I'm sure this subject has been discussed many times in the past but as an angler of over 35 years I still have bother with the dam things I'm not up to speed with the names of to many knots but the main dropper know I use is the one where I get a 10" piece of cast for my dropper and measure it back 3ft from the point fly, I lay it onto my main cast and wet them both, I make a nice loop of about 2.5" and bring both the dropper and main cast through 3 times and as I pull tight I wet them both with a good old slobber, then come my delima ~ which tail part do I trim off ? I just normally trim off the piece that's the shortest leaving the longest part as my dropper, the knot it's self never lets me down strength wise But the dam thing twists and turns around my maid length of cast after a half dozen or so casts, why why why does it do this ?

nige

What you describe is a 3 turn water knot,the perfect dropper knot.You should cut the tag end nearest to the flyline.
It will always twist,but if you make a more open loop when casting, you will cut down on this.

Jim

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Nigel,
Remove the top piece and then cut your dropper back to 3 - 4 inches and you will minimise twisting. Also, you could try an thicker dropper.

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Use the Figure of Eight knot rather than the 3-turn (or 2 turn) water knot.

Hello Loomy

As has been mentioned diameter of the line is an important factor as is the actual line you use for the droppers.If it is quite breezy I tend to shorten up the droppers.If fair conditions then a tad longer but hey we are talking twisting here.I find certain brands of line for tippets /leaders/droppers is better than others.These are Riverge Grand Max/Orvis Extra Strong Copolymer and Rio.Most of the time on reservoirs with these rigs I am fishing 8lb through to 12lb depending on the method and it works for me.I have found offset hooks and some flies like boobies will give twist problems but something we have to live with fishing teams of flies.I have recently experimented with dropper rollers and found them to be very good.Drawback is threading them which can be tedious and best done at home pre-fishing.Having said that I feel the presentation you can get with them fishing a "washing line" is very good and they do help with the droppers staying clear of the leader.
Tying droppers I use FO8 knot and trim off the tag nearest the fly line.I have not used the water knot for some time now but when I did I only used two turns.Just recently using a three fly rig on a longish leader some 15ft+ of Grand Max 9.5 attached to a 6ft Blue Sky mono furled leader using a small booby on the point and crunchers and DB's on the droppers which were 6" approx in quite blustery conditions from a boat I did not have much trouble all day.Yes there were a few hang ups but you get to know when it happens like when your timing goes awol or some other quirk we boatmen encounter from time to time.In the main I had a pretty trouble free session using this rig and I will fish four flies when conditions allow.Persevere Loomy it will come right with a few adjustments some of which have been mentioned in the thread.

Best JP

When I first used droppers, I used a blood knot. Doing it that way, you need to cut the leader, tie the knot, and use the tag end for the dropper.

When I switched to water knots, I just continued to cut the leader where I wanted the dropper and use the water knot to rejoin the two bits - creating a tag end for the dropper. I suspect this is just a hang-over from when I used blood knots. But the "advantage" is that the dropper fly is attached to a line which runs, unbroken, from fly to fly line.

I'm wondering if that is actually any advantage at all. Loomy's method differs in that he doesn't cut the leader to create a tag end, he just ties on an extra bit of line where he wants it. That seems more practical to me. Have I been pointlessly creating extra hassle for myself for all these years?! Has everybody else been using Loomy's method?

Hi
After you have completed your water knot and cut off the tag end that is facing up toward the fly line. Take your dropper and tie a simple half hitch round the leader below the knot with the tag end. It makes the dropper stand out that bit better.

Cheers

Steve

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www.fishingwithstyle.co.uk

[QUOTE=shpeil;786285]
I'm wondering if that is actually any advantage at all. Loomy's method differs in that he doesn't cut the leader to create a tag end, he just ties on an extra bit of line where he wants it. That seems more practical to me. Have I been pointlessly creating extra hassle for myself for all these years?! [QUOTE]

In a word ,Yes.

Jim

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

Are there any advantage's to using the figure of 8 over the water knot?

Yes. It's stronger.