Favorite PA Tandem Fly Rigs

Two flies are better than one! That's the mantra we use on guide trips, and it's for good reason. Multiple flies can surely present its own set of challenges, but the added productivity cannot be questioned. Very few times will we fish with just one fly, and below are a few of our favorite tandem rigs to try out this season!

Dry-Dropper
​This is one of the best rigs of summer, and adorns many a fly rod from May through September. A personal favorite is the Chubby Chernobyl down to a CDC Pheasant Tail. The Chernobyl is one of the most buoyant flies out there which makes it a terrific pattern for the faster moving riffles and runs that trout congregate in during the warmer summer months. In terms of an attractor nymph, one of the best is Pheasant Tail with the added flair of CDC. Throw this deadly tandem in your local trout waters and keep the net handy.  

Nymph Tandem
When it's time to buckle down and catch fish, nothing beats the double nymph rig. Whether tight lining or underneath an indicator, two subsurface patterns means hookups, hookups, and more hookups. One of the classic tandem nymph rigs for PA is a Squirmy or San Juan worm as a lead fly followed by a Prince nymph. None of these selections are all that out of the ordinary or flashy, but they are terrific attractor patterns that catch fish, regardless of conditions or time of year. 

Steelhead Tandem
It isn't just trout that fall victim to the two fly approach. Steelhead, one of the greatest freshwater sporting fish, are often targeted with a tandem rig. A tested and true setup starts with a pink sucker spawn and an orange single egg trailing behind. Targeting these supercharged fish often requires cycling through fly after fly in search of the preferred daily flavor, but it's always a good bet that one of these two choices will tempt a behemoth or two. 

Streamer Tandem
This one is used far less than other setups on this list, but that doesn't make it less effective! If it's big fish the double streamer rig could be just the ticket. We start things off with a Pearl Minnow, aka the "Old Ramp-to-Ramp," a nickname earned from its history of being tied on at the boat launch and being used the entire float until the takeout. The Pearl Minnow catches the attention of the fish and even if it's a bit too gaudy for them to commit, dragging a more subdued Thin Mint behind will yield some great results. Even though this is the least used of the tandems mentioned above, it can be far and away the most exciting!

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