I've been tempted to fish with more than one dry a few times but have always held back due to an issue that confuses me a bit.

I've done a very crude drawing to try to illustrate my point...



Slide A is how I usually fish a dry, with a section of the leader de-greased so that it submerges and doesn't put off the fish.

Slide B is how I imagine it would work if you fished a team of dries.
My question is, would the leader that is hanging down below the fly not be felt by the fish and possibly spook them?
Or am I misunderstanding how a team set up would work?

Should I not degrease the leader and instead let it sit on the surface?

Figure C is the option I usually go for with a buzzer or nymph on the dropper which helps to sink the leader and also has the added bonus of picking up any fish feeding just under the surface.

But I would like to try fishing more than one dry, what's the best way?

Cheers

Dan

__________________
In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

I should also add, that I've read about putting a dry on the dropper and a nymph on the point but have avoided it for the same reason ie: feeling that the nymph will pull the leader below the dry and this will spook the fish?

Obviously the problem with my setup in slide C is that generally the the point fly is the lighter of the 2 and therefore it can be quite tricky to cast it well.

__________________
In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

I fished with two dries yesterday, but the first one was tied direct to the leader (no dropper) and there was no problem. I was using some JMC Helium tippet (bought from Frank Williams) which seemed to alleviate the need for vigorous degreasing.

Andy

Have you never considered just tying a length of mono off the bend of the dry, and suspending a nymph underneath?

Regarding teams of dries, I learned this off old Clyde boys years ago, and back then there wasn't too much importance on degreasing leaders. How things have changed.As I recall there wasn't too much care for sunk leader as the upper Clyde is a windy place most days of the year, and a ripple on the water covered many mistakes. I also think the prevailing wind help make this technique successful.

Firstly I'd always be approaching from below the lie and casting up and across. The more careful your presentation the more casts you will get at a particular lie. Just fish it the exact same way you would a single dry. The more behind the fish you can position yourself the more time your flies will spend on the water without drag. Once you have dragged a lie, and you will for this method cares not for runs and riffles and you will often see your flies go off in different directions, move on and try somewhere else. I used to fish with 11' rod and long leader with 5 wets or spiders and once you get used to it casting 5 is just the same as casting 2 or 3. Casting 5 dries is even easier. Just be slow and methodical with your casts and you won't get tangles. Like I say the hardest part of it is keeping a team of dries on the surface going in the same direction long enough to cover the lie without the dreaded drag.

Hello mate,

I should have mentioned my fishing is done on stillwaters but some of your advice still comes in handy.

Cheers
Dan

__________________
In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

Ach, even easier then, no horrible drag to contend with.

Its possible Dan but you will still get a healthy proportion that wont get spooked by it.I wouldnt let it get in the way of you using droppers.I think more fish are put off by droppers which are wrapped round the main leader due to twisting than they are by a nicely sunk leader.
Nowadays I find I mostly use a two fly rig and prefer to use a single in a flat calm.Three flies are fine for maximum drawing power if nothing is showing though I'm not that comfortable with a three fly presentation in anything less than a pretty decent wave.

Thanks for that Jimmy, sounds like I'm maybe giving the fish more credit than they're due for being sensitive to the line.

I've always thought that maybe you can get a bit too precious when it comes to the presentation, as I've caught fish after some truly horrendous casts!

But I suppose that on tougher days, perfect presentation can be the difference between blanking and not.

__________________
In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

That's the thing though. You'd still go home happy had your days fishing been all about perfectly presented flies all the time, yet caught no fish. If you spent a day with fluffed casts and tangles and no fish you'd be blaming yourself.

Exactly mate,I think its a good thing to err on the side of caution,keep it up...