Dry Fly / Emerger Leader Setup
Using overly thick line and short leaders can spook fish with a heavy landing on the surface. This is where putting distance between your colored fly line and your dry fly is crucial. The key to a soft dry fly landing is a longer leader using thin, flexible mono line.
We typically like to use a 9-foot leader and add additional tippet when needed.
- 9 foot leader + added tippet
- Mono tippet / leader. Fluorocarbon is extremely dense and may sink your dry flies.
- Clean your colored fly line to remove any dirt / buildup that would prevent it from floating.
The Double Dry Rig
Hatches will happen rapid fire with many overlapping leaving you scratching your head which one to fish. Fishing multiple dry flies can help single out which hatch trout prefer. Having two dry flies targeting the day’s caddis hatches and mayfly hatches is a great way to dial into what trout are keying in on. If you have never fished two dry flies at the same time, there are many benefits.
- One, both dry flies will work together to keep the other afloat.
- Two, with low visibility it will be easier to spot both as opposed to just one — especially when fishing smaller sizes the parachute will stick out.
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Three, you can fish two hatches at once.
Another fantastic double dry fly rig that has one goal in mind, visibility. It’s always a challenge to spot smaller flies amongst the naturals, but with a larger, brighter dry fly marking the general location you can have a better idea of when to set the hook.
- Tie the largest of the two dry flies on the end of your leader.
- Add 18 to 24-inches of 5x or 6x tippet to the hook-eye of your dry fly.
- Attach the second dry fly to the new section tippet.