Double Your Pleasure with Tandem Rigs 

Fishing with multiple flies is a technique that comes and goes in popularity. Back in the 70’s I used pre-tied traditional dropper rigs with my home-made sink-tip line for cold weather panfishing. Then, years went by before a guide on the Lehigh River showed me how to tie a tandem rig. At first, I was less than impressed; but further experience convinced me it was a technique worth adding to my angling arsenal.

Even so, I seldom used it until the season before last, when I caught my first ‘mixed double’. This led me to extensive experimentation with the technique last year. Not because of the possibility of catching two fish at once; but because I’d discovered that nymphing with a dry fly to watch instead of a strike indicator is easier — not to mention giving the fish a choice of a second object with a hook in it. After all, how many times had I had hits on strike indicators? The tandem rig seemed to be a winning strategy on both counts.

To make a tandem rig, first tie a dry fly to your tippet. Take an 18 to 24 inch length of monofilament the same size as your tippet, or no more than one size smaller. Stiffer mono results in fewer tangles. Make a loop through the bend of the dry fly exactly as if the hook bend were a hook eye, and clinch knot the mono to the hook bend. The loose mono will now be dangling off the back end of the dry fly. To the other end of it, tie your wet fly or nymph. Be sure to pinch down the barbs on both flies to make handling two hooks safer. You may, if you wish, add a small split-shot a few inches above the tail fly.

Casting a tandem rig is not for the beginner, especially if a split-shot is used. However, casting a tandem rig without weight is actually much easier than casting a single fly with split-shot and strike indicator. The first time you do it, allow plenty of back-cast room and make those first casts very deliberately. If you watch your back-cast, you can see (and feel) the difference when the second fly ‘hinges’ around the first one as the back-cast straightens and the rod loads. It’s important to let that extra section of mono straighten out on the back-cast. Keep the casting loop more open than usual to avoid tailing loops and the resulting chaos. You will find it takes only a few casts before the slight timing change becomes habit, and casting two flies becomes nearly as easy as casting one.

I’ve used tandems for both trout and warm water fishing with great success. The most important thing is to choose a dry fly that’s very buoyant. I’ve used both foam and cork poppers, foam terrestrials, deer hair creations, and bushy dries like Stimulators, Humpies, and Wulffs. I try to choose one that will be easily visible on the water, the exception being during beetle season for low-water trout. Of course, the main idea is to use a pattern that the fish might want to hit.

On the whole, if I use an attractor dry fly, I use an imitator for the dropper, and vice-versa; although, like all angling rules, this is not written in stone. Favourite dropper flies include Prince Nymphs, the Copper John, Hare’s Ear nymphs, the Kuss Bug, and the ever-deadly Green Weenie. One theory is, the dry fly gets a fish’s attention and stimulates its appetite, so that when the nymph comes drifting by, bam! I don’t presume to get that far into a trout’s head, I just think having two flies doubles my chances of showing the fish something it wants.

My 70’s two-fly cast consisted of two wet flies, but I have not tried that combination in tandem. I don’t see a big advantage to it, as there is using a dry for the upper fly. The other possibility is using two dry flies in tandem. I’ve tried this once, courtesy of a Western guide who rigged me up with what I nick-named “The Dr. Seuss Rig,” which was a ‘hopper’ with a ‘hopper dropper.’ This could be useful in the event of a fairly consistent hatch, or, in this case, terrestrial fall. (I think, however, this guide had the possibility of a ‘double’ on his mind.) For most hatch situations, I’d be more inclined to go with the dun plus either the nymph or emerger of the hatching species, which would double my chances of having the right fly on when trout are selective to the stage of an insect as well as the species. Remember, also, that selectivity can shift from one stage to another as a hatch progresses, and there is even some variation between individual fish; so having dry and nymph imitations on the water simultaneously saves time and frustration when the feeding patterns change.
My most effective combination last summer was for pinfish and bass, consisting of a small foam ‘hopper’ with a Green Weenie as a tail fly. For trout, I did well using a Royal Wulff with a Prince Nymph or Weenie. I used 4X tippet for the warm water fishing and 5X for trout. I started with no weight, and if water depth merited it, or action was slow, I added a #8 shot about 6 inches above the tail fly. These combinations would be my recommendations for tandem-rig novices.

Of course, there’s always more to learn about fish, flies, and angling techniques, and I’m looking forward to further experimentation with tandem rigs this season. Try them, and double your fun!

--Rabbit Jensen--