Wet flies, Dry flies etc

[Guest Mike Connor]

Original Question " "Wet flies, and Dry flies"

 

 

Put simply, wet flies sink, and dry flies float ( at least sometimes! ) It is not at all unusual for them to do exactly the opposite, invariably when this is not desired.

 

There are a very great number of different flies, designed to imitate practically every stage of an insects life, or a fish, or a frog, or a host of other things which bear little resemblance to anything at all, either living or dead!

 

The answer from Duncan was very good indeed, and is basically what most "traditional"fly-anglers strive to achieve. It does not really go far enough though. As "Flies" are tied ( built, glued, cast, prefabricated etc etc) for a multitude of reasons. Some of them having very little at all to do with insects.

 

A quick look through one of the catlaogues available, ( apart from confusing anybody wishing to start fly-fishing very thoroughly indeed! ), will show you the massive range of flies which are now available for all sorts of things.

 

The "old definitions" are really no longer applicable, and a "fly" nowadays, is basically anything which may be cast with a fly-rod. This includes, plugs, ribber worms, etc etc etc.

 

It is essential to know what species of fish you will be targetting, before getting involved in "definitions".

 

Tight lines!

 

Mike Connor

[Guest Spiderfan]

Hi Mike,

 

I tend to think of dry, damp and wet flies depending on whether you fish on, in or under the surface.

 

As I enjoy the visual take of a fish, I like to fish dry whenever I can on the small stillwaters I frequent.

 

As a rough guide, if there's plenty of surface activity, I'll fish one or two dries. If there's some activity, I'll fish a dry and an emerger and if there's no activity, I'll go wet.

 

My favourite prospecting team would consist of an Elk Hair Caddis (dry) on the top dropper, a Shipman's buzzer (damp) in the middle and a Skinny buzzer (wet) on the point.

 

I would then adapt to what happens as the day progresses.

 

I think many people put too much effort into fly selection rather than location, depth or retrieve and we sometimes have a tendency to over-complicate things at times.

 

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Fan of Spiders

[Guest Mike Connor]

Hi Spiderfan,

 

for years, my "handle" on various groups was "Upstream Spider", I too am a great fan of spider flies.

 

One of the great things abozut fly-fishing, is that it can be all things to all men. You can make it as complex, or as easy as you like.

 

My choice of "start-up pattern" depends entirely on where I happen to be fishing, for what, and the time of year.

 

Unfortunately, the freshwater "game"-fishing clubs I belong to only allow a single fly, so I can no longer fish multi-fly rigs as often as I would like.

 

I like to fish dry flies, barely sub-surface spiders, and various emergers. Grasshoppers are also very good, in season. I mainly fish running water for trout and grayling nowadays. With only an occasional still-water trip.

 

I fish Denmark and Sweden quite a lot, rivers and streams, as well as the Baltic Sea, and I often use my "old-faithful" multi-fly rigs on the streas there.

 

My present "species list", is 53 I believe. ( I will have to check! This includes a variety of sea and freshwater fish. Some of the things I use to catch these fish would not appear much like a "fly" to many traditional trout anglers I fear!

 

I use flies between size 20 and size 10/0, coupled with the appropriate gear of course. I have tied my own flies for over forty years now, and have a pretty large collection.

 

Most of my gear is also self-built. Including rods, reels, fly-boxes, etc etc.

 

One thing I do like about fly-fishing, is that I can just grab my gear and go. I am not dependent on obtaining or ordering bait, and I can carry the gear I need in my fishing jacket, waistcoat etc.

 

As a contrast, my various bait fishing forays often resemble "Arctic expeditions", to judge by the amount of stuff I have to cart along.

 

TL

MC

[Guest Umber]

Hi Mike, nice to see you on here, been on your site a time or two in the past, enjoy your articles too. To any one new to fly fishing ,have a look you could learn a lot, old hands too. Good common sense. Look forward to your input on here. ATB.

[Guest TheDacer]

Mike - Sweden eh?

 

Now there's a country!

 

Hur stor din svensk? (Probably better than mine I imagine!)

[Guest Spiderfan]

Hi Mike,

 

‘Upstream Spider’ eh? It’s not coincidental that my interest in the North Country tradition was in part fuelled by information gleaned from your website (whatever happened to it? my link no longer works).

 

I quickly realised that simplicity along with necessity was indeed the mother of invention in the days when the spider style of fly was being developed and this led me to believe that there was no reason why the style wouldn’t work as well today as it did back then. After all, all the hard work had been done for me!

 

Nowadays, I still get a quiet buzz of satisfaction when taking a trout on a fly as superficial and insignificant as a Black Spider while standing next to an energetic and comparatively frantic Orange Blob-stripper. Indeed, both methods catch fish, but I know which I prefer!

 

 

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Fan of Spiders

[Guest Mike Connor]

Originally posted by Umber:

Hi Mike, nice to see you on here, been on your site a time or two in the past, enjoy your articles too. To any one new to fly fishing ,have a look you could learn a lot, old hands too. Good common sense. Look forward to your input on here. ATB.

Hi Dacer, Spiderfan, and of course Umber,

 

I cancelled my site quite a while ago. It just got too expensive. Internet charges are very high here, and when the download volume went beyond two gigabytes a month, the provider company wanted even more money.

My personal circumstances simply would not allow this, and so I was obliged to pass!

 

I was inundated with e-mails for quite a while afterwards. Very gratifying of course, but an awful lot of work replying to them all. I still get quite a few.

 

Quite a few companies offered to sponsor the site, but I have a rather odd set of principles with regard to fishing and related subjects. I don´t mind recommending something I like and use myself, but I fear that the objectivity of some reviews is in direct proportion to the amount of money paid for them! If I don´t take any money, then at least nobody can question my objectivity on that score!

 

Elton still has quite a number of my articles, and indeed he has been posting a few recently.

 

I also have a couple of books in the pipeline, and as soon as I can afford the money to publish them, I will do so. I might go for e-books instead. Have to wait and see.

 

I would not like to publish "just another pattern book", or "Encyclopedia of fishing", or anything like that, There are already too many of these in my opinion.

 

One of my hobby horses ( literally!), is DIY tackle and stuff, and I have quite a bit of material on this now, up to and including building a cheap and reliable boat in a week-end!

 

As I say, have to wait and see.

 

TL

MC