THANK YOU VERY MUCH,I've struggled with the blood knot for years and just gave up on it. I'm 69 with arthritis in my hands and until now after watching your video I actually did it first time. I'm booking marking your video into my files and if need be I can come back to it. THANK YOU so much...😊
I've always added length to the first piece of tippet. I've never thought of tying the dropper up the point like that. That makes it easy if you want a lighter tippet for your dropper. I just started reading your book and I'm learning a lot. Thanks!!
I am heading to the Crooked for my first attempt at nymphing, and you just gave me an understanding of the point and dropper that I believe I can accomplish. Thanks so much George!
🔥Very good! Now I can stop wasting bits of tippet tying new dropper tags. This is a smart way to both add droppers and 90⁰ the dropper tag. Thank you for sharing George👍
Hey I know this is an older video but its so effective. I just got into euro nymphing and this technique is amazing! Caught fish on my first day! With both the point and top nymph. Excellent video thank you!
This is great logic for my gripe with the surgeons knot dropper formula. I don’t want to have to tie on a new section of tippet once the tag is too short to change flies. I’d like to add that it would be an even more simple setup to use a dropper loop instead of the modified clinch knot.
Very informative video George. Keep them coming. I have done this a bit different in the past. Instead of using a clinch knot, I tied a perfection loop and looped it around the main line. I works like what you have shown, but I like your idea better. ill be giving a whirl this season. Tight line my friend..... john surkovic
Great tips! I'll add that if you put in a half clinch below the surgeons knot it will keep the tag end at 90d to your main line. You could also use a uni knot above the stopper and then you don't have to feed the whole nymph rig through a small loop.
As usual with George, this makes so much sense. Why didn't I think of this way of adding on the dropper tag, rather than letting the main line be the dropper? Also, when the dropper gets short, I've done something similar (Devin Olsen has suggested tying on with a Uni knot), but that's very difficult to do on the stream because it's like you need 4 hands. This way of forming the Clinch knot first and then dropping the fly through makes it much less awkward.
Hi George. Just came to your videos. Your straight-forward, down-to-earth approach is so refreshing. And the info you impart is like gold! One question: you mention at about 1:35 that the length from the dropper to the point is dependent on a variety of variables. Have you done a video discussing these variables? Or could you go a bit into that? Thanks so much - you have a new subscriber and fan!
Thanks for tutorial George. I would be curious as to your preferred connection between floating fly line and leader (e.g. nail knot) for sighter nymph rig. For example do you attach fly line to small butt section of leader and create a perfection loop to connect tapered mono leader?
Tip: Unimproved Clinch/cinch is useful because it can be easily untied (if tippet is getting short). For many other situations like this I use uni-knots because they can be slid-open/larger and taken off of hook bends or the stopper knot like in this video and then stored on foam cylinders/cards.....The uni-knot will stay intact so can be stored and just put over whatever again and then drawn down...rinse/repeat. I pre-tie droppers and trailer like this.....saves a lot of time on the water and a lot of fluoro.
Hi George, followin your suggestion, I have used this knot but I lost several flies as the tippet cuts at the junction, loosing two flies each time. After 3 times I decided to make another triple surgeons knot abobe the original knot. I have not lost any flies after that. I was using 3X Tippet and landing trout 15 inch through 22 Inch.
Awesome and simple, I keep going back between adding the dropper off the eye of on fly or using the surgeons knot as you have shown. Is what you have shown your preferred method? Would you choose one over the other depending on certain factors? Thanks again.
George, Great video on tying on to the main tippet to add more line for another fly. I was wondering if you have done any fly fishing knot tying videos? The reason I ask is, I think people see how a knot is tied and they tie it that way the rest of their life but, I just saw you tie a surgeon knot by pushing the loops of string through the loop you create. You made tying knots look easy. Can you do a video on the basic fly fishing knots; clinch, Surgern, and blood knots?
I find that after the initial surgeons knot for a dropper, tying an overhand knot before tying on the fly helps to keep that tag end at 90 degrees from main line.
Love the no nonsense technique. Would you advocate using this exact same method for fishing double streamers? I can see how it might be useful for not having to use an additional length on tippet
George great video. I use a very similar rig. Only instead of a clinch knot tag, I use a perfection loop tag for my dropper. Something that I picked up from a Kelly Galloup article years ago. Do you believe there is a strength or possibly some other advantage to using a clinch knot dropper?
