Tying a Dropper Loop Knot
Knots & Rigs
Being able to tie dropper knots is an essential skill for all anglers. These simple yet effective knots are very handy!
THE Dropper Loop Knot is a connection that's been used by both recreational and commercial fishermen for generations. This connection is of immense value to offshore anglers particularly as it's the main component of a rigging system for general bottom fishing for a wide range of popular species. Dropper knots are also an essential requirement for the paternoster rigs used in surf casting or snapper fishing off the rocks where long distance casting is a mandatory skill. There are numerous rigging possibilities that can be employed using this most popular of connections, but the most common use would be to attach one or more hooks to a mainline above a sinker.
Tying the dropper
The Dropper Loop Knot can be tied anywhere along a length of line without having to cut the line and create a tag end. The dropper loop knot is generally considered a superior connection to other similar knots available such as the Blood Bight Dropper.
To tie the Dropper Loop Knot simply make a loop in your main line at the point where you want the dropper, then where the two lines cross over to create the loop begin wrapping one line around the other. Well known rigging authority Geoff Wilson recommends four complete twists or wraps in the Dropper Loop Knot when using monofilament lines and six complete twists or wraps when using gelspun lines. To complete the connection feed the larger loop through the smaller loop you have been twisting. The accompanying illustration by Fisho's Chris Palatsides demonstrates this process. To complete the connection, first lubricate the knot with saliva, then slowly apply tension equally to the loop and main line each side of the knot. This process can be simplified by putting the loop over a fixture such as a bollard in a boat or a door knob in a house so that you can concentrate on tensioning the main line legs on each side of the knot. It should be noted that Geoff Wilson in his excellent Complete Book of Fishing Knots & Rigs – Millennium Edition recommends that particular care be taken when tensioning this connection when using gelspun lines as too much force can result in the line being sheared off at each side of the knot. For this reason I prefer to use the Dropper Loop Knot only when using monofilament or co-polymer lines.
Attaching terminals
One of the great advantages of employing a dropper system is that it allows you to change hooks, sinkers, lures, flies or leaders at any time without having to cut or retie the connection. Attaching hooks to a dropper is a relatively easy task. Simply insert the dropper loop through the hook eye, then feed the hook back through the loop. The same process is used for changing sinkers, lures or flies. To connect a leader or trace to a dropper loop the simplest method is to construct your leaders with an end loop and employ a loop to loop connection as is commonly used when attached leaders to a fly line. Any of the popular loop knots could be used for this purpose although my preference would be Lefty Kreh's Loop Knot which we covered in Knots & Rigs in the May 2010 edition of Fisho. An online video tying demonstration of this knot is available at fishingworld.com.au.
Specialist droppers
Another version of this connection is the Twisted Dropper Loop. This is quite easy to complete: simply twist the line – as per tying a twisted leader – in the position you are going to tie the dropper loop in your mainline. Tightly twist the length of line that you want the dropper to be, then use that as the loop in traditional dropper knot tying process. The advantage of the twisted dropper loop is that it stiffens the dropper, allowing the hook to stand clear of the mainline and reducing tangling.
Droppers can also be used in lure and fly fishing situations. Drop-shotting soft plastics for flathead and bream is probably the most commonly used application of this rigging technique for lure fishers these days. A rigging technique that has become extremely popular on the NSW Central Coast with offshore anglers drifting for flathead is to employ a multiple dropper rig featuring unweighted soft plastics or saltwater flies above a snapper lead. This rig has been adopted by many anglers in the local competition fishing scene and has resulted in some great catches.
There are other means of creating droppers on a main line such as the previously mentioned Blood Bight Dropper. The Surgeons Knot is used by freshwater fly anglers to attach droppers when trout fishing and this connection has also been used in the construction of multi-hook bait catching jigs.
An online video demonstration of how to tie the Dropper Loop Knot can be found at fishingworld.com.au, along with vids for many other knots. It is a must have connection for the rigging arsenal of all offshore anglers and also has many applications for lure and fly anglers fishing artificials off drop shot rigs.
Source: https://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/getting-the-drop-knots-and-rigs