The history of fly-fishing begins with wet flies, but today they seem to be a thing of the past. Have you ever looked through an old timers fly box? All wet flies. I use wet flies all the time and boy do they work. They are the closest thing that I have found to immitate and emerger (including many of the modern emerger patterns.) I have much luck when fishing them in the following manner. 9-10 feet of leader – Bead Head Wooly Bugger or heavy Stone Fly – 18″ off the hook of the bugger I tie my first wet fly (usually an adams pattern) then 14″ of that Hook I tie my second wet fly. I cast upstream. The bugger sinks to the bottom and the 2 wet flies drift through the water column. I pick up many fish on the dead drift and even more fish on the swing. When those 3 flies reach the end of the drift, the wet flies emerge from the bottom to the top of the water and Trout/Salmon just eat em up. That’s what happened tonight when I caught this wonderful and large Brook Trout. He actually took the trailing wet fly. I was fishing and practicing my steelhead technique and I could feel my flies ticking along the rocky bottom. Then I felt the little tug, I set the hook and Greg helped me land this beautiful fish. Most guys I fish with have fly boxes that look just like everyone else’s. Full of dry flies and full of nymphs. Nobody carries wet flies anymore. They have all these fancy things with rubber legs and copper and flashbacks and all sorts of stuff that looks nothing like what I see under rocks and in the water. Wet flies are great, because of their simplicity. They are so simple and they look and react just like the bugs in the water. Heck, a couple weekends ago I caught a bunch of Salmon and Browns with one simple wet fly. I put on alot of leader and 1 wet fly. I casted it cross stream and let it swing. Caught a bunch of fish. I fish with and learn many of my Trout/Salmon tactics from alot of the old-timers of Sebago Lake. Many of whom have even passed away since I had met them. Some are still fly fishing the Seabago tributaries and lake and I bump into them occassionally, but not as much as I used to. They all have one thing in common. They all fish with wet flies. All these old timers are now being replaced by the younger guys or older guys who are relatively new to fly fishing. None of these guys have wet flies. They all have the same stuff. Elk hair caddis, beed heads, copper johns … I guess those work too. But sometimes I think that many of the modern day fly tiers over-analyze things. It just ain’t that complicated. Like an old-timer told me long ago. The most important thing is presentation, then size then color. So, go out and get an old fashioned wet fly or tie one up yourself. Tie it on as a dropper or by itself. Don’t think to much and you’ll be surprised with the results.
Fine article, jer, and a terrific Brookie!
My wet flies are simple. Usually they are drab in greyish olives, browns and black. The important thing to remember and what those ‘old timers’ will tell you, is to keep the colors consistant from tail to head. No need for extras like flash, fancy legs, etc. Tie drab and dusky and heavy. Simple solutions may be cheaper, but often work best!
well your salmon and our discussion got me thinking about adding midge pupae tactics to my knowledge base. i like what you said about midge pupae – basically they outnumber caddis a zillion to one and salmon/trout don’t even inspect them – they just gobble em up. i am not to well versed on fishing midges. sure i got a bunch of em and use em – but some guys have written books just on fishing midges. i would like to become more proficient with fishing midges and more confident in the ways i fish them – so i will come to you for a lesson on midge pupae tactics in the near future. – thanks marsh – you know where those fish are – i know they are still there. plenty for you.
Growing up in Michigans Upper Peninsula, I was taught to swing wets, and streamer way before a dry fly. I was taught to cast across stream, let fly land in slack current on far bank, keep rod perpendicular to stream current, let your line belly with the current. This would pull the fly downstream, until it swung around than you would strip it back up to yourself. The downstream pull would put a streamer’s profile right in the trout hanging on the banks face. With practice and some stream reading you can fish water quickly. Most of the streams in the U.P. are grown over and back casts are kept to a minimum. A good roll cast is learned quickly by most new Yooper fly fisherman.