Easy Dry's ....

[Stagger_Lee]

So I've been doing nothing but nymphs (lil shout out to tctrout's two minute fly tying ... good stuff) and would like to start working on a few dry's .... and recs on easy dry's for Eastern Pa streams?


///Considering trico season is upon us was going to try but way too small for me to even entertain

 

[tyeager]

Even though they are small Trico's are a pretty easy pattern. Lay down some antron, cdc, or other material for spinner wings and wrap a black thread body and add a touch of dubbing for a thicker thorax

Probably the best dries to start with are elk hair caddis (with or without CDC) and a parachute adams. Once you can get those down then you can tie a good representation of any caddis or mayfly by just changing size and color. There are even many people who believe all you need is light and dark in the correct size.

 

[Cold]

Elk Hair Caddis (along with all the minor variations)

Griffiths Gnat

Foam ant/beetle

 

[dryflyguy]

Terrestrials are just coming into the spotlight now, and should provide good fishing for the rest of the summer.
I would recommend you tie ants and beetles - they're about as simple as it gets. I still like to make mine with deer hair. But foam patterns work well too

 

[Volksnurse]

Foam beetle and CDC and elk ( in tan for where you fish). Some olive comparaduns too...Find us an establishment to have a beer and tie some,,,,

 

[Stagger_Lee]

VN wrote:

Find us an establishment to have a beer and tie some,,,,

Yea we need to catch up ... I'll force u to watch some footie while we tie.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

tyeagar wrote:

Even though they are small Trico's are a pretty easy pattern

Yea but I haven't gone smaller than 16 and I really need new scripts so maybe down the road.

Per terrestrial's .. yea I'll get into foam but I'm thinking more of the others mentioned .... should I not be intimidated by Adams or Wulff's?

 

[J55tyger88]

I dont think you should be intimidated by flies at all. I think its best to give them a shot at least. With decent materials and some patient you can make effective flies for sure! I like to tie say a couple 16s, then do a couple 18s, then some 20s. You never know until you give it a go, might be really easy for you.

Im no expert but from my experience, I've felt out gunned by certain flies and then just gave them a shot. Challenging myself is more rewarding when I get that tough tie down.

 

[troutbert]

Wingless dry flies (also called "variants") are easy to tie, and work very well. You can tie wingless versions of common flies such as:

Adams

Yellow Adams (very good this time of year)

March Brown

The Grey Fox Variant is a good old Art Flick pattern.

I like the patterns that have a mixture of grizzly and brown (ginger or light ginger) hackle.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Stagger - Don't be intimidated by tricos. They're easy.

Here's a really simple one, and it works pretty well...

 

[tomitrout]

Tie some ants; two balls of dubbing, with some hackle in between, simple and effective. Tie 'em in a #14 both black and orange, they don't need to be tiny to work.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Ed .. guys @ tightlines put out some good stuff. I can do tthe smaller stuff if I can see lol. Hitting the eye dr next week ... been way to long.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Elk Hair Caddis was the first dry I learned to tie. I use them a lot, and can whip them up pretty quickly.

 

[lv2nymph]

Bivisables are pretty easy.

 

[J55tyger88]

" guys @ tightlines put out some good stuff"

Agree with this big time. I use theirs and Hans Weilenmanns videos alot for reference and ideas.

 

[FrequentTyer]

troutbert wrote:
Wingless dry flies (also called "variants") are easy to tie, and work very well. You can tie wingless versions of common flies such as:

Sorry, but this drives me nuts. Variants are wingless dry flies, but tying a dry fly and leaving the wing off does not make a variant. This was discussed in detail here: http://www.paflyfish.com/forums/open-forums/fly-tying/flick--039-s-variants/5,33561,flat.html

But Troutbert's point is a good one. Wingless flies can work. However, don't let wings scare you. They are not that hard and bring a lot of good quality to the fly. Wulffs are great because they can be big and forgiving, but you learn a lot of techniques that will help you move on to more delicate patterns. Think of it this way, if you invest the time to leatn to tie a hairwing caddis and a Catskill dry, everything else is just swapping materials.
Mike.

 

[mikesl]

I have really become a fan of the CDC and elk.
Very simple to tie, even easier than EHC, floats nice, catches fish and superb dry to serve as indicator fly for droppers

Hans Weilenmann has a great youtube video on it.

 

[mario66pens]

one of my favorite dries is the simplest. It's called the f-fly.

It's a dubbed body of your choice, with a cdc wing, tied caddis style.

Change color of dubbing and size of hook and you can imitate any mayfly or caddis fly.

I killed them this year on a pale yellow version for sulphurs.