How to fish the dry dropper
The dry dropper rig is a fantastic starting point for any day fishing a small to moderate sized piece of water under regular flow conditions. As the name suggests, the rig includes a dry fly, floating inert on the surface with the current, working in combination with a nymph drifting sub-surface below. The nymph dropper section is generally tied on the back of the dry fly hook. It covers both elements to a trout’s feeding patterns (bar predatory streamer eats) so naturally hedges your bets, or doubles your chances (depending on how you look at it) in enticing an eat. The method is a really accessible and entertaining form of fishing. Combining the effectiveness of a sub-surface nymph eat with the entertainment of a dry fly eat, it is a hard rig to beat.
“Fly line screamed from the reel as if intent on tearing the sky apart. This well proportioned rainbow trout well and truly had the upper hand. Halfway through the fight, I felt the line go momentarily slack, and ‘give’.”
The dry fly serves both its original standalone function of hooking a fish that eats it, but is also acts as indicator to any eats of the nymph below, generally unseen. If you see the dry dip under the surface, change course in its drift or do anything unnatural, consider it an indication of the nymph being eaten and strike the rod. It doesn’t cost you anything to strike, and if you don't, and miss the eat, the forever unknown will likely haunt your thoughts in the wee hours for weeks preceding.
Fishing the backcountry of the New Zealand south island, polaroiding flighty late season rainbow trout in jade hued waters in the back end of Season 2022/34, was a prime opportunity to leverage the dry dropper rig. Spotting fish in difficult to determine depths, unsure of the nature of their feeding activity (i.e. the probability of a trout seeing and venturing to the surface to eat off the top) called for an approach that enabled both forms of eat. Coming across a monstrosity of a fish, holding in a few foot of water, well within our vision, prompted a spike of anxiety and nerves. My palms, pressed against the cork of the rod handle, immediately became sweaty and clammy. I stripped off a premeditated length of fly line in preparation for the cast, eyes remaining fixed on the mass of a shadow swinging left to right with an ere of grace and nonchalance. In NZ, your first cast has to be your best cast, and I knew that to nail this brute I really only had one shot. A few false casts and I let the cast go onwards with equal measures of angst and hope. Alas, the cast, whilst on line, was a smidge short, not landing far enough beyond the fish for the dry fly to be front and center in its vision. Neither with enough time to allow the nymph to get down. Disappointed, I let the fly drift, not wanting to rip it off until well beyond this trout so not to spook it. I thought for a moment the swings and roundabouts of fishing karma may send a favour back my way and induce a 180 degree turn and burn downstream from the trout and deliver an eat. Then, without warning, an eruption of whitewater and silver exploded on the fly. Yet the mass shadow remained where we had left it. Another fish, unseen until now, came from nowhere and nailed the fly. Striking hard, pandemonium broke out. Fly line screamed from the reel as if intent on tearing the sky apart. This well proportioned rainbow trout well and truly had the upper hand. Halfway through the fight, I felt the line go momentarily slack, and ‘give’. For that split second I saw the dry fly ‘pop’ out of its mouth and feared the fight over, lost to nothing but memory. However, the line went taught again almost immediately, with the nymph dropper stuck firmly in the side of the fish's jaw. What had happened was the trout had originally eaten the nymph, then proceeded upwards to eat the dry fly next. Due to the fact fish didn’t put any tension on the line after eating the nymph, by moving upwards and creating slack in that section of tippet, the dry fly didn’t do anything to indicate an eat below. I certainly got lucky sticking this fish, however it speaks volumes that having the nymph and the dry fly can come in handy in more ways than one.
Depending on the weight of the nymph dangled below the dry fly, the more buoyant dry flies are preferable. Bigger, bulkier foam based grasshopper patterns always work well, and can hold up most nymph and bead sizes. More traditional hackled patterns like the Royal Wulff, Elk Hair Caddis, Humpys and Irresistibles also work well.
The depth of the dropper is influential as well. You can vary the depth in which it drifts through the water column by the length of tippet tied off the back of the hook of the dry fly. Due to the slight resistance from the tippet and the nymph through the water, the nymph won't travel immediately below the dry. It will drift slightly behind the dry fly. To ensure you cover the river bed, a likely spot for the fish to hold, a good rule of thumb to combat this resistance and get the nymph down is using a length of tippet 1.5 x the depth of the river. Don’t disregard fishing a shortened dropper when the fish are holding higher in the water column, during heavy hatches and are eating off the top.
A unique situation where the dry dropper can be effective, and possibly the only suitable method, is when the trout are eating emergers. This is where the nymph is in the final stages of hatching, and occurs in the surface film or just below. You will notice swirls on the surface, rather than surface tension breaking eats. This is the trout eating the nymph immediately below the surface as it goes through the process of emerging. Trout are known to get dialed in on emergers at times, disregarding other forms of food. Sticking a nymphing off the back of the dry fly, so it resides immediately below the surface can be one way to combat this.
