DRY OR DIE

flyfish1998

flyfish1998

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Joined
Oct 19, 2013
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This year I will be experimenting with the DOD lifestyle. Most of the streams I fish in central PA hold fish would gladly take a nymph or streamer over a dry fly so it may be a little hard. I have made an oath to myself that starting in spring, I need to catch 50 fish on dry flies before I can start using nymphs, streamers, etc. If fishing on dries are slow for trout, I can always knock off those 50 fish by fishing for fall fish or blue gill in the Connie. lol. Who knows, maybe I'll get hooked on using dries and I'll never look back! Can't wait til spring to start this challenge!
 
As I have said before, I would rather catch three trout on a dry fly than 9 on a wet.

There is something enjoyable about the surprise of a take on a wet, but nothing so enjoyable as watching the surprise unfold.

Amen.
 
Lets see:a 6 in. trout on top or a 24 in. steelie on the bottom? GG
 
I fish dries most of the time. Although there are times an angler has to go under to catch fish, these days I fish dries 90% of the time.

When water gets too cold (below 50 degrees) it gets really tough, usually. Of course there are always exceptions. I've fished during grannom hatch when water was very cold and fish were rising like crazy.

I think it takes a certain attitude to fish strictly dries. And catching large numbers of fish isn't it.

But to me there's nothing like a fish rising to a bunch of feathers on a hook. It's visual. It's exciting. It's why I fish.
 
This should get interesting... I'll get the popcorn.
 
I fish dries occasionally, but I'll take my soft hackles any day.
 
I did a lot of dry fly fishing in the fall last year and it was the first time I really saw the beauty of watching a trout rise to the surface. I'm primarily doing this challenge to improve my dry fly fishing because I still do sometimes get too excited when a trout comes up and takes my fly and I end up pulling the fly off the water before it even takes it!
 
Dry or die... I like that.

That describes my fishing to a "t". 98% of my fishing is dry flies.
 
95% of the time when I fish Penns Creek I fish with dries. When I fish locally I will start out with nymphs. Still prefer catching them on dries.
 
Before the sulphurs begin hatching, with polarized sunglasses, you can sometimes see the trout in the shallow riffles going on an absolute feeding frenzy eating sulphur nymphs.

Then 20 minutes later, when the duns are emerging, the trout start feeding greedily on the surface.

Go with the flow. Let the trout decide.
 
I fished dries in vain a few times in 2013. Waiting for those ba$tard tricos to fall comes to mind. I always end up sneaking a green weenie or similar on my leader to save the day then go back to casting dries.

"If we're not gonna catch anything we might as well look good casting."

-DaveS tying on a dry fly on Pine Creek commenting on how the fish had stopped regardless of fly selection.
 
Dries or nymphs?

It's like asking "Steak or ice cream?"

I'll have a big helping of both, thank you very much.

 
Sounds like fun...I love these kind of goal oriented challenges. I tried to do a year of wooly bugger fishing and I stuck to it 95% of the time.. broke my rule once or twice. Not fishing related but along the same lines, once I banned all other music and listened to Hank Williams (sr.) for a few weeks straight. Now when I hear ol' hank I can sing along to his tunes word for word. As a musician, I'm not sure if it helped me but it was fun.
 
Yes, indeed. Ffishing dry is the reason to live. If the trouts aren't rising and are still nymphing, I fish other sections until they are ready to come up. There are some ways to 'condition' trouts to look up and then take dries before they normally would, and I consider this more satisfying than just going with the flow and doing what they happen to be doing at the moment. Besides, why catch the trouts with a nymph if'n you can catch them a little later on a dry? I normally try not to catch a given trouts more than once a day. They need their rest time.

When I was more into counting catch rates, I worked hard at it till I usually outffished the nymphers and meat checkers. Now, if they are rising, THEY A$$ IS MINE!! And once you get the Karma, I usually can get the trouts to rise just by showing up (as a few of my buds can attest).

 
So does it boil down to numbers or size? Or is this the wron question?
GG
 
I just want to catch 50 fish (preferably trout) before I start using nymphs and whatnot this year. I can go out and catch 5-8 trout on a woolly bugger any day so I want to challenge myself this year. Besides, watching a trout come up to the surface is always a delight and it makes me feel accomplished everytime.
 
My New Years resolution was to ignore rising fish in 2014. I have not kept a resolution in 64 years, so I will probably tie on a dry before the year is over
 
I like to use what the fish are looking for.

If its dries that day, super. If not, underwater we go.
 
I think this is an admirable goal, one of which if you stay with it in the end you should be well on your way to figuring out the intricacies of fishing dry flies. Good luck.
 
I have fished with a few folks on this board. Anyone who's been with me knows I have been dry or die for several years.
I will resort to a streamer if the water conditions are off but 90% of the time I fish the surface.
I know the fish feed more heavily on the bottom but the surface take is like fishing crack for me.
To each his own. I often catch less fish than the guy I'm with. That's OK with me.
 
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