What You Need to Know About Fly Fishing Flies: Nymphs, Dry, Wet & Streamer Flies
Flies and Fly Fishing... those pieces of fur, feather, and synthetic materials used to create something light enough that it can be cast through the air to feeding fish is called a fly. The vast majority of fly fishing flies today do not resemble any living or for that matter extinct fly species.
There is an old saying that the myriad of fly patterns available today are created more to catch the angler than the fish. This is probably true. Just consider for a moment whether any fish especially a trout has ever encountered food items representing even a tiny percentage of the fly designs now sold. After all in fly fishing we are trying to present to the trout an item of food which we hope will encourage the trout to eat our fly rather than a real one.
In the very early days of fly fishing and before the advent of modern fly tying materials fly fishers did try to create imitations of natural flies that had been seen to be taken by feeding fish. Such flies were generally consumed at the water surface. They used a variety of natural materials and especially feathers to make their flies.
Today it is a well known fact that the vast majority of a trout's diet does not consist on any kind of winged insect. Well over 90% of what a trout eats is caught beneath the water surface and these morsels are more aptly called nymphs, pupae or larvae. Many of these nymphs do in fact become flying insects at some stage in their life cycle and whilst hatching at the surface these hatching insects (called duns) do become favourite food items for trout.
There are 4 broad classes of artificial flies: nymphs, dry flies, wet flies, and streamers and each has its own role in the pleasures of fly fishing.
Fly selections to choose from.
The Nymph
The term nymph is reserved for those patterns fished sub surface and which have been designed to represent nymphal or larval
forms of underwater insects. The classical underwater nymphs on which trout feed are dragonfly and damselfly larvae, a wide variety
of mayfly type nymphs, sedge fly pupae, water beetles and many more.
The normal way of fishing an imitation nymph is to allow it to sink and to retrieve it slowly (in still water) or to let it flow back towards the angler in a river situation... trying all the time to let the nymph trundle along the bottom of the stream bed as naturally as possible (which means slowly and not at the speed of water at the surface).
Nymphs are often weighted and invariably the better nymph designs involve sparse dressing as is shown in this picture of a well tied "green" nymph. Notice the tails and hackle to represent legs.
The Dry Fly
For me this is the most interesting and exciting way to fish a fly for trout. Even though trout a trout's diet consists of less than 10%
of their food intake there is no more satisfying feeling in fly fishing than to see a trout rise to a surface fly presented
in just the right way. The image is of the "Adams Dry Fly".
Many floating flies are tied to resemble real living flies that hatch from the emerging nymphal form. When a nymph is ready to hatch and become a winged insect so that it can breed and propagate the species it must make a perilous journey from the stream or lake bed up to the surface. If the nymph is lucky enough to make the surface it must then throw off its shuck (nymphal body case) spread its wings and allow enough time for the wings to dry before taking off into the air. This behaviour is often perfectly synchronized... millions of emerging insects decide to hatch at the same time because there is safety in numbers. At such times trout also start to rise in large numbers to take advantage of the "Hatch".
Artificial dry flies very often have wings in either an upright position to represent mayfly types or in an inclined position to resemble sedge flies. They need to be tied to float as well as possible and as such natural and synthetic materials are used that impart bouyancy to the fly.
The Wet Fly
The wet fly sinks. It is generally fished sub-surface (at varying depths) on a retrieval basis in a lake or on a down and
across method in rivers. Wet flies, when wet, are meant to take on the appearance of some form of natural life which
could be a nymph, tadpole or even a small fish. Looking at a wet fly in the dealer's shop does not in the least indicate
what it might look like when fished. Many of the classic flies that have stood the test of time still catch many fish today. The
wet fly differs from the nymph in its dressing although many wet flies do look like nymphs when they become wet. A very good example
of a wet fly which when bought in the shop looks absolutely nothing like when it is wet is "The Walkers Killer"
... see image to left. This wet fly has
probably deceived more trout in South Africa than any other fly. The reason is simple when you look at the action in the water ...
the feathers which stand proud of the hook when dry take the form of a dark streamlined nymph or tadpole when wet and retrieved.
The Streamer or Lure
The streamer is
like no living insect either above or below the surface. These flies tend to be big and gaudy and are
meant to invite a rage attack from a trout or salmon or to resemble a small fish. They are generally fished downstream and
allowed to drift across the stream and then retrieved close to the near bank. In still water they are often
fished very fast in close proximity to weed beds and other structures where small fish take refuge.