This is great advice, one question - Why not use the top tag as the dropper instead of the downward tag of the surgeon's knot? Wouldnt this be more tangle-resistant than the downward tag? Or is there some kind of knot strength reason for always using the downward tag?
Thank you, George! Question, what are your suggestions for the instances when you change your point fly more frequently than the dropper resulting in the two flies fishing too close together? Do you start from scratch and add a new section of 4ft tippet from the tippet ring and add your dropper as displayed in the video, or do you perhaps have other tips/tricks/suggestions? Many thanks again for the invaluable information and everything you do for the sport.
Justin I see George hasn't been replying here, but I think it would be fine to add more with a surgeon's knot. Doesn't get the benefit of being straight from the main line, but in my experience I run out of room much more quickly on the dropper (since it's only 4-6").
I like this as an add-on for a new dropper however, rather than the surgeons knot for the initial dropper (for the reasons you mention), I tie a blood knot for my dropper.
Question : if you Are fishing your 2 nymphs on a euro rig, and need to go deeper, can you add some tungsten putty between the flies to avoid changing your point fly?
Hi George, thanks for the many great videos and books. I need some help. I use the clinch knot and can tie it but not fast, especially any tippet less than 4X. I also cannot get the short tag end after the knot has been tightened like you do. I have watched your videos many times but you are so fast I can’t accurately see your technique. Could you please do a video on your fast tying techniques. Thanks
Love this video. However, I'm confused by the first "clinch knot" you tied to create the original dropper. It looks like you are tying a double surgeons knot and the only kind of clinch knot I know of is from line to hook and I can't figure out how you'd do one joining lines. I've watched you tie that knot like 20 times now. It's not a double surgeons, but I can't figure out what it is or how to recreate it. Any chance you could explain?
absolutely. I just use the modified clinch because it works and is comfortable for me to do, but the penny could easily replace the clinch. Hope SA is treating you well
Clarification, please. When you tie the clinch knot for the dry/dropper you make 6 turns with your finger in the loop. But when you do it for adding a dropper for the tag you did 4 turns with the finger in the loop and then 2 with the tag end. Why the difference? Thanks.
No difference, you get six turns either way. Depending on how it feels, how well you have it pinched in your hand, it might me easier to spin with your finger or pass the tag end around the main line. But really it is all the same as far as the knot is concerned.
I've just started learning about contact nymphing...my question is, why not just use a tippet ring here instead of tying two different knots to accommodate a single dropper...then you are only dealing with clinch knots to a ring, and easy to replace a dropper if broken off or snagged?
The dropper fly on my tag always seems to get twisted around the lower line that the point fly is tied to. Is this normal? It seems that the flies always come out of the water next to each other. Any way to fix this?
Try tying a single half hitch with the tag end below the main knot. Super simple and you then have the tag end at right angles, just like the cinch knot above the stopper knot he shows at the end.
why a clinch knot over something like a small perfection loop like Kelly Galloup talks about in his tutorials or a uni jam knot like Devin talked about in one of the modern nymph videos?
Just tie the dropper tippet around the line. Garth hitch, clinch etc Don't need to pass fly through. Tenkara fisherman put a square knot in main tippet as a dropper stopper.
George, thanks for sharing. What are your thoughts on using the surgeons knot as the same stopper but attaching with a loop knot connection allowing you to change flys quickly without having to retie? Also thanks for taking time to stop at the TCO in Boiling Springs a few weeks ago, I enjoyed your presentation.
You mean sort of like having them prerigged? That is an interesting idea..... you could change weights very quickly that way without losing any of your dropper length.
Sorry George but it is a triple surgeon knot not a clinch knot on the first tie on of the dropper. But if you are going to do a dropper there are easier ways the first time to set up the dropper line.
I do a simple barrel knot and then do a clinch knot to the mainline. I don't like surgeon or blood knot droppers (I have lost too many fish at that spot. Blood knot is 50% the strength Surgeons too many tangles Was doing a perfection loop and adding it to the mainline (I have a pre-tied dropper in my box of 5" droppers with perfection loops and saves fishing time) still don't trust the perfection knot.
Thanks - I've been trying to find the perfect knot for adding a new dropper tag quickly, and this is it.
It truly is the most simple and quick knot system. The clinch knot can do everything!
