AznFlyFisherman1 wrote:
Hey guys, just wondering, if you guys use the dropper fly setup in PA? IF you do what do you usually use? AS for me I like to use stimulaters for the top fly and some kinda beaded head for the dropper fly. I guess the length of the dropper will be determined on what streams or river your fishing. Is this affective up there in the PA trout streams? thanx..guys..
for regular stream trout, I rarely use them because I feel that they increase my chances of foul hooking. But they are effective, and when it is very slow, I will occasionally use a similar setup as you described. Great for searching bigger water, too.
I'll use them more often for steelhead with varying combinations of wets, egg patterns, or nymphs if the action is slow. But if they are hitting fairly well, I'll still go with a single fly.
I remember one day while steelhead fishing, I reeled in a small steelhead (4 pounder) that I though I foul hooked in the gill plate. After removing that hook, I found that the trailer fly was hooked in the steelhead's lip. What I'm guessing happened was the steelhead initially took the trailer (fair hooked), and then charged at me catching me off guard causing a lot of slack. The result was the lead fly foul hooking in the side of the gill plate.
I've had fish where the lead fly was in the mouth, and the trailer sticks the fish during the fight, but that was the first and only time i ever caught one where the fish was initially fair hooked on the trailer, and the fish foul hooks itself on the lead fly.
We had a discussion on here whether that fish would be considered fair or foul hooked. It was initially hooked fair, and that fly was still hooked but the fish was actually landed on the foul hook. I figured it could go either way, but it didn't matter because I wasn't keeping any that day anyway.
