What's your fly rig setup?

Been learning to Fly fish this last year and had a few questions.

Grandpa taught me when I was a young kid and I continued spin fishing but put it down in Highschool. I picked it up a little bit here and there when my kids were born and dragged the old bamboo rod out. I started hitting the rivers a few times a summer and then was absolutely enamored with fly fishing again this year. But a new road and got some great gear for christmas.

Short of getting a guide, which I'll do here pretty soon, I'm curious how others are setting up their main nymph rigs. I was using tapered leaders for my local stream and a dropper setup. However, after tying a butt load of extra tippet on as my leader gets shorter I was talking to another guy who said he exclusively just runs tippet rings or swivels off his leader and changes tippets off the ring or swivel all the time.

There's a ton of options.....how do you run your setup?

American River, Truckee, Sierra's in general....Trout.

 

That's how I roll as well the rings work great for me.

 

I've got some preserved game bird capes if anyone that ties their own flies is interested. 2 Rooster Pheasants, 3 Hungarian Partridge and 2 California Quail.

I preserved them about 4 years ago for a guy that said he would be interested in buying them, but then he would never keep to a meeting arrangement to actually buy them. After he stood me up three times I gave up on him.

I preserved them in salt and borax then let them dry completely for a few weeks before putting them in freezer bags. They're completely preserved and dry with no smells like decay or rot. PM me if you're interested and I can send you pictures.

 

Ha^im still learning to cast without bird nesting my rig every minutes. But I’ve lost a shit ton of fly’s on brush. Maybe next year I’ll learn how to tie my own!

 

Well they're just sitting in a box under my desk until I find someone that wants them.

 

I also run with the tippet rings and just change the tippets off of the ring. Makes things much easier.

 

Tiny barrel swivels work well for me. I don't fish dropper rigs often though as they're not legal on most of the waters I fish.

If the dropper rig is causing tangles for you, try opening your tailing loop in your cast. Normally you want a tight loop, but when using indicators and dropper rigs, an open loop works better. You generally aren't casting for distance when using those set ups.

 

Any specific rings or swivels you recommend? I was reading reviews on the Rio rings and people were stating the edges were sharp and they were breaking line. Some said they were great.

 

https://www.orvis.com/p/tippet-rings/2k1z

 

Thanks! That's what I bought. Unfortunately my favorite spots have had access gates closed (due to Covid) for the past few weeks and now the snowmelt is on. Water is getting higher and faster everyday, so haven't been fishing as much.

 

Just park a half mile away and climb over those b*tches. Total BS trying to stop people from fishing during this time. You are in commifornia though so not surprised

 

Yeah the trails are still open, it’s more of a matter of time. I used to be able to get in a few hours and drive damn near to the river. Now it’s a 6 mile round trip hike and about 1500’ elevation gain. Not that it’s too bad, but now I have to make a whole day of it. It isn’t playing well with family time and homeschool, lol. The sticker of it is, they’ve closed all the parking and now all those people are
flocking to park NEAR the trailheads which is funneling hundreds of people into a smaller area. Really dumb outcome for trying to spread people out.