Good teachers are even tempered and they're ALWAYS efficent with their words. Thanks George. I'm a subscriber.
I’ve watched two life changing videos on TH-cam. This is one of them! Thanks, George!
That was actually a knot/rig set up that I could actually see and understand.
Well done.
Dry fly dropper tie off just blew my mind. Thank you.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH,I've struggled with the blood knot for years and just gave up on it. I'm 69 with arthritis in my hands and until now after watching your video I actually did it first time. I'm booking marking your video into my files and if need be I can come back to it. THANK YOU so much...😊
I've always added length to the first piece of tippet. I've never thought of tying the dropper up the point like that. That makes it easy if you want a lighter tippet for your dropper. I just started reading your book and I'm learning a lot. Thanks!!
I am heading to the Crooked for my first attempt at nymphing, and you just gave me an understanding of the point and dropper that I believe I can accomplish. Thanks so much George!
This was perfect and provided a simple explanation of a better alternative to just tying a dropper off the bend of the point fly. Thanks George!
🔥Very good! Now I can stop wasting bits of tippet tying new dropper tags. This is a smart way to both add droppers and 90⁰ the dropper tag. Thank you for sharing George👍
Friggin ingenious! Well done George!
Thanks for watching
Wow, thank you for sharing. Please keep them coming.
Thank you for the demonstration on the dropper George👍
Would love to see a video/tutorial of your euro nymphing setup! Have learnt a lot watching your videos, thanks!
Thank you George. You have helped me more than you know. May God bless you.
Thank you for the demo. I needed a new way to add a dropper from the point fly.
I have watched a number of your videos recently. They are excellent.
Love it! Thanks for the tip and tutorial, George!
Thanks George. Well demonstrated. I will try the nymphing rig.
I spent a couple hours yesterday looking for precisely this info. Now for a little practise. Thanks much
Hey I know this is an older video but its so effective. I just got into euro nymphing and this technique is amazing! Caught fish on my first day! With both the point and top nymph. Excellent video thank you!
This is the best simple method I've come across.
You just made my experiences easy. 😊
Helpful thoughts. Funny how little innovations make our sport so fun. Thanks for doing this.
Good to hear from you, Kirk!
This is great logic for my gripe with the surgeons knot dropper formula. I don’t want to have to tie on a new section of tippet once the tag is too short to change flies. I’d like to add that it would be an even more simple setup to use a dropper loop instead of the modified clinch knot.
Very informative video George. Keep them coming. I have done this a bit different in the past. Instead of using a clinch knot, I tied a perfection loop and looped it around the main line. I works like what you have shown, but I like your idea better. ill be giving a whirl this season.
Tight line my friend.....
john surkovic
Wonderful series! Many thanks.
I prefer using the top tag myself but what a great way to keep using the original knot and tippet for longevity!
Absolutely fantastic information. This will help me so much.
This is a money demonstration. Thanks GD!
Thanks Dave
Nice! Thanks for the detailed tip!
Thanks for watching
Fantastic video. Thanks for posting.
Would love to see any casting tips or casting demo with the tight line monorig setup.
George great video, Thank you so much
Great tips! I'll add that if you put in a half clinch below the surgeons knot it will keep the tag end at 90d to your main line. You could also use a uni knot above the stopper and then you don't have to feed the whole nymph rig through a small loop.
brilliant George !
You rock! Thanks George.
Thanks for this extremely helpful and expedient.
This is solid gold. Thank you sir
That is so simple and so awesome. Thanks!
Thanks Look forward to fishing with you in 2019
Can’t wait George👊
As usual with George, this makes so much sense. Why didn't I think of this way of adding on the dropper tag, rather than letting the main line be the dropper? Also, when the dropper gets short, I've done something similar (Devin Olsen has suggested tying on with a Uni knot), but that's very difficult to do on the stream because it's like you need 4 hands. This way of forming the Clinch knot first and then dropping the fly through makes it much less awkward.
Thanks George!
Looks good! Thanks
Great little trick!
This is a game changer, thanks for showing this!
thanks for sharing great info
Hi George. Just came to your videos. Your straight-forward, down-to-earth approach is so refreshing. And the info you impart is like gold!
One question: you mention at about 1:35 that the length from the dropper to the point is dependent on a variety of variables. Have you done a video discussing these variables? Or could you go a bit into that?
Thanks so much - you have a new subscriber and fan!
Very well done. Thanks.
