ok... i have had several sessions on the river nymphing and have been plesantly surprised... it has bee more productive than i anticipated

i have been fishing a single weighted nymph/shrimp, i want to try fishing a pair or even 3 nymphs

I am happy with tying on a dropper using a 2 turn water knot.... but my questions are

how do i decide how long to make the droppers...

how do i decide how far apart to space the droppers...

when i tie on the dropper does it point up or down (how do i decide what is the tag end)

if i am fishing 2 nymphs is it better to put the weighted fly on point or dropper....

if i am fishing 3 nymphs how do i decide what goes where...

I have read conflicting info on various websites... heavy fly goes on point, heavy fly goes centre...

oooh if it helps my usual fishing spot varies in depth between 2 and 4 feet

I know i could just go and experiment with this stuff but i suspect that consulting "yoda" will keep me in the fish...

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how do i decide how long to make the droppers...
use micro-rings (carp anglers use them ) and 6" droppers. The rings allow a new dropper if you change the fly a lot so shortening too much

how do i decide how far apart to space the droppers...
Usually 20"

when i tie on the dropper does it point up or down (how do i decide what is the tag end)
Blood knot to the micro-ring

if i am fishing 2 nymphs is it better to put the weighted fly on point or dropper....
John Tyzack (? sp) says the heaviest on the point.As he has fished and won the river championship , he is probably correct as this keeps everything tight

if i am fishing 3 nymphs how do i decide what goes where...
I use a spider type on the top dropper as the other 2 sink it down and the spider catches a lot of fish being mobile

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on the banks of the River Dove-walking in Isaac's footsteps

With the water knot the tag to use is always the 1 nearest the point fly,droppers are normally 6'' spaced between 24''-36'' apart, and you would expect to have the heavy fly on the point.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

If you look at what some of the Eastern European anglers do it'll open up a few more ideas. They'll often put the heaviest fly in the middle dropper position. This is especially useful if the fish are feeding on small nymphs close to the bottom. You won't be able to get a size 14 or 16 nymph down through four feet of flowing water - tungsten bead or not - but you will if you put a size 10 heavily weighted 2 feet up the leader. The dropper fly needs to be regarded as "sacrificial", though you may be surprised at how many fish you'll get on it. It depends a lot on how deep and fast the water, and what they fish are feeding on. Droppers I like to be about 6-7" long and tied on 2' apart using a 3 turn water knot. I've tried the mini rings and have rejected them because a) they're bloody fiddly to tie on, and b) when using three flies I don't much like having 6 knots in the leader between the end of the flyline and the point fly. That's 6 points of weakness and I don't like stacking the odds against me that much.

Good advice from all there, IP.

The only thing I would add is to give your 2-turn water knots an extra turn.