Hey everyone, Matt Martin here from Smooth River Guiding. I’m at Drift Outfitters today to walk you through two of my go-to dry-dropper setups—both of which allow for quick adjustments and minimal downtime on the water. These rigs have served me well in Southern Ontario and beyond.
Rig #1: Adjustable Dry, Fixed Dropper
This setup is perfect when you’ve got the fish dialed in on your nymph, but they’re picky about the dry fly. It gives you the ability to swap dry patterns without retying the whole rig.
How to Tie It:
- Tie on your dry fly with your preferred knot (e.g., improved clinch or loop knot).
- Next, we’re going to add a dropper tag for the nymph:
- Tie a clinch knot around your tippet, not through the eye of the dry fly.
- Slide it down until the tag sits tight against the dry fly.
- Tie on your nymph to the dropper
You’ve now got a fixed dropper length below your dry that you can switch dry flies with!
Rig #2: Fully Adjustable Dry & Nymph
This second method allows you to adjust both your dry and your nymph depth—perfect for covering different water columns on the same outing.
How to Tie It:
- Start with about 3 feet of tippet.
- About 12 inches from the terminal end, tie a triple surgeon’s knot. This acts as a stopper knot between your dry and nymph.
- Tie your nymph to the terminal end—this sets your minimum depth to about 1 foot.
- Take an 8-inch tag and tie a clinch knot around the tippet, above the stopper knot, this becomes your dry fly tag.
- Pull the tag knot down to sit just above the stopper.
- Attach your dry fly (hopper, stonefly, etc.) to the tag end.
Slide the dry fly up or down the tippet to change the depth of the nymph. You can retie your dry fly 3–4 times before needing a new tag.