Thanks for tutorial George. I would be curious as to your preferred connection between floating fly line and leader (e.g. nail knot) for sighter nymph rig. For example do you attach fly line to small butt section of leader and create a perfection loop to connect tapered mono leader?
Really helpful thank you
Tip: Unimproved Clinch/cinch is useful because it can be easily untied (if tippet is getting short). For many other situations like this I use uni-knots because they can be slid-open/larger and taken off of hook bends or the stopper knot like in this video and then stored on foam cylinders/cards.....The uni-knot will stay intact so can be stored and just put over whatever again and then drawn down...rinse/repeat. I pre-tie droppers and trailer like this.....saves a lot of time on the water and a lot of fluoro.
Hi George, followin your suggestion, I have used this knot but I lost several flies as the tippet cuts at the junction, loosing two flies each time. After 3 times I decided to make another triple surgeons knot abobe the original knot. I have not lost any flies after that. I was using 3X Tippet and landing trout 15 inch through 22 Inch.
Awesome and simple, I keep going back between adding the dropper off the eye of on fly or using the surgeons knot as you have shown. Is what you have shown your preferred method? Would you choose one over the other depending on certain factors? Thanks again.
WOW! Thank you.
Confused by the dry fly you attached. Did it go around the bend of the hook? Can't see what the hooking up would be like.
George, Great video on tying on to the main tippet to add more line for another fly. I was wondering if you have done any fly fishing knot tying videos? The reason I ask is, I think people see how a knot is tied and they tie it that way the rest of their life but, I just saw you tie a surgeon knot by pushing the loops of string through the loop you create. You made tying knots look easy. Can you do a video on the basic fly fishing knots; clinch, Surgern, and blood knots?
I find that after the initial surgeons knot for a dropper, tying an overhand knot before tying on the fly helps to keep that tag end at 90 degrees from main line.
George - That was easy to understand. How would you attach split shot to the bottom of this setup if needed?
Love the no nonsense technique. Would you advocate using this exact same method for fishing double streamers? I can see how it might be useful for not having to use an additional length on tippet
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thank you George,,,,
At 4:14, exactly how did you attach that dry fly to the dropper? It looked like you put the hook through the loop you made.
George great video. I use a very similar rig. Only instead of a clinch knot tag, I use a perfection loop tag for my dropper. Something that I picked up from a Kelly Galloup article years ago. Do you believe there is a strength or possibly some other advantage to using a clinch knot dropper?
i use the orvis tippet knot so it gives you a dropper tag that faces upward with the strength of a blood knot
Thanks George. How do you feel about tying off the bend of the hook when fishing two nymphs?
what is your opinion on incorporating dropper loops and then using perfection loops to loop to loop or clinch knot to the dropper loop?
This is great advice, one question - Why not use the top tag as the dropper instead of the downward tag of the surgeon's knot? Wouldnt this be more tangle-resistant than the downward tag? Or is there some kind of knot strength reason for always using the downward tag?
Hey you were on the Orvis new fly fisher video a while back Tightline nymphing? As special quest and guide?
Thank you, George! Question, what are your suggestions for the instances when you change your point fly more frequently than the dropper resulting in the two flies fishing too close together? Do you start from scratch and add a new section of 4ft tippet from the tippet ring and add your dropper as displayed in the video, or do you perhaps have other tips/tricks/suggestions? Many thanks again for the invaluable information and everything you do for the sport.
Justin I see George hasn't been replying here, but I think it would be fine to add more with a surgeon's knot. Doesn't get the benefit of being straight from the main line, but in my experience I run out of room much more quickly on the dropper (since it's only 4-6").
"Like the jitterbug, it plumb evaded me." J Buffett
Also subscribing to your channel 👍👍👍👍
Do you think that this would work ok for a paternoster flasher rig? That would be Fluro the whole way
I like this as an add-on for a new dropper however, rather than the surgeons knot for the initial dropper (for the reasons you mention), I tie a blood knot for my dropper.
Do you like the rear section of the leader in flashy or transparent color? Doesn't the flashy color scare the fish? Thank you!
Question : if you Are fishing your 2 nymphs on a euro rig, and need to go deeper, can you add some tungsten putty between the flies to avoid changing your point fly?
What are your thoughts on swivel dropper, which one is better, modified clinch or swivel dropper.
