Anybody know how to add a dropper to a leader, I know how to tie droppers , water knots etc , but occasionaly it would be handy yo add a dropper to an existing leader when changing fishing method.

Apologies in advance i will also post in the trout fishing section.

Regards

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" If you stand by the river long enough the bodies of all your enemies will float by"

Hi', Tommy. Lay your dropper length of material alongside your leader where you wish to tie it in. Grip the two, and from a cross-over loop in them, and pinch the point where the two cross themselves. Now take the two strands, your dropper length of about eight or nine inches, and your leader, and pass them through the circular loop that you have formed three times, say, taking care not to let the circular loop slip. Moisten the material at the point where they are now wrapped around the leader, take the upper portion of the leader plus the shorter end of the drooper length in one hand and the longer ends of both in the other, and slowly draw the knot tight. Make the dropper material length longer rather than shorter to make it easier to loop and tie.
It's just like tying two sections of a leader together when the dropper is made using the lower end of the section nearer the rod tip. Cheers TC.

sounds a bit like a four turn water knot to me mate, what i use on the coarse side for feeder fishing to attach a weak link or paternoster setup, and id have thought spot on for this purpose too.

http://carlsons.co.uk/tips/surgeon.htm

Get a pack of the Riverge rings as they save a load of hassle.

Hi Tommy,

Try Googling the "Kiwi dropper knot" It is a plaited knot, can be made anywhere in a leader. It is small, neat, can be tied with a tiny loop and there is very little loss of line strength.

Then tie your dropper to the small dropper loop with whatever knot you favour.

Nigel

Forming a water knot in aleader which already has a hoook on the end is tedious (often hurts)

The Alpine butterfly is hard to beat.

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

Hi Guys,

The Kiwi dropper loop http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/fishin...ing_knots.html is actually very similar to the Alpine loop - just a little less bulky.

In theory, the Kiwi dropper is rated at 94.8% line strength vs 58,6% for a standard dropper knot. As a bonus, you tie it anywhere you want in the leader "on the bight" without having to thread tippets with hooks on the end through the knot !

Nigel

Has anyone thought of making a secondary water knot in a leader after removing the point fly?? No probs, then. Only trying to help.TC

Thanks for that, I usually use a water knot, sometimes doing what TC says when the situation requires it, depending on what sort of set up I am using. I also sometimes use the tiny silver rings but they can also be quite fiddly, so I might try the kiwi dropper knot and see how it fares. Its similar to a knot Hadleigh who manages Cound fishery once showed me, although he did it with a single twist so he could even cut the dropper off if required and pull the loop knot out of the leader altogether by pulling sharply on opposite ends of the leader (although it did kink the line a bit if you did that so I never did). I don't see that you need to put too many twists in really though, since the loop is just a loop in the leader - there is no line join to worry about and its not going to slip.

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Jeff,

That kiwi dropper knot is neat, and as you say, no line join etc to worry about. You definitely can't undo it by pulling on the ends - but it is not difficult to undo. I now have the plaited loop size down to the thickness of a paper clip thickness wire (i.e. 1mm or less) - doesn't cause 'hanging up' problems like a standard dropper knot or even water knot would and way stronger !

Nigel