WET FLY WAYS.

[Davyfly]

As of now just to open up this thread, have a bunch of other e-mail to get done before sleep time to night, back later.

Davy.

[Nymphmeister]

We are looking forward to your posts on this thread, I think most of us have a lot to learn about wet flies & ways to rig & fish them other than down & across. I like reading some older American books on wets, there's some good info in them- Ray Bergman, Ray Ovington, Larry Koller, Leisenring & Hidy and others had some great stuff to say about wets, soft hackles & flymphs. And in more recent years, Sylvester Nemes did much to popularize soft hackles in the USA through his books, and Dave Hughes has also written extensively about wets. But I think there are 2 areas in particular where Europeans are way better than Americans- wet fly fishing and fishing lakes & ponds. We have so much good public trout stream access in the states that most trout fisherman here don't do much lake fishing. I know in Europe it's generally the opposite, and the best trout streams there are often expensive to fish, so lakes are more accessible to the average guy and much less costly. And nymphing with strike indicators & split shot seems to have largely replaced the use of wet flies over the past few decades in America. Every method, of course, has its moment. I'm always looking to expand my repertoire of techniques, rigging and flies.

[Nymphmeister]

Davy-
Question just popped into my head- I love Masterclass dubbiing, it's great stuff, but Wapsi doesn't seem to be carrying it anymore- did they drop it? I only see the dubbing cubes available in it now.

[Nymphmeister]

Davy-
I talked to Harry Wallace this morning, he said to say "hello" to you. He was very complimentary about your fishing & tying abilities, especially in regards to wets. Have you seen his flies? I am very impressed with with fly dressing ability, he produces many original patterns and ties very "buggy" & "fishy" looking creations, the kind you can just look at and know they will catch. His latest is that he's decided he wants to really focus on nymph fishing and get good at it. He tied up a big batch of Czech style nymphs and came in last week and showed them to me, some really nice looking pattterns of his own design.

So is wet fly fishing your favorite style/method/system of fishing?

[FK]

Davyfly,

A few weeks ago, Nymphmeister sold me your DVD "Wet Fly Ways" it was very enlightening to observe your techniques.

This spring I purchased the TFO 11ft 5wt rod and I will be trying some intermediate lines on our CT rivers using your presentations.

We are gratefull for your posting and time to discuss the European methods of wet fly fishing.

Regards,
FK

[Night Angler]

Hey guys...

Im not trying to plug anything here..
but here is something that is a very exciting event...

http://www.northarkansasflyfisher.org/SB%202008.html

Oh yes Davy will be there too...
Guys like John Wilson, Hans W, Tony Specio, ext..... even me..LOL

[JUICE]

Davy,

I have a very good friend who wants to learn how to Wet Fly fish more effectively. Do you think there are maybe a top five tips you could give him to help him in the beginning steps?

[AaronJasper]

If you go on his site there are flies available to purchase there. He has a "wet fly" set, I am pretty sure that Regan could use these. Remember Davy might not use the ones he has read about in most books. They are going to be ones that he has come up with and work very well. Torrey also knows how effectively he fishes wet flies. The two people, Gary and Wanda Taylor could not believe how many and how many big fish they were catching on wets during the filming of the video. Thats a lot considering they get to fish all over the world.
Here is the link to the flies page.
http://www.davywotton.com/custom-tied-flies.htm

[Davyfly]

OK guys, l will answer some of your questions before l have to get for a TU meeting to night.

Masterclass dubbings, I have plenty of the individual packs, Wapsi told me they may well reintroduce the packs, at this time only available in MC cubes.

Flies.
I carry a very large selection of both the traditional style flies and many of my own innovation, drop me a line to my e-mail address at davyfly@ozarkmountains.com for further details here.
As a matter of interest wet fly patterns comprise of more patterns than any other style of fishing fly be it nymph, dry, streamers.
Saying that l can more or less condense 20 flies with a few specials that will work in any water system in the world be it still or moving, size of fly would matter at times here.

Have Harry send me a few of his dry flies, l would love to see them, l will send him some of my wet flies.


With respect to the American authors of books related to wet fly fishing, none of them have a understanding of wet fly fishing as we know it in the UK.
It is a style of fishing that has been practised for 400 years there.
One of my guide friends in MT has guided Sylvester for may years, Brian will tell you that my way of fishing differs big time, more so because l maintain long drag free drifts with fly animation and consequently catch way more fish.
The more across and downstream methods with a few exceptions do not present a fly to the fishes eye as it would expect to see a natural, be it a nymph a emerger, a dun or a spent fly, the exception is when fishing a caddis emergence.
You will as a rule reduce the percentage of fish that will take your fly by lining them, particularly big fish, Browns for sure. Stocker Bows are a different matter.

Wet fly style of fishing are by far my favourite ways to catch trout as by this means you are working for your fish and in many ways enticing them to rise and take your fly. Unlike fishing with a indicator, which l do enjoy at times, but it is not the same thing for sure.

What would be my 5 top tips for a person who wishes to become a good wet fly fisher.

1. You need the right rod. Short rods and those that have fast actions are not the deal here. I prefer a rod of at least 10ft to 11ft with a mid flex action as here you can throw 3 or 4 flies at least 80 ft if needed, with a very open loop that reduces tangles but also maintains perfect straight turnover of the flies. More to the point you are able to work and control your flies at very close to med long ranges. Long rods also enable fly line and flies to be controlled way easier than a short rod, that is a fact.

2. Develop a very high degree of awareness. What l mean by that is you are able to read things that give you the slightest indication a fish has your fly. Not all fish will pull the flies so you feel it. You should be able to set the hook before that is felt, by some means of indication which may be the fly line, a flat spot on the water surface, the shadow of a fish turning, and all else, And to make that happen the next answer is.

3 Develop high skills of presentation. From the get go your flies when landing on the water should be in a fishing mode and not a jumbled mess. Learn to cast a perfect straight or angled cast of the flies at any angle, it is very important, often a trophy Brown will react as soon as he sees the flies, and you need to be in a position to set the hook fast.

4 Learn how to read water, This means you develop the instincts to recognise the most likely zones a fish will be found, be it at that time resting or in a feeding zone as this makes a great deal of difference to fishing dead water and may be spooking a good fish from a good holding zone.
I know this takes years of practice, and the only way to do that is to go fishing and figure it out. trout do not differ in any water around the world, they all have very similar habits, particularly Browns.
Many fly fishers have no clue, and wade in and start to thrash the water, wading causes pressure waves both above and below you, fish can sense that.
Before l fish l spend time to read the water, given it is a zone l am not familiar with, but l will figure it our and always assume that there will be fish there, may be not, it does not matter, the approach has to be right to start with or all is lost.
The majority of fish will be within 20 ft of you most of the time, if not less than that.

5. Here l will tell you know how to build your cast, that is the term used for how you set up your leader configuration with the flies used. Not the act of casting, it is the old UK way of describing this.
This aspect is so very important, the right way produces fish the wrong way not so, may be a few.
And that of course also means you know at what position certain flies are best fished in the prevailing conditions, are you going to work top dropper flies, are you going to fish flies within the water column, are you going to use a anchor fly to hang the cast of flies and so on, complex, yes likely so till you understand that fundamentals of the techniques.

OK, guys got to get for now.

Davy.

[Nymphmeister]

Wet Fly School is now in session! And I though going back to school wouldn't be fun.