I was fishing from the bank on a small still water last weekend and i was joined by Andy Copper and a friend of his, his friend noticed i was fishing with a point fly and a fly on a dropper, he said that he only fishes one fly on the point and no droppers, as fishing more than one fly from the bank can confuse the fish into which one to take.
The only time he fishes more than one fly on the line is if he is fishing from a boat or in a competition.
Just wondered what others thought of this and what your tactics are fishing from the bank.

i like to only fish a point fly from the bank, just makes for easier fishing for me, not fiddling with tangles+re-tying= more fishing time

Why would fishing from a bank, be any different to fishing from a boat? I wonder how anyone can assume that they know if trout are confused or not. I think they are constantly confused, I mean, look at a hatch, I'm sure that would confuse the hell out of even the most intelligent trout.... "which one shall i eat... eeny meeny... ahh hell, lets just grab them all"

fishing 2 or more flies certainly wont confuse this fish into which one to take, it gives you more opportunity to catch them. I don't do alot of reservoir fishing so rarely use more than one flie, I sometimes use a NZ style dropper when on the river/small stillwater or a couple of heavy nymphs when going for grayling, but it is all personal choice. I say fish what you think works and makes you feel confident that you are going to catch.

Paul.

Confusing Troots, now there's a new sport! Never heard so much tosh in all my life!!

If it's windy, I'll drop to one on the bob, one on the point.
Decent breeze, I'll fish up to 3 droppers and a point fly; works fo me and I've yet to see a troot scratching his head

Nice to see a few good opinions already, but i can see your point, that if there was several hatches on, then how can the fish get confused as to what fly to eat or have a go at, but lets say you were fishing the washing line tactic, im sure you wouldn't opt for a point fly and 3 droppers, and fish a booby on the point, then on the 3 droppers a wet, dry and a nymph or buzzer would you.
all im asking is for sensible answers, because I can see the logic in using several flies on the line.

There are no rules, only exceptions to the rules. When it comes to fishing, anyone will tell you, that it is the most bizzarre things that get the fish sometimes. Trout have not read the books that you and I have read, nor do they frequent the internet forums, hence they don't know. Fish's brains are the size of a pea, and their DNA is coded for feeding, survival, and sex. Anything outside of these three drives, is simply not important to the fish.
My suggestion, is to try the washline setup you have described, and if it works, it works, and if it doesnt work, well, then, bad luck, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it gets fish.

I was being rather facetious when i mentioned having that setup as a washing line tactic, but hey as you say it might turn a few fish on.

Quote (Fish's brains are the size of a pea, and their DNA is coded for feeding, survival, and sex. Anything outside of these three drives, is simply not important to the fish.)

I must be a fish.

heh, heh, heh... yes me too. Perhaps that is why I love them so much..... me and the fish... we understand each other.

---------- Post added at 02:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

Yes, it might turn a few on, so long as you don't have your soiled underpants on the washing line.... tht's not going to turn anything on... ok, perhaps a carp, but we are talking trout I think.......