Stop revealing my secrets Deeter! Just kiddin, good post-

Buck, I had that same hatred with tangling. But I figured out, most line (tippet spools) are too soft. take some 2 4 6 and 8 pd with you when you fish, that comes in the "Conventional" spools (ex. Triline xt or suffix) and use that. It tends to be stiffer, making the tailing fly stay above the lead fly.

There is no question a lot of anglers are going to the two fly system, and there are all kinds of combos. If the situation calls for a small, dry fly,,and it is hard to see, you can drop the small dry behind a bigger dry fly you can see. There are definitely draw backs and advantages. I often throw to banks, and the big fly may land great, tight to the bank, and the trailer hangs up. Get a fish in the net, and the flies are harder to get out. What often turns me off to the two fly system is the fish has the fly in his mouth, and the other one is wrapped around his head, and stuck outside the mouth, maybe in the eye...flat ugly. I find also, that the best settup to eliminate foul ups casting is to rig the dropper off the bend of the bigger, front fly. Cast decent letting the backcast straighten out, and few problems, BUT, I sure would like to know the statistics on which fly gets taken most often? It sure seems to me like the nymph dropper that often gets used, hanging back off the bigger dry fly, gets taken 80-90% of the time. If that is the case why not just a bobber/dropper. I like to think I've got what they are taking..looking up, or, if not, I need to fish a nymph, or a soft hackle, and go with it. There are times when the fish won't move off the bottom, and all the guides out here are using the big bobbers, and a double nymph rig 6-8' down from the bobber. I never go that route. Just no fun for me.

The double fly rig saved my trip in the Smokies at the end of June. The trip got pushed back a few weeks from the normal time and there was nothing and I mean nothing hatching. Even the buggers and ants were striking out. Me and my buddies ended up with two combos that accounted for all the fish caught on a 4 day weekend. A pink San Juan with a inch worm and a stimulator trailed by a miniscule hares ear. The thing that got me was that the inch worm nor any nymph in box worked without the San Juan or stimulator leading the show.

vtbluegrass,
And that has been my frustrating experience trying to avoid the double rigs...two flies seems to outfish one fly by the very fact that two flies produce more of an interest than just one. The one enhances the other. The other thing that takes place is not only is that first fly an attractor, but it presents the 2nd fly in the zone much better than if you fished it alone. What I have also seen, and few anglers use it, is the wet fly "sets" I think they call them. And I think it is a European technique/approach. There is a wet fly tied at the end, and then above that spaced out on the leader are 2, or three more wet flies coming off the leader. Cast straight out, mend, follow, and you have all of these wets going down stream...very effective where it is legal to use that many.

I use a big gaudy bug as a cheater indicator - rarely do I use a real indicator anymore. I got tired of fish hitting the non-hooked indicator. I rarely have problems tangling double flies (maybe it's my natural open loops) ... triples are another story. I do lose droppers quite often, though.