Jul 19 2008
From Sea to Shining Sea
As I stated yesterday, the majority of Midwest fly fishing is ‘dark water.’ Although this is true, clear water fishing is a huge industry in other, more mountainous, areas of New Mexico. When traveling through the mountainous regions around Los Alamos, I met up with two men who were preparing to fish a small, clear water, run-off stream. Due to the large pine, and the small meadows of unscathed grass, it seemed as though we were once again in the Appalachian Mountains here in New England.
As the discussion with these two men continued, it became clear that regardless of what coast you are on, or how different of lived we lived being in different areas of the country, we still were able to communicate perfectly on one topic, clear water fishing. These two men used a technique that is very common to use around the east coast as well, called “hopper and dropper.” By utilizing this method, a fisherman has the ability to fish two very different patterns at the same time, more readily appealing to the different desires of different fish.
In the case of “hopper and dropper,” the fisherman ties a hopper pattern, the lead, to the tippet as usual, then, selecting a nymph of some sort, ties short piece of tippet material, about nine inches will do, to the shank of the hopper, then attach the dropper nymph to that tippet. It is important to make sure that your lead fly is always a highly buoyant dry fly, and your dropper is a very non-buoyant nymph or wet fly pattern. It is key to balance the flies appropriately, to ensure that the dropper does not sink the lead, nor should the lead cause the dropper to float unnaturally. This technique will undoubtedly serve you well, and, in some cases will lead to an interesting tale of a ‘double catch.’
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