I too like to fish from afar, but some of the streams I fish are too small for even getting a 15 foot cast (leader included in the casting distance) out.
Oh, I know. "Far" on a tight stream isn't that far for a big stream. But generally, if brookie in infertile streams are active, they aren't picky. They'll hit a dry, nymph, streamer, whatever. What they are is spooky. As such, it can be a huge advantage to cast from 15 feet instead of 10. Or 20 feet instead of 15.
You can fish dry flies from farther away. You can fish them tighter to brush, they just float around. You can throw tighter loops to get under overhanging limbs or rhodo. You can go over that log and fish the spot behind it without hanging up. You're not constantly hung up by crap at your feet. For these reasons, I generally catch MORE fish on dries than I do on nymphs or streamers. And what type of dries? The same as any other time. Again, it's not about what fly. Adams, Wulff's, Patriots, Humpies, Stimmies.
There are times, though. In winter when water is cold. Especially morning or evening. That they won't hit a dry. Just lethargic. They're not charging across a pool for anything. If it's 3 feet above them, they aren't going that far. Won't move far to feed. Maybe not paying as much attention, who knows. But you have to get something down to them and put it in front of their nose. I like a dry dropper over an indicator rig because there's no splash of a bobber to spook them. Such places usually aren't that deep and you don't need much weight beyond the fly too.
There are spots in the summer too. Very deep holes, or fish that are up under a rock or something, or under white water at the head of the pool. They just don't see it on the surface. So there are places you have to go underneath to catch fish even in summer. But it's far rarer than winter.