Wet flies & sink tips

[Davyfly]

Thanks for the welcome guys, see what l can do here to educate you with Welsh ways of fly fishing, some Irish, English and Scottish will be included, hi there Harry !! How is Charlie.

I sold my SLF dubbing co to Wapsi fly some years ago, which they moved lock stock and barrel from the UK to Mtn Home.
They still produce all my ranges for the world market. Pity l no longer get Royalties !!

Torry,

Wet fly fishing is one of the most effective ways to fly fish for trout, in fact it can be way more effective than any other method at given times.
Particularly for Browns which were the species the wet fly techniques and the flies were originated for.
Bows did not appear in the UK till the late 1880s, it was very many years later after the second world war that they started to be stocked into man made reservoir systems, by and large rivers in the UK do not contain rainbow trout, and that is also the case with many of the natural lakes and loughs to day.

Having conducted many fly fishing schools around the country my belief is this.
There are two main reasons why the true art of wet fly fishing is not practised here.
The first is knowledge of the art, the second is it takes time to perfect the skills, and to be honest here the easy way out is simply to fish a more downstream method, the up stream and across techniques do require much more skill to perfect.

Davy.

[Nymphmeister]

I imagine the way Kurt, the guide on the Clarion River, fishes wets is similar to some of the techniques you employ. Basically, he throws up & across with a relatively short cast, and tries to drift his flies (usually 2 or 3) in a straight line going downstream (pseudo dead drift), while maintaining slight tension on the line and fishing them broadside to the current. He does a lot of "micro mends" to keep the flies in position and give them a little "life". This is how he showed us to fish streamers, and also how he said he fishes wets- Aaron said that was exactly what he did when he guided them. I was there in the Winter when there was pretty much no bug activity, Aaron was there in the Spring & they fished wets. I know Aaron was really intrigued by the technique, 'cuz there was much more to it than just a down & across swing. In fact they really only fished a "pie wedge" from a bit up and across to a bit down & across. I would assume that if you were fishing during hatching activity of something active like Caddis that you would normally let them swing all the way.

Totally different question for you Davy. I'm know you are quite familiar with Czech/Polish nymphing, the Rolled Nymph, etc.- whatever you want to call it. What do you think of the method? Is it simply a technique developed for competitive fishing and other places where they don't allow split shot on the line, or is it truly a superior nymphing method for certain situations (shallow to moderate depth faster water, and esp. for grayling)? Seems to me it would be a lot simpler & more efficient to use a split shot or two for the middle fly in a Czech nymph rig- quicker to adjust and one less hook to tangle, and then you don't have to have hundreds and hundreds of the same few flies in 3 or 4 different weights. What your take on all of this, I know you successfully coached the USA Youth team in the past, on this and other techniques.

[Night Angler]

Hey Davy..


Good to see you over here..

Leonard

[Davyfly]

I am going to start the thread related to Wet fly ways and refer to your post there OK, but will answer your question regarding the Czech/Polish style or rolled nymph as they are more or less the same, the flies differ a little.

This style of fly fishing first became more known when the Poles won one of the world fly fishing championships some years ago.
It is largely a method used to catch the European Grayling which is very similar to the Artic species found here in North America.

Grayling differ is some ways from trout in so far as they are a species that shoal together. And you can get real close to them, which is why this very short line methods works so well.
They also prefer fast shallow water zones but may also be found in slower deeper water runs and riffles.

It certainly does have merits for trout and Salmon fishing as more or less you are fishing with what is termed here as high stick, in that you maintain the flies fishing at the same pace as the river, which you cannot do in the same way with a indicator.

Neither can you effectively fish 3 heavy weighted flies in the same way with a indicator. Most of the flies used are imitations of caddis larva, one of the favourite foods of the Grayling, other flies such as scud imitations will also work well, along with other generic type flies.


Yes, there are regulations when fishing the events under the FIPS regulations. No indicators are allowed and no shot added to the leader or bead heads, but you can use a weighted fly or flies.

It is a technique that will take time to master as it is not as simple as many may believe. the manner in which the system is rigged for the water being fished is very important and so also the variables with weight for the flies used, not enough and they do not get down, too much and the downstream drift will be adversely affected.

Many exponents of this method prefer a 9ft rod, l myself a 10ft and at times l use a 11ft rod, single handed by the way, it is not a spey rod style.

I might add l have used this style of fishing for trout in many river systems from Argentina, Chile, Montana, Colorado Arkansas to name a few.
I would say this that overall it works best when fishing water with a good flow rate be it shallow or deep.
I would use other means when fishing slower water zones.

Leonard, how are you.

Davy.

[Nymphmeister]

Leonard-
Yes, Spring thru Fall I definitely have the raccoon tan going on- wish I had one now!

I am going to wear a turtleneck if I ever meet you fishing with Aaron in Arkansas though, otherwise I'm afraid I'll return to CT with 2 puncture marks in the side of my neck and a very pale complexion. Does the sight of a cross scare you, and do you stay away from water near churches? And do you sleep hanging upside down or in a coffin? And when aren't fishing, do you wear a black cape and slick your hair back?

[FK]

Davyfly,

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

I purchased this spring, the TFO 11ft 5wt rod and will be experimenting with intermediate lines on our CT rivers.

We are gratefull for your interest and time to post discussions on European techniques.

Regards,
FK

[nutman]

[quote author=Nymphmeister link=topic=1080.msg6405#msg6405 date=1196629715]
Wets are traditionally swung down & across on a floating line. Have any of you played around much with swinging them on a sink tip or sinking leader? I've met a person or two over the years- old timers mostly- who do this and swear by the method. One retired guy I met on the Naugy years ago fished like this, and he said he would often catch large numbers of fish using smaller wet mainly, like #14-16 (if tied on a wet fly hook like a Mustad 3906 or a Tiemco 3769, those are relatively small wets). Tom Rosenbauer has said that his friend Don Owens fishes wets all the time and often kicks everybody's ass with them- frequently employing them during hatches with "results that embarrass dry fly fishermen". Love it! I've only fished them on floating lines, although sometimes with split shot, and sometimes in a nymph rig (with soft hackles).
[/quote]Im woundering about these sink tippets,Im headed for the coast ,here on the west coast ,Ive been using a five foot sinking line there is only one problem and that is the depth of holes here ,the sinking line like to drift back at you so you have to cast up far ahead of you to get it to come thru the holes the way you want .So this weekend im trying out a ten foot sinking tippet on a floating line to see if that changes the the way it floats ! IF ANY OF YOU KNOW HOW THEY WORK NOW LET ME KNOW ,thanks