Pro Tips: Why Wet Flies Work

The sun warms my body which feels better than the cold fingers and toes from early spring fly fishing.  The river is covered in dappled light from the emerging leaves that are starting to take form.   After walking the bank downstream, I pause above a pool.  The water is shallow.  The surface is covered with small waves uniformly scattered from bank to bank.  It’s a riffle, a good spot for bugs.   It’s a lot of water to cover and it’s impossible to see the trout.

I unhook the fly from the guide on the rod and cut it off.  I pull two flies out of my box and begin tying them on the tippet.  After tying on the first fly, I tie 18” of tippet to the second fly and tie it off to the bend of the hook on the first.  Both flies are wets…hares ear wets to be exact, in a size 14.   

My first cast lands a little short of where I want it.  I let it swing and pull some more line off the reel.  The second cast hits it’s target.  A section of slack water downstream and against the opposite bank.  This isn’t typical to cast downstream, but then again neither is wet fly fishing.  Most anglers nymph fish and cast upstream with a fly and an indicator to detect the strike.   The current grabs the line and the flies, and it begins to swing across the stream.  I carefully lead the line with the rod tip.

I pause for a second to stall the fly.  It holds near a likely rock.  Nothing happens.  I move the rod tip further across the stream and the fly follows.  Soon it reaches the slack water on my side of the stream.  Before I cast again, I take a couple of steps downstream.  The process repeats.

The cast lands about 30° downstream and near the opposite bank.  Muscle memory takes over and I begin leading the fly across the stream with the rod tip.   

It doesn’t move far when it happens, a swirl and splash.  Takes wet fly fishing are easy to detect.  I feel the tug on the line.  Instinctively I release the line under my finger and lift the rod.  The rod bends under the weight of the fish and the fast current.  Nice fish.  I gradually work the fish over to the net and admire it’s silver body and pink line.  The color is striking.

Wet fly fishing may be the oldest tactic used in fly fishing.  Most modern anglers have moved toward nymphing as their form of fly fishing.  However, wet fly fishing has it’s purpose and should be utilized when the time is right.   

Why does it work?  The spring and summer are dominated by mayflies and caddis.  When the insects emerge, most of them have to get from the rocky bottom to the surface to hatch.  They either swim or float to the surface.  Trout see this behavior and will key in on the action of a rising insect.  Here an angler is trying to mimic the behavior more than the profile of the insect.  The action triggers the strike by the trout.  Another consideration is competition.  Most anglers are fishing nymphs and your wet fly looks different from the other dozen flies that hooked them yesterday.  Wet fly fishing is also a faster way to cover water.  If you don’t know where the fish are because they are not showing themselves, wet fly fishing can quickly cover a large section of water.  Finally, wet fly fishing actively moves the fly and it is easier to get a good presentation in tricky water that may be shallow or have a lot of conflicting currents.

Take the time to learn wet fly fishing and add a few “wets” to your fly box.  You might find out how effective it can be.  Keep an eye out for the next article on equipment and wet flies for trout fishing.

Patrick Weaver
patrick@headwatersoutfitters.com