Dave
Hughes has more than tying and fishing information in this book. He
tells you how to rig and what gear to use as well. Here's what he has to say
about "Leaders for Wets."
Leaders for subsurface fishing can be elementally simple. When you want to switch flies, just nip off the dry fly you’re using, tie on the wet or light nymph you want to use, and you’re ready to fish again. A typical dry-fly leader is 9 to 12 feet long; depending on the size and smoothness of the water you fish. The same leader will be the perfect length for the subsurface fly you want to fish on identical water. Be sure that your tippet is at least 2 feet long. If it gets shorter than that, replace it just as you would when dry-fly fishing.
The tippet should balance the size fly you’re casting. For size 6, 8, or 10 flies, use 3X or 4X tippet. For size 12, 14, or 16 subsurface flies, use 4X or 5X tippet. If you go down to size 16, 18, or even 20 flies, then 5X or 6X tippet will be best, depending on the type of water you’re fishing. It’s so rare for me to drop below 6X that I don’t clutter up my best with a spool of 7X unless I’m going to be on a spring creek. I just like to think I need it. Most of the time, if my casting would behave better, I’d get by with 5X or 6X even on spring creeks.
It’s quite common to fish a couple of wet flies or light nymphs on the same cast. This lets you try two different sizes or colors or types of flies. It can cut in half the time it takes you to figure out what trout want. Using two flies is not a way to catch two trout at once or to double the number of trout that you catch. View the two-fly setup as an exploratory tool.
One you’ve figured out what the trout prefer, it’s usually best to go to that single fly and cut off the other. It reduces tangles and keeps you from catching your own thumb on the loose fly that jerks about when you land a fish. Using a single fly also increases the chance that you’ll be able to release a trout quickly and unharmed.
Many ways have been devised to tie dropper flies onto the leader above the point fly. The easiest, and the one most often recommended, is to leave the tag end of your tippet knot uncut and about 6 inches long. Always leave the heavier of the two strands, clip away the lighter, and tie the fly to the stout tag end. The stiffer leader will help prevent tangles, though no dropper rig is going to keep the fly from wrapping around the leader on occasion. I use this method often. Be sure that your tippet is at least 2 feet long, in order to separate the flies when they’re adrift in the water. This separation also helps prevent fish from tangling in both hooks during the fight. Such tangles can injure them.
Often I’ll suddenly decide I want to add a dropper when my point fly is already attached and my tippet knot is already tied and its tag ends trimmed. I just nip about 8 inches of material from a spare spool of tippet a couple of sizes stouter than the tippet already on the leader, and tie this tag to the leader with a clinch knot, the same knot used to tie the dropper fly to the other end. The dropper should be tied above the tippet knot, or even farther up the leader with knotted rather than knotless leaders. Then I simply slide the dropper knot down to jam against the next lower leader knot, and the fly is fixed in place.
If you’re using a knotless leader and want to attach a dropper, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can form a loop in the man leader where you want the dropper, than make a loop in the end of the dropper and attach it to the leader loop. That’s easy. Bit it puts a loop in the leader, and I have no fondness for bulky loops in my leader.
I normally clip the leader where I want to insert the dropper. Then I tie it back together with a barrel knot, leave the stronger end uncut, and tie the dropper to that. This method creates less leader bulk at the tie-in point.
