Large stonefly patterns (above) or other heavily weighted flies such as Copper Johns can help sink your rig quickly.

You can fish two or more wet flies under a large dry fly, under an indicator, or without an indicator — especially if you are swinging flies, like the older method of fishing a cast of wet flies downstream. The most popular connections for nymphs are bend connections, two eye, or droppers, but you can also connect looped-leader nymphs to dropper loops or to knotted leaders (placed just above a knot).

There are several effective configurations for fishing nymphs, depending on the circumstances. You can first tie on a heavily weighted pattern to sink the rig, followed by a pattern that floats freely in the currents. I'll often fish a weighted Beadhead Pheasant Tail with a Zebra Midge tied to the bend. The weighted fly gets the rig deep and the unweighted midge pattern drifts freely above the heavy fly. Many anglers have one or two specialty flies that they like to use for this purpose. The best patterns are generic enough so that you can use them throughout the season, and sink quickly — the Copper John is an excellent example of a generic pattern that can also be used as a weighted first fly. The second option is to first tie on the smaller pattern followed by the larger, weighted one.

When fishing heavily weighted flies for fast currents, strike indicators are often a better choice than indicator flies. You can rig your flies in many different ways. The dropper (left) and bend connections (right) may be the most popular.

The setup you choose may depend on what you have already tied on. For instance, if you are fishing a heavy nymph but want to cover another area in the water column with an emerger, you may just attach the emerger above the tippet knot with a movable dropper, or retie the fly, leaving a tag large enough to attach the emerger. If you don't feel like rerigging, you can attach the emerger to the bend of the heavy nymph. There are always several available options with these combinations, and you should experiment and let the trout tell you which one they like best.

In the Czech-nymphing style of fishing, anglers fish heavily weighted, streamlined nymphs (so that they sink quickly), most often three at a time. They connect two nymphs on droppers and one on point and most often tie the heaviest fly pattern on the middle dropper, so that the weighted fly helps sink both the first dropper and the point fly.

Fishing several subsurface patterns is often a better choice in high water than fishing a dry-and-dropper rig. Though the dry-and-dropper rig is versatile, it is best for water depths from one to four feet and slower to medium currents. In high, fast water, fish one or more weighted nymphs under a supersized indicator fly or indicator. The downside of using a fly large enough to float these weighted flies — like some of the foam hopper and stoneflies popular in the West — is that they can be less aerodynamic to cast than some strike indicators — though large polypropylene yarn indicators are no joy to cast. Fast-action rods and line weights and leader tapers designed for turning over heavier, wind-resistant flies make casting large foam hoppers, stoneflies, and Chernobyl Ant-style patterns relatively painless.

Streamers

Two popular ways of connecting tandem streamers are the bend (top) and two-eye connections (bottom). Some anglers think that the streamers have more action with the two-eye connection, though I find it easier to tie tippet on to the bend of a hook than through a hook eye already crowded with tippet.

Fishing two streamers is a deadly way to entice the largest fish to strike. The two most popular connections for fishing tandem streamers are the bend and two-eye connections. When fishing streamers, choose flies with different colors and sizes. Fish one fly that is smaller than the other, and fish flies that are both light and dark to cover as many bases as possible. Woolly Buggers are always good choices to imitate large hellgrammites, stonefly nymphs, as well as crayfish and sculpins, and you can't go wrong with rabbit-strip flies such as Zonkers or Double Bunnies. You don't cast two streamers as much as you lob them. It isn't pretty, but the combination is deadly. Two of my favorite Woolly Bugger variations are the Beadhead Woolly Bugger and Rooke's Minnow.

The easiest setup for fishing multiple streamers from a drift boat is a short sinking-tip line with a floating running line and a short, straight piece of tippet heavy enough to help turn over the flies, prevent break offs when fish slam your fly, and stout enough to pull your flies from snags or the occasional bush as you pound the banks. Fish typically aren't leader shy with streamers because they often see the fly first and the fly is generally fished on an active retrieve.

In addition to an active retrieve, a combination of dead-drifting and short strips also works well. Many anglers fish tandem streamers with a floating line and tapered leader. Good casting technique is essential with this setup, as is the leader's taper design. Use weight-forward lines with heavy front tapers (nymph and bass tapers) and leaders with large butt diameters that extend through at least half of the entire leader's length. It helps to build your own, but Umpqua sells a leader they call the weight-forward leader that turns over tandem streamers well. When fishing double streamers, it's imperative to modify your casting stroke, not only to prevent tangles, but to prevent hitting yourself with the heavy flies.

Though many anglers don't use them, streamer and nymph combinations also work well, perhaps because the larger streamer draws the fish's attention to the nymph. On central Oregon's Deschutes River I had a great five-mile float casting a Woolly Bugger and Pteronarcys stonefly imitation in tandem. Thousands of huge stonefly nymphs crawled out of the water, and we caught lots of fish dead-drifting and twitching this rig as we floated downriver.