Droppers - some advice?

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Phil

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I’m after a bit of advice if I may. The topic may well have been covered elsewhere here but after an hour of searching I have drawn a blank.

Anyway, I like to use a dropper about 10 inches long 5ft from the point fly. After setting this up afresh (either at the start of the session or late into the night) I seem to do well on the dropper fly, but after maybe 15/20 casts things start to go badly wrong - see below.

After that amount of time the dropper line (not fly) begins to twist around the main line. I often have to stop and endlessly end over end untwist it (it could be twisted for about 6inches of the dropper line). If I don’t do this then eventually it will tangle. At which point I normally repeat the cycle.

So my question is any tips? It is probably a combination of bad casting (likely culprit!), knot being used (standard water knot), length of leader, anything else….

Any help greatly appreciated, it doesn’t ruin my fishing (small 2 pounder, ironically on the dropper last night) but it would make a big difference to me if I didn’t need to check everything every 2 minutes.

Phil
 
elwyman

elwyman

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A stiff mono or fluorocarbon will help a bit, but dropper twist seems to be a fact of life, to me anyway. 10" seems long for a dropper, I aim for 6" at start of night.
I started to use Riverge leader rings for night fishing last season, at least you can replace the dropper easily.
 
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Phil

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Thanks

I shall invest in some reading glasses if leader rings are on the agenda!!
 
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T7

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Very simple solution. Put a half hitch/ overhand knot with the length of dropper passing around the main leader after you have tied the water knot/dropper knot. It makes it stick out at almost 90 degrees. Let me know if this doesn’t make sense!
 
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ian1104

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elwyman said:
A stiff mono or fluorocarbon will help a bit, but dropper twist seems to be a fact of life, to me anyway. 10" seems long for a dropper, I aim for 6" at start of night.
I started to use Riverge leader rings for night fishing last season, at least you can replace the dropper easily.
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I also aim for no longer than 6. The longer the dropper, the more it twists in my experience!
 
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alun

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T7 said:
View attachment 94121
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This works brilliantly, thanks for the top tip T7 (y). Used it today while out on the salmon, i had zero tangles or line twist and the droper fly was sitting out from the main leader 100% of the time i checked it. The proof is in the pudding as they say, I landed 2 salmon and they were both taken on the dropper ?
Give it a try lads it's really good and what i will be doing from now on.
 
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T7

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alun said:
This works brilliantly, thanks for the top tip T7 (y). Used it today while out on the salmon, i had zero tangles or line twist and the droper fly was sitting out from the main leader 100% of the time i checked it. The proof is in the pudding as they say, I landed 2 salmon and they were both taken on the dropper ?
Give it a try lads it's really good and what i will be doing from now on.
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Great stuff Alun. Well done on the fish. I’ve used this method for a couple of seasons now. I typically use Seagur for most of my fishing now and have had no issues with knots weakening. I’ve not had anything huge on the dropper - best one about 5lb or so but I think if you treat it as any other knot and moisten it etc it seems pretty robust. Certainly stops twists and tangles anyway
 
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alun

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T7 said:
Great stuff Alun. Well done on the fish. I’ve used this method for a couple of seasons now. I typically use Seagur for most of my fishing now and have had no issues with knots weakening. I’ve not had anything huge on the dropper - best one about 5lb or so but I think if you treat it as any other knot and moisten it etc it seems pretty robust. Certainly stops twists and tangles anyway
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Thanks T7. I will keep on using it and if i have any disasters i will let you know :LOL:
The first salmon i had yesterday 10lb went ballistic and fought more like a big sea trout, I was applying as much pressure during the fight as my rod could handle (single hander) so that was a pretty good test of the dropper knot.
 
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T7

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My view is an overhand hitch shouldn’t weaken fairly strong breaking strain line significantly. I may be wrong of course!
 
Teal Blue And Long John Silver

Teal Blue And Long John Silver

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T7 said:
My view is an overhand hitch shouldn’t weaken fairly strong breaking strain line significantly. I may be wrong of course!
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Gooseman you have created your own gallows. If I lose a fish utilising your method then I shall be forced to draft you a strongly worded email with a fairly generous dosing of death threats and hold my breath until I turn a pinker shade of pork :mad: ;);):)
 
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elwyman

elwyman

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I have experienced droppers breaking near the water knot when using 6lb G3 fluorocarbon for trout fishing....I have a suspicion that fluorocarbon weakens due to hinging or constant bending. Happened to me last week at Brenig.
It's when the dropper gets a kink in it, it seems to weaken it.
 
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T7

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Teal Blue And Long John Silver said:
Gooseman you have created your own gallows. If I lose a fish utilising your method then I shall be forced to draft you a strongly worded email with a fairly generous dosing of death threats and hold my breath until I turn a pinker shade of pork :mad: ;);):)
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I never fish droppers for salmon and the sea trout we usually hook are far far smaller than the minimum breaking strain they would need. I usually use 10lb-15lb maxima or 13-19lb seagur depending on hook/tube size. Would be some sea trout to break 15lb maxima even with a knot in it. The advice on the hitch at the dropper I stole from a well known salt water fly fisherman who uses 6-10lb fluoro and catches 6-10lb mullet regularly!
 
Teal Blue And Long John Silver

Teal Blue And Long John Silver

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T7 said:
I never fish droppers for salmon and the sea trout we usually hook are far far smaller than the minimum breaking strain they would need. I usually use 10lb-15lb maxima or 13-19lb seagur depending on hook/tube size. Would be some sea trout to break 15lb maxima even with a knot in it. The advice on the hitch at the dropper I stole from a well known salt water fly fisherman who uses 6-10lb fluoro and catches 6-10lb mullet regularly!
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