Pre-beginner spey question

[TonyMuljat]

Do you only fish one fly on your leader when fishing spey, or do you sometimes use a dropper system?

[JasonB]

Assuming you're talking about swinging flies with a spey rod, there's not really any difference there versus swinging flies with a single hand rod. Some folks only swing one, some like to swing two at a time. I am guessing that a lot of us dabble a bit both ways. I personally am usually not as fond of casting with 2 fly rigs, particularly in tricky conditions (wind, tight quarters, etc). I'd recommend sticking with just one fly, one that you have great confidence in, and just fish that. Particularly when learning to cast, and trying to get your line/leader/fly balance down. There's a lot of parts, so simplifying your rig a bit, should help in reducing tangles and frustrations.
JB

[Idaho steel]

As Jason noted, there is no real difference between swinging with two hands or one.

I generally only fish a single fly, but in the summer when I'm fishing more riffles and pocket "resting" water, I will put a small wet dropper on behind a skated muddler. I've taken a lot more fish on this rig than on a skater or wet alone. Interestingly, the fish nearly always grab the wet fly. My theory is the waker grabs their attention, and the wet fly closes the deal...

[JasonB]

Idaho steel,
That is an interesting observation about the skate/wet combo. I had a similar experience and thought the same this fall on the Rogue river. The half pounders in one riffle were just hammering the wet fly that I had trailing behind a pretty sizable waking fly. The combination really seemed to get a lot more grabs than either by itself, and it really did not seem to matter much what color the dropper was as long as it was small.

At any rate, regarding the OP. My suggestion was only relative to the initial learning process, after that you'll find your own style and system that works for you: one fly or two, sink tip or not, etc...
Cheers,
JB

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think swinging a smaller fly behind a larger fly makes sense.

[lynnwhite44]

I use both one fly and 2 fly rigs. I use two different 2 fly rigs. The first set up is to tie tippet on the hook bend of the first fly, this is probably the most common. However, the set up that I fish most often is a slider fly. Say your fishing with a 13 foot tapered leader on your 13 foot spey rod and a single fly. You cut the leader 5 or 6 feet from the fly. Then you slide a fly on the longer piece of leader, then tie the two pieces of leader back together. The slider fly will stop at the blood or surgeons knot. The slider fly is usually smaller, size 8 or 10 and more natural like a steelhead coachmen, green ant or undertaker. In theory, as you're stepping down the run the fish will see the larger fly on the end of your line first, which grabs the attention of the fish and the more natural fly entices the fish to grab. Works good on the Deschutes and Grande Ronde for summer steelhead.

[Idaho steel]

This is sort of tangential but: a slider is also an awesome way to set up a tandem nymph rig with very small flies...

[Fly Right]

I like to swing for trout, actually all species that reside in or visit waters larger than creeks or streams. Often times I will rig a soft hackle dropper off of a bugger. The action of the bugger as it undulates in the current during the swing puts a very attractive natural looking action on the soft hackle dropper that cannot be duplicated when fishing the soft hackle alone. This has been a very effective technique,especially for trout.
Additionally this is not a difficult system to cast.

see you out there

[lynnwhite44]

Fly right, I am going to try this technique on my next trip to the Lower Sac. I don't catch nearly as many fish swinging for trout but swinging is a lot more fun.

[Fly Right]

Fly right, I am going to try this technique on my next trip to the Lower Sac. I don't catch nearly as many fish swinging for trout but swinging is a lot more fun.

I couldn't agree more..........ditto on the fun factor element of this style of fishing.