I've been re-reading Arthur Cove's 'My Way with Trout', and was surprised to notice he advocated using the dropper pointing towards the fly line, when using the water knot.I've always found this dropper to be significantly weaker than the downward facing one, especially with fluorocarbon.When the book was published, 1986, there would only have been nylon, and he favoured the cheaper brands.I have vague memories of using the back-facing dropper then, but also have definite memories of thinking droppers a weak point, and playing fish carefully when on the dropper.The back-facing dropper fishes better, and tangles less, but snaps off easily in my experience.Arthur used four turns, I only use three, even with nylon/copoly etc.
What do you favour?

__________________
Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him

3 turns for me - and definitely with the dropper facing towards the point.
The only advantage of the other way is that it's usually the lighter nylon that ends up facing the flyline.
But modern fluorocarbon tends to be more brittle.

__________________
Andrew W

"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." Arthur Miller

The upward facing dropper was the style in the 60/70's but it was proven to be weaker and went the way of the DoDo

Jim

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

I've never read his book, but if he advocates using the upward tag of a water knot, I'd encourage you to ignore that advice. A fish would be pulling against the knot rather than through it, as is the case with the downward leg. I use four turns, although some use 3. Oliver Edwards seems to use 2! If you're having trouble with the downward leg of a dropper not standing out and wrapping around your leader, try doing a simple overhand knot with the dropper over the main leader - it will then sit at a right angle to the leader. This works for me.

Just struck me as odd Jim that someone of Arthur's skill would choose the weak one.

__________________
Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him

As stated,They were using mono that was way overstrength so they got away with it.But you won't with modern fluro/co-poly or pre stretched double strength.


jim

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

Two-turn water knot for me, dropper lengths again pointing away from fly line.

I've said it a thousand times, three or more turns is simply pointless and weakens the knot.

You gotta love Cove's 'My way with trout', an absolute chuckle a minute.

Try bringing out a book today with a cover shot of the author with a fag hanging out their mouth.

The Pirate.

__________________
Sonik Sports Team Pitsford Pirates - No pressure, just pleasure! Pip pip!

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trade-cla...e-bonanza.html

http://www.soniksports.com/

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/fly-lines...unkistbob.html

Simple answer - use tippet rings, then you can have different breaking strain droppers irrespective of you leader strength (apart from all of the other advantages)

Jeff

__________________
Location - Just outside of Nottingham - Robin Hood country!

I'm a semi-convert to tippet rings. They make for flexible and strong leaders but they don't make untangling any easier!

My first choice floater lost its braided loop last time out (my clumsy application of Mucilin) so I've nail knotted 8ft+ of tapered leader, down to about 6lb and put a tippet ring on the end. I can blood knot any sort of tippet to this, and make an easy dropper, potentially from the tag end or tied as a seperate length.

This was a better fix than my temporary grinner that I used for the last half hours fishing but with that I noticed better turnover and less sinking of the fly line end (the original reason for the addition of Mucilin). There has to be less wind resistance, and less 'elbow' than even a well fixed braided loop. I've had a good swing on it and it seems secure. Would a dab of superglue help or hinder do you think?

Someone on here pointed out that a dropper on a tippet ring acts as a tell tale if you miss a bite, as the knot will be pulled down parallel to the main line. I guess that depends on how tight your blood knot is but I'll watch out for that. Nice to know which fly is fishing the right depth and attracting the trout.

Problem with tippet rings is they are tiny, and even in good light and with the aid of a retaining paperclip (less likely than a safety-pin to flirt them everywhere or stab myself with the pointy end!) they are fiddly. I prefer to tie them on at home. They are manageable once they are tied onto at least one length of tippet.

I've been tying three turn water knots and found them fallible with hard fluorocarbon. I'll have an experiment with Pirate's suggestion of two turns only.

SharkeyP

They didn't have a lot of choice, I think he was born with a fag in his mouth- I never saw him without one on the go.We bought our maggots from him when I worked in a tackle shop as a lad and he would have three fags with his cuppa.
I got him to sign my book 'to Rick, thanks for all the help and advice' ! (as has Steve Parton, obligingly)

I'll go back to the two turns, my boat partner knots that way, but I drifted back to three out of habit, can't say I've had any problems though.
I can't get on with those little rings, I can hardly see them, let alone feel them, and I can tie a leader up in a minute.

__________________
Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him