Many years ago I fished the trico hatch on Falling Springs often. There were about a dozen of us who fished it regularly and we got to know each other. One elderly gentleman was loosing his eyesight but he was an excellent angler. He know how to fish a size 24 trico on a 7X leader for consistent success. The problem was he couldn’t see well enough to change his flies. Every morning when came to the stream, his son had him prepared from the night before. The son cut 3-ft sections of 7X and attached the size 24 Trico to this with a double surgeon loop on the other end. He rigged 5 of these for his father wrapped them separately on a foam leader keeper. When dad broke a fly off while fishing, he went to the leader keeper and removed the already rigged trico and tippet and put it on his leader with a loop to loop connection. This way he could fish successfully all day because he could see the trico on the stream, just not up close. The Orvis Dropper Fly Box or Murray’s Dropper Fly Box also work well for this system.
There are many uses for a foam leader keeper or dropper rig fly box.
- Switch from one 2-fly rig to another
- Transfer to a dry with a nymph dropper
- Set up with a 2-nymph rig
- Use a 2-dry fly rig
This is great for switching from a Mr. Rapidan Dry with a dropper to a Murray’s Drake Dry with a dropper. When there are many hatches occurring, this is especially helpful in tying rigs that match all of the hatches.