In 1886 F. M. Halford attempted to define dry fly fishing as "Presenting to the rising fish the best possible imitation of the insect on which he is feeding in its natural position."
- Finding a fish feeding on winged insects.
- Presenting to him a good imitation of the natural insect both as to size and colour.
- Presenting it to him in its natural position, floating and "cocked".
- Putting it lightly on the water so that it floats accurately over him without drag.
- That the four previous points should have been fulfilled before the fish has caught sight of the angler and his rod.
Very fair and accurate description of what we as Dry Fly Fishermen do today!
Hackled flies are meant to float on the water's surface, imitating all sorts of adult aquatic or terrestrial insects that fall into the water.
The hackle fibres closely mirroring the imprint a real insect would create on the surface film.
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Traditional winged dry flies use the surface tension of water to float. The fly will ride on the hackle and tail. The wing creates a silhouette taking on the appearance of a natural insect.
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CDC's superb natural buoyancy allows it to float beautifully without the need of artificial floatants. It is fabulously softly wispy and subtle; an ideal tying material that is delicate and insect like.
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Hopper offers versatility - nymph emerger, dry fly, terrestrial, whichever way you want to fish it.
Many Daddy Longlegs or Crane Flies are on the water from June to early October.
This fly makes a decent mouthful and will often tempt when small traditional pattern are ignored.
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When the fly is hatching, some great dry fly sport can be had on still waters. You can fish static or twitch it to get attention. If the excitement of a dry fly take doesn’t move you, you best visit a doctor!
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Klinkhammers are different from many other parachute dry flies in that the thorax of the fly is designed to hang down ‘through’ the surface of the water to imitate an emerging insect.
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The body of a parachute fly sits temptingly “in” the surface film, held there by the parachute hackle.
Shuttlecock are a modern fly whose body hangs temptingly just under the surface film
View 43 more parachute & shuttlecock flies
The mayfly hatch is a fascinating time of the year and it would seem that the Trout would throw themselves at any fly and feed ferociously. It is undoubtedly the high point of the season.
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The common term ‘sedge’ originates from the fact that adult Caddis flies can often be seen clinging to sedge grass near the waters edge.
Sedge/Caddis flies have four wings. The forward pair are usually a little longer than those at the rear. When at rest their wings lie close along the body in an inverted V shape. Caddis flies do not have tails but some species have long antenna.
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Spinner is a term referring to the fully grown adult insect. Following the final stage from dun to spinner, the emergent adult dries itself again and reserves strength. Usually at sunset is when you start to see the "dance." when the bugs gather in clouds of thousands . After the spinners dance for a while the female mayflies will deposit there eggs by either an egg sack or landing on the surface and depositing them. Either way this makes the may females vulnerable and a feast for the trout to gorge on. When all the mating and egg laying is over the mayflies die and fall to the waters surface. Then the trout will feed heavily on ‘spent ‘ spinners.
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Humpies - The Humpy or Goofus Bug is a very buoyant pattern initially created for the swift waters of California and has become the number one rough water dry fly!
Wulffs - The Wulff series represents a bushy, high floating fly, that remains visible into the evening twilight, and rides well in rough water; and were developed by Lee Wulff.
Stimulators - Stimulators are used successfully as a great buoyant attractor pattern on fast water, sometimes as representative of a sedge, and often as an imitation of a large stonefly.
View 21 more humpies & wulffs & stimulators flies
Flies in this category are land dwelling insects that have unfortunately ended up stranded in the water!
View 24 more terrestrials (ants & beetles) flies
A serious limitation of all imitative flies is the “unnatural” presence of the hook. Our “Stealth series” of ‘upside down dry flies’ has been developed so they rest on the waters film with the bend and point facing skywards; showing a much more natural silhouette; ideal for the more wary trout.
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It is suggested that the Bumbles origins date back to Derbyshire in the 1500's when the fly was attached to a horsehair line. The fly,when first alighting on the water was fished as a dapping fly, which slowly sank and fished as a wet hackle fly. The palmered hackles mimic insect legs movement on the surface film.
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