.

[@redsflyshop]

Yes, I like a #12 Chubby Chernobyl for the smallest dry that can still carry a Tungsten nymph. Try these - redsflyfishing.com/products/umpquas-chubby-chernobyl-royal?_pos=4&_sid=09e65ee5c&_ss=r

[@daveschlom4033]

Me too! Great tip about the #12 Chubby.

[@nicolelewis1828]

Great tips. I had not thought of using my tungsten nymphs in that way. Love the shirt, too! Thanks.

[@vivileegg7753]

Good stuff! Thanks Joe 👍

[@daviddoerr749]

The flies will bicker and argue.. haha I like that explanation joe, never knew flies could communicate like that, makes more sense now.

[@redsflyshop]

Oh man they will even wrestle! That causes most of my tangles those little buggers.

[@daviddoerr749]

I'm sure fun times catching fish outweigh the tough times with snags and tangles. Have a good rest of the winter and goodluck fishing.

[@Ericusaf123]

Crazy knowledge bombs here

[@williammiller353]

great video. thanks

[@troutnut01]

That was some gusty wind👍

[@redsflyshop]

Oh it can howl out here!

[@dgracia18]

Fun stuff and nice explanations. I really don't see any advantage as far as presentation goes to using a fly vs. a yarn indicator, but there certainly is the advantage of hooking a fish that strikes the floater vs. striking a yarn indicator, which has no hope of hooking anything -- been there, done that!
One thing that you might mention is the method used for casting such a rig to get it to fish quickly and effectively. One of he big tricks to getting that nymph to track underneath the dry or indicator is to get the nymph and shot (if your using it) to go into the water first and to get the dry or 'cator to enter the water after the nymph and come down up-current of the nymph. That way the the dry or 'cator pushes slack at the nymph allowing it to sink to depth very quickly. As long as you keep a dead-drift going with that, your nymph will typically be within a one foot circle of your dry or 'cator.
If you cast it out straight so the nymph is behind the indicator instead of in front of it, there will be constant tension on the nymph causing it to take 5 to 6-times as long to sink to depth, if it sinks that deep at all. And, since the water along the bottom of the river is moving slower than the water at the surface (except for tailouts!), the nymph will always be significantly behind it. Easy way to get the nymph to enter the water first is to just elevate your cast to let it extend in the air and give it room to flip over, which it will because it has some weight to it. If it's windy, that's not practical and then you need to use Humphrey's "tuck cast" or "up/down" cast. Both of those will force the fly to flip under the line and dry/'cator to enter the water first. If you don't know how to do either of those casts, just overpower the cast a bit and it will flip around. Even in 6-feet of depth the fly will get down very quickly. This makes fishing that nymph rig even more effective because you're actually fishing it at depth sooner and you'll cover more bottom using it.

[@josephault4023]

Great tip! Are you tying the dropper from the eye of the dry fly or on the shank?

[@CarlosGarcia-507]

What knot would you use when adding the emerger behind the dropper and how long should the line be?

[@SteelyFisher]

Noticed you didn't tie your dropper nymph solid to your tippet instead your have a open loop. I've heard pros and cons on this, what is your reason and thoughts and can this lead to fouling more often than a solidly tied jig head nymph?

[@ECDPhotography]

Duracell!

[@troutnut01]

I have an unrelated question, since the Yakima River predominantly flows north to south, do you find the fishing stays good all day long since the fish don’t have to stare at the sun? Is there anything you do different?

[@redsflyshop]

There is definitely some truth to that. There are only a few sections that run west to east where they look directly into the sun in the afternoon. If I am fishing dry flies I will often skip those sections to save my energy. Same is true for early morning on the east to west sections.

[@martinhodell8465]

How is it that your stonefly dry does NOT float ahead of your nymph (as opposed to a conventional indicator)?

[@EatShredSleep87]

You should aim to cast such that the nymph lands first and also behind (upstream) of your dry. The reasoning behind this is the same as when you employ this method (and you should strive for this) when indicator fishing: your tippet and in turn nymph will be less likely to be splayed across the water you are fishing and will sink more efficiently. A good method to achieve this will be to stop your cast with your rod tip higher than usual (higher than 2 o’clock). Even better, is to make sure your fly line is mostly (if not all, all is better) off the water. Doing all this will make sure your nymph gets down to where it needs to be and is especially important when fishing pocket water where your drifts will be shorter. I’m sure you’ve sorted all this out by now but if not, I hope this helps!