Hi George, thanks for the many great videos and books. I need some help. I use the clinch knot and can tie it but not fast, especially any tippet less than 4X. I also cannot get the short tag end after the knot has been tightened like you do. I have watched your videos many times but you are so fast I can’t accurately see your technique. Could you please do a video on your fast tying techniques. Thanks
I’m new to fly fishing and I’m trying to learn with out an indicator.? And I would really like to build my own leaders. ?
Thank you for the tip. Question if after you go through all the tippet for your second dropper what do you recommend? Do u cut the second knot ?
you can just trim the second dropper knot off flush and tie on another one, rinse & repeat.
On euro nymphing what is the optimum distance between flies ? Thanks
Love this video. However, I'm confused by the first "clinch knot" you tied to create the original dropper. It looks like you are tying a double surgeons knot and the only kind of clinch knot I know of is from line to hook and I can't figure out how you'd do one joining lines. I've watched you tie that knot like 20 times now. It's not a double surgeons, but I can't figure out what it is or how to recreate it. Any chance you could explain?
Ah, just watched from beginning and saw that it is indeed a surgeon's knot at first. Thanks.
Hey George, I guess something like a Penny knot can also be used? Busy reading your Nymph Fishing book at the moment
absolutely. I just use the modified clinch because it works and is comfortable for me to do, but the penny could easily replace the clinch. Hope SA is treating you well
George Daniel still need to get you down here for some fishing!
That would be awesome! @@PieterSnyders
Clarification, please. When you tie the clinch knot for the dry/dropper you make 6 turns with your finger in the loop. But when you do it for adding a dropper for the tag you did 4 turns with the finger in the loop and then 2 with the tag end. Why the difference? Thanks.
No difference, you get six turns either way. Depending on how it feels, how well you have it pinched in your hand, it might me easier to spin with your finger or pass the tag end around the main line. But really it is all the same as far as the knot is concerned.
Is there any loss of strength at the join?
You're a fuckin genius 👏
I've just started learning about contact nymphing...my question is, why not just use a tippet ring here instead of tying two different knots to accommodate a single dropper...then you are only dealing with clinch knots to a ring, and easy to replace a dropper if broken off or snagged?
Hey George. Would that still be comp legal for use in fips style comps?
no, it would not. sorry...
All good man. That’s why it’s always nice to ask questions. You should do a video on French nymphing
The dropper fly on my tag always seems to get twisted around the lower line that the point fly is tied to. Is this normal? It seems that the flies always come out of the water next to each other. Any way to fix this?
Try tying a single half hitch with the tag end below the main knot. Super simple and you then have the tag end at right angles, just like the cinch knot above the stopper knot he shows at the end.
why a clinch knot over something like a small perfection loop like Kelly Galloup talks about in his tutorials or a uni jam knot like Devin talked about in one of the modern nymph videos?
See my comment above. Uni knot is very difficult to tie onto a tippet (I got that from Devin as well:) )
wasn't that a surgeons knot? the first one you did?
Yes, he said the wrong knot there.
Just tie the dropper tippet around the line. Garth hitch, clinch etc Don't need to pass fly through. Tenkara fisherman put a square knot in main tippet as a dropper stopper.
Isn't it a no, no to pull hard on the tag end of a clinch??
George, thanks for sharing. What are your thoughts on using the surgeons knot as the same stopper but attaching with a loop knot connection allowing you to change flys quickly without having to retie? Also thanks for taking time to stop at the TCO in Boiling Springs a few weeks ago, I enjoyed your presentation.
You mean sort of like having them prerigged? That is an interesting idea..... you could change weights very quickly that way without losing any of your dropper length.
Thanks George! From Craig Thompson.....Wildblue Discovery is my TH-cam channel. Your a great educator!
Thanks Craig, I'm sure there's better methods but this has worked well for me in the past.
Sorry George but it is a triple surgeon knot not a clinch knot on the first tie on of the dropper. But if you are going to do a dropper there are easier ways the first time to set up the dropper line.
I do a simple barrel knot and then do a clinch knot to the mainline. I don't like surgeon or blood knot droppers (I have lost too many fish at that spot.
Blood knot is 50% the strength
Surgeons too many tangles
Was doing a perfection loop and adding it to the mainline (I have a pre-tied dropper in my box of 5" droppers with perfection loops and saves fishing time) still don't trust the perfection knot.
A little hard to follow..
This is awesome. Thanks so much.