by L. Woodrow Ross

Created on: September 09, 2010

Fly fishing requires good coordination and the ability to "read the water" and find fish. While both dry fly fishing and wet fly fishing require a certain skill set, dry fly fishing requires more finesse and skill to be successful.

Nothing beats the thrill for a fly fisherman more than seeing a fish take a dry fly. It is explosive at times when the fish blasts through the surface of the water to take the fly. In order to entice the fish to strike, certain techniques are required to properly present the fly. One of the first of these is to create a "dead drift". Most insects float freely on the water and a "V" wake created by drag will usually spook fish and cause them to reject a fly.

In order to avoid drag, it is necessary to learn to "mend" the fly line. The object is to have slack in the leader and fly line when you cast upstream. The fly will drift naturally until the slack tightens and then it will begin to drag unless another mend is made in the line. A curve cast with the curve upstream will provide slack into the line. In addition, as the line tightens on the surface of the water an upstream mend may be made by flipping the line upstream to create slack.

Having the proper fly line and leader will contribute to being able to created less drag. The leader should be stiff enough to turn over the fly, but it should have a tippet light enough to land with "S" curves that create slack for the dead drift. Keep the line clean and treat it with floatant to make it perform better. If the fly get waterlogged, it will sink and will not be as attractive to fish and will limit your success.

It is critical when fishing with dry flies that you "match the hatch". If grasshoppers are abundant, then select a large hopper imitation that will appear natural to the fish. If several different insects are observed on the water, don't assume that any of the imitations of them will work. There are sometimes "masking" hatches. This means that several insects are hatching or present, but the fish may not be keying on the large ones that you see. They may be taking some small, inconspicuous insect because it is abundant. It may require using a small net to catch and evaluate the insects. If the one that you thought the fish are taking is not successful, go to the next pattern until you match the hatch.

These are but a few pointers to help you be a better dry fly fisherman, but will head you down the path to success.

Learn more about this author, L. Woodrow Ross.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.