The washing line

The general idea is to fish a dry on the point and one or two droppers above that. Two is traditional, I think and probably makes more sense than just one, but one is what I’ve used on the occasions I’ve fished the washing line. The key point is that the dropper(s) are wet flies and that the dry point fly and the tip of the floating fly line prevents the one or two wets from sinking deeper than the length of the dropper.

I think traditionally the team of flies is fished static, but I have had some success with a very slow figure-of-eight retrieve. Otherwise it’s a matter of staying in contact with the team of flies. Sometimes you’ll see the dry move and often you’ll also see a swirl at the dropper. It’s a sophisticated technique that I wish I had the opportunity to use more often.
It goes without saying that the dropper fly or flies should be unweighted and preferably on a light hook, because the dry point fly can be anything. From a big foam beetle that could carry two Czech nymphs to a small dry. I’ve only used very simple dropper flies. A slim body of stripped peacock herl, a translucent thorax and many a turn or two of some soft hackle feather. The hatch should dictate the choice of flies, of course.
Apart from a floating line all you need is a good leader for droppers. There’s a book, rare and in exclusive print, called “A Beginner’s Guide To Stillwater Trout Angling”. It’s a rare find these days and it’s written by someone you all know. It’s not so hard to find anyway, as it happens to be so that the author is of a sharing mentality, so it’s all available here. 

In that book there’s a recipe for casting and fishing a team of flies on a floating line (yes, the leader should be different on a sinker, for which there also happens to be a recipe - both on p. 34 for those lucky enough to have the rare, printed 1st edition). I use that, although shortened some, but preserving the proportions. There’s one other extremely important factor - namely yo make sure that the leader sinks. I fish nylon only (I think fluorocarbon stinks for a number reason), which tends to float, so I use the traditional, home made leader sinking paste. Fuller’s earth, glycerine and dish washing liquid. Take spoon or two of Fuller’s Earth (it lasts forever so you don’t need much), add 3-4 drops of washing up liquid and mix with glycerine to a think paste. A small dab on your fingers to run the leader through is what it takes and the leader won’t sit in the film.
Casting teams of flies can be a bit of a pain and for a long time I restrained myself to casting open loops with all the restrictions that come with that. Until Paul once made me aware that it’s really about parallel loops and since I’m an ace caster (well, maybe a 5 of Spades these days), I now cast more or less as I always do and rarely get tangles.
I’m preparing for a trip to Sweden to Hökensås, which is why I tied a few leaders and set up a line a reel specifically for washing line fishing. Now, early autumn sea trout can be notoriously hard to catch and as I’m writing this, I’ve decided to try fishing the washing line in the salt. Who knows? I was chatting with Matt Klara about it on WhatsApp the other day and mentioned that most often I find that the fish takes the sunken fly, rather than the dry. It was in this context that Matt mentioned that the success is probably due to the fact that you can suspend flies in the top inches of water, basically indefinitely. And maybe, just maybe, suspending a minute shrimp imitation or something similar, over finicky sea trout is a good way to go - I’m confident, actually.
Anways - I’m off - this ended up much longer than I expected.
Have a great weekent!

Lars

PoD: A shipman’s Buzzer and a small size 14-18 midge pupa is what I’ve had the most success with.