A wet fly is more an imitation of a stage of life of aquatic insects. Many wet flies imitate a struggling nymph as it attempts to reach the surface of the river.
These same wet flies also suitably do an impression of dead or drowning insects. Either way, one thing about wet flies for trout fishing is that they generally imitate aquatic insects in motion, moving to the surface or drowning in the water.
Winged wet flies are designed to imitate the adult stage of an insect during brief times when it may be underwater--mayflies which hatch on subsurface rocks and rush to the surface as fully grown adults, caddis fly adults which dive underwater to lay their eggs.
Some pattern have been devised to resemble small fry / baitfish
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Hackled wet flies are designed to imitate the adult stage of an insect during brief times when it may be underwater--mayflies which hatch on subsurface rocks and rush to the surface as fully grown adults, caddis fly adults which dive underwater to lay their eggs.
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"Spiders" are created to represent hatching insects caught in the surface of the river - or in the surface film. They are soft hackle patterns which are deadly fished upstream or downstream and were originally from the North of the United Kingdom certainly over 300 years ago.
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Generally these beautiful flies are designed and selected for use according to conditions of light and water clarity rather than the attempt to follow natural patterns of insect hatches. They have wonderful action and movement in the water, a must when fishing in the 'loch style'.
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The Snatcher series are really a very versatile fly that works particularly well when the trout are patrolling the upper layers of still waters.
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