There
are many names for the flies we use but they can be broken down into 4 or 5 groups.
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Dry Flies
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How can something made for
use on water be dry? Well the term really refers to flys that float in the
surface film. As do the things they imitate. People love to fish with
"drys". Seeing the fish come up and take it is very gratifying and
addictive. The basic, and quite difficult, way is to float the fly along in a
"drag free" way. In other words the fly must float along like it
isn't tied to your line.
Dry flies can be grouped as well.
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Traditional Drys
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Adams, Black Gnat, Blue Wing Olive, Bivisible,
Cahill, Hendrickson, Drakes, March Brown and many, many more. They are named
either after the fly they are imitating like a Pale Morning Dun or Elk Hair
Caddis and some are named after the tier like the White Wulff.
And some are traditional but resemble nothing like the Royal Coachmen.
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Non-Traditional
Drys
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Thorax drys, parachute
drys, spring creek drys, CDC drys, Elk Hair and the whole family of
"terrestrials" like hopper patterns and foam patterns and emergers
which are floating/suspended nymphs.
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Nymphs
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Though dry fly fishing is
fun 90% of the fish's diet is below the water line.
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Nymphs can be divided into
two groups. Nymphs (larva) of flys like mayflys,
stone flys, dobson flys and stone flys. The second
group would be aquatic life that spends all its life in the water such as
scuds, water boatmen, backswimmers etc. The two basic ways of fishing these
flys is a dead drift and watch the take using either a strike indicator or a
sharp eye on the leader. The other way is to retrieve the fly in a manner the
best imitates the real thing.
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Streamers
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These are not truly
"flies" but imitate minnows and leeches.
Mickey Finn, Black Nose Dace, Muddler minnow, Marabou
Muddler, Zonkers etc are minnow imitators with
Marabou leech and Wooly Buggers imitating leeches.
The Wooly Bugger is so good and popular and has so many variations it is almost
a fly grouping in its own. The usual way to fish these is to impart some
movement using current and or your retrieve.
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Wet Flies
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The
so-called original fly. And many of the names will sound familiar as they the same as some dry
fly names. Royal coachman, Black Gnat & Blue Olive all are wets changed to
drys (dry hackle) as well as the Professor and
The traditional way to fish these is to quarter cast (down stream at a 45
degree angle) and let the fly "swing" through the current till a fish
hits it.
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Lures???
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Then we have the rest. Flies for pike and bass such as the large family of deer hair and
foam poppers. As well as extra large streamers.
And as an add on we have salmon and steelhead flies
that don't apply to us in