Hmmm...so Mike F. says I stole my technique from Ray Bondarew? Probably true. I did at least acknowledge that my dropper is usually a Ray's fly, which is some tribute to Ray.
Maybe this is a good time to plug the book. It is not a rhapsodic, eloquent book along the lines of some of the trout fishing literature, but it is a no-nonsense "this is how to figure out what is happening and this is what to do" book. I have picked up different things from different authors and sometimes don't remember what I got from whom. The one thing that strikes me about Ray's book is that nothing in it is wrong. There's no filtering you need to do.
Also, way back at the Death March Conclave of '95 Ray managed the only fly-caught schoolies of the night. (Churbuck claimed one on spin gear, if memory serves). I think that back then I attributed more to luck than I do today. I know now that the guy who scrapes up one or two fish when no one else does is more likely to be more knowledgable than more lucky.
Here's one bit of practical info to add: I'm doing a stiff nylon 20lb leader and a 15lb fluorocarbon tippet. The stiffness of the hard nylon helps keep the dropper fly sticking out at angle and lessening its tendency to foul.