After last week’s Nymph-o-Mania! post I received a lot of questions about drop-shot nymphing: how to build a rig, can you use it with an indicator, is it better for a tight line presentation, etc. Let’s start with the rig.
A drop-shot nymph rig with sighter for both indicator or tight line nymphing.
And a PDF of the same diagram: SighterDropShotNymphRig
So: I’ve been drop-shot nymphing for quite some time now. Being the curious sort (and a confirmed autodidact and DIYer) I tend to change things around until I find what works best for me. What you see is my current default trout nymph rig. I’ve been using 6X for the drop shot tag to make it the weakest link in the system. I’m lazy, so I build a sighter into the system whether I’m going to indicator nymph or not. Maxima if the water is high or off-color, 5x if it’s skinny and clear. (Please, use your favorite material to build this rig. It will work whether or not you use Maxima, P-Line, or Stren.)
When to tight line and when to indicator? Chapters in books have been written on this. Here are some of my thoughts in brief.
When to indicator:
- When I want to cover longer stretches of water
- When I want to reach pockets and runs farther than a rod-and-arm’s length
- When I want the nymphs to swirl around in a mixer-like pocket
- In conditions where takes may be subtle/difficult to feel (winter, windy days, just to name two)
- When the wind is blowing upstream
Note: The distance from drop shot to indicator on the leader is about 1.5 times what I estimate the deepest water to be. I use my own home brew yarn indicators almost exclusively. They are light, denser that store-bought kinds, don’t spook fish (it seems that every season I have at least one trout hit my indicator) and I am very dialed in to their nuances.
When to tight line:
- When I’m fishing in close
- When the water is low and clear
- When I feel the indicator is difficult to manage/adversely speeding up the drift
Hope that helps. I’m sure there will be more questions and as always, I am happy to answer them.
currentseams.com 
Great information. I have been using your drop-shot system for some time now. Always good to read your explanations.
Why is there a power swivel used? What about using a tippet ring instead?
Below the power swivel, are these sections including flies tied up before you go out and then just attached to the power swivel on the river? Thinking you could have different combinations of flies
ready to go and just change them as needed once on the river.
Thanks for re-posting the diagram.
Hi Greg. I like a power swivel to help prevent leader twisting, in particular with an indicator. You wouldn’t get that benefit from a tippet ring. But you can use whichever you like. Or nothing at all.
I don’t pre-tie my lower sections. Again, you can and should do as suits you. Thanks for reading and thanks for the question.
I could be mistaken did I not win a dozen wet flies I did receive notice I was a winner back in April but no flies were received
Michael, I’m sorry to say that you are mistaken. A different Michael won.
Great – thanks Steve!!!
My pleasure, happy to help.
Great stuff! Thank you very much. You mentioned you make your own indicators. Can you provide me with a tutorial?
Thanks, appreciate it.
I can’t at the moment Bob — thanks for the reminder that I need to do a video on this — but click on this link to get a rough idea of construction: https://currentseams.com/2017/03/09/currentseams-qa-of-droppers-drop-shot-and-indicators/
You can get the O-rings at a home center or hardware store or online; the yarn is Bonnie Craft Cord 6mm from a crafts store or online. Hope that helps for now!
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