Help with Wet Flies

phillyfly

phillyfly

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Jan 12, 2010
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I would like to get into fishing and tying some wet flies this season but I really have no idea how to fish them other than a dead drift. I noticed on other threads a patridge and orange, hares ear, and pt wets are must haves. Can someone please explain in moron terms what it means to "swing" a wet fly.
 
Basically, it means that you allow the current to drag a belly into your line. The fly will then be pulled down and across the current.
 
phillyfly wrote:
I would like to get into fishing and tying some wet flies this season but I really have no idea how to fish them other than a dead drift. I noticed on other threads a patridge and orange, hares ear, and pt wets are must haves. Can someone please explain in moron terms what it means to "swing" a wet fly.

Philly,

Wet flies are very easy to fish, and a fun way the catch them. No need to worry getting a good drift and strike detection, the fish often try to pull the rod out of your hand!

The basic way to fish wets is a downstream and across cast. The fly will slowly swing across the current and end up directly below you. You can leave it hang in the current for a bit, sometimes that's where the strike will happen, and strip it back upstream a little ways and recast.

I often cast up and across and highstick (keep you rod high and most of your line off the water) to dead drift the fly and let it swing, sit, and strip as I described above. This allows the fish to pick when presentation it is looking for that day. Often the strike will come when the fly begins to swing.

Take two steps downstream repeat. You can cover a lot of water when wet fly fishing, and as I said, no need to sweat getting a good drift or detecting a strike.

Once you learn to fish wets you can get fancy and make mends upstream to slow the swing and downstream to speed it up. But stick to the basics for now. Good luck.

BTW, all the flies you mentioned are GREAT flies to try in PA streams! Give them a try.
 
So if I understand this correctly the "swing" occurs when the fly moves from the bank (or close to it) to wherever you are standing in the stream. The line ends up in front of you hanging in the current?
 
All you have to do is cast up and across and let the current to the work for you.

Basically the fly moves sideways in the stream, instead of straight down or dead drifted.
 
Got it guys....i think i was overthinking the whole concept....they look like some pretty easy flies to tie as well. Thanx to all who responded.
 
im still getting the hang of the wet fly thing i do well with this pattern and a a similar fly to which i dont have a link to yet but i can tell you how if your interested heres the recipe



hook - nymph 1 xl 12 to 16 i use 14
thread - tan 6/0 or 8/0
body - stripped grizzly hackle quill
thorax - a small bit of hares ear dubbing and a copper bead
hackle - brown partridge i have substituted in the past with phesant flank


this is a very effective pattern for me and i have usually used it in the presence of stocked fish i even fish it behind a wooly bugger
 
Wet flies are my favorite flies to fish for many of the mentioned reasons. I like to get a couple swings in one drift. I will cast at a 45 up stream and let it belly out and then mend and let it belly out below me. I have caught some of my biggest trout using this method.
 
phillyfly wrote:
So if I understand this correctly the "swing" occurs when the fly moves from the bank (or close to it) to wherever you are standing in the stream. The line ends up in front of you hanging in the current?

Correct.

The "swing" is merely the current pulling the fly down the current and eventually directly below you. Swinging wets is particularly effective in the period from about early April till mid June when insects, esp caddisflies, are most active. These bugs swim to the surface when hatching and trout are often attuned to look for movement during these times. The flies you described are time tested and definitely work.
 
All very good advice.
Another subject you may need to think about(and get advice here) is how to set up your rig and even how to cast your setup to avoid nasty tangles since most wet fly fisherman use at least two flys.

Might not be a bad idea to start a new post on this subject.
to get input from the board.
I used to fish wet flys almost exclusively when I first learned to ff many years ago and IMHO is a technique grossly under-utilized today.
Good luck
Tom
 
This DVD will tell you everything you know http://www.amazon.com/Wet-Fly-Ways-Davy-Wotton/dp/B000CR7U90
 
there is really no wrong way to fish wet flies, as long as its in the current, you can catch fish. i fish wet flies quite often
 
All good advice and right on the money. "Swinging" is actually how most spinning rod bait guys fish if you are familiar with their methods. Yep, just cast straight out, tighten the line, and let the current do its thing.

Adjust weight to get it to the part of the water column you want. With the belly and the drag, it will tend to lift your fly in the water column, thus it tends to require more weight than would be required to hit the same part of the water column with a dead drift.

Once you get the hang of it, its really easy to combine something close to a dead drift and the swing. Just cast upstream and mend until the fly gets in front of you, then stop mending and allow the swing. This is very effective as the fly will go from deep and start "swimming" towards the surface, imitating an emerging caddis which is what most wets are designed to imitate. The fish seem to respond to a fly coming off the bottom and going up very well, and they tend to hit as its rising off the bottom at the early stages of the swing. For this reason, I try to get my weight so that the fly bounces bottom for just a brief moment before it starts its ascent.
 
P.S. I often just use a tan soft hackle. Effective and incredibly easy to tie.
 
Bergman wrote in trout that his preferred method to wet flies was to cast down and then across, as normal, but then he would add a little something.

On the swing, he would lift the rod or strip a little line multiple times, to make it look like the fly would be starting its ascent to the surface. His suggestion was to do this a couple times during the drift, a slight rise, then let it fall back.

He would then begin to retrieve the fly back a bit before re-casting.

I've tied a bunch of wet flies, but have had the most success on the Black Pennell and a partridge-and-peacock.
 
wet flies are very underrated and extremely effective. any time that trout are taking emerging insects, try a wet fly. they are easy and fun to tie, they don't need to be complicated, just tie up some with 3 or 4 different color bodies in a few different sizes. I just use the same color partridge hackle, usually only one turn of the hackle is enough. I like a hares ear color, an olive, a dark brown or black, and a cream colored one. they are killer on bluegills too!!
there's a reason they were a popular fly for a couple hundred years, they work!!
 
Leadwing Coachman
 
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