Dry Flies

[jdmidwest]

A topic of discussion yesterday on the long drive to the fishing waters was about dry flies. My younger fishing partner for the day was asking about the fixations everyone has on midges and nymphs lately on forums and in print, and there has been no talk of dry flies. I have been doing some tying sessions lately and have been teaching him to tye some dry fly patterns. He was trying to justify spending an chunk of change on some genetic hackles.

My response, while tout feed for the most part subsurface, my best trout and my best experiences have been while trout are actively feeding on insects lighting or floating on the surface of the water. I have noticed that alot of fly fisherman lately ignore this while fishing and will continue to fish subsurface even if the trout are actively rising to the top and sipping insects. Dry fly fishing is a very important part of the fly fishing experience but it seems to have gone to the wayside along with classic wet flies. My best fish on the Norfork tail water was a 29" brown on a size 18 RS2 Pale Morning Dun. When I fished the Taneycomo tail water this fall, nobody was doing much subsurface, so I switched to an attractor dry fly and started catching fish like crazy. I am sure that there were several size 12 Royal Coachmans sold that day at the local flyshops. Yesterday, I watched a trout rise to a snowflake, proving the point that trout are always keeping a watchful eye to the top for food. It is instinct for them and most have had there food in floating pellet form for most of their lives.

My questions are, why don't I see more people dry fly fishing? Is it too technical for most fly fisherman? Is it too expensive to tye dry flies? Too many steps or techniques in tying dry flies? Is the whole thing about entymology and life cycles and hatch charts too confusing?

I am going to sit back and enjoy the discussion on this one. I am curious to see the responses.

[John Berry]

Great question! I am an avid dry fly fisher and several of my fishing buddies are also dry fly fishers. I know of several local guides that just do not fish dries. I believe a big part of the situation is that we do not have the dry fly heritage here. A lot of the anglers here started as bait fishers and switched to nymphing. When I first started fly fishing over twenty five years ago, it was explained to me that you could not catch a trout in Arkansas on a dry fly. As time went by and as I started fishing in other areas that had a strong dry fly tradition like Montana and the Smoky Mountains, I realized that we had the same types of water and species that they had. I started experimenting and quickly had success. I now fish dries a lot of the time and I introduce my clients to the joys of dry fly fishing. I have had particular luck with terrestials and fish them year round. Take a look at some of the articles on my website, http://www.berrybrothersguides.com .

[WebFreeman]

John, does a some of have to do with the lack of hatches on our tailwaters? Since the level fluctuates, we don't get consistant hatches?

[John Berry]

That is a good observation. The hatches still occur but we may not be able to take advantage of them particularly on high water. Last year, a low water year, was the best year of dry fly fishing I have had. A lot of it had to do with being able to fish the hatches. The caddis hatches in March and April were the equal to anything out west.

[Brian Sloss]

Well, if you have read my Eleven Point fishing reports, you may have noticed that I have almost never mention dry flies. That is not because I don't like to fish dries, rather it is a product of where I am fishing. Here, even during prolific hatches, you rarely see any regular risers and I can't recall big fish rising at all. That is not to say it can't be done, but it simply has not proven productive. I wish I had more top water action. Now up on the Merimec and Current, I have had good fun with white flies in the fall in the evenings just before dark and the tailwaters with cracklebacks (most out of the region people I've met don't know this fly) and midges. I do have a spot around this area (not the Eleven Point) where I dare say would rival anywhere for fast and furious action on Hexes in late Aug - Sept, but there is only room for 2 anglers before it gets a little tight. A unique set up that knocks hexes out of the air and starts a feeding frenzy for about an hour every evening. You can catch 20 inch browns fairly regularly. I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'm not keen to put it online for the reason that it is a very small spot. If you PM me, I will tell you more.

[SilverMallard]

Nope. Nobody fishes dry flies...ever. :ph34r:

I fish dry flies every chance I get where it looks like a good idea. I prefer dry fly fishing. I know several people who fish dries quite a bit in the Ozarks. But when about 80% of the food is baitfish and macro-invertebrates, it just kind of stands to reason that you're gonna do a lot of nymph and streamer fishing. But I have noticed over the past 12 years of fishing for trout in the Ozarks that the scud patterns are becoming less effective and smaller, and midge patterns are becoming more effective. I have NO science to back this up with really, but several old-timers believe the scuds and sowbugs are getting a LOT smaller and more sparse while midges are becoming more prolific. And I suspect this has something to do with the changing ecology of our streams and tailwaters. Example: when I started fishing Taney below TRD 12 years ago, there were about 1/2 as many anglers there at any given time compared to now. And every footstep in that gravel kills scuds. Then there is the whole phosphates issue, siltification, and all the other effects of increasing development.

[Bob A]

Good question re: dry flies. I do fish Taney quite a bit and although drys are not used by most anglers, there is never a time hardly when I won't toss one out when the fishing is otherwise pretty slow on nympys, midges, etc. I think one reason why drys are not fished that often is that it's pretty hard to fish a dry fly with a bobber (aka: strike indicator). Another reason being that it is simply the "conventional wisdom" that dry flies don't work well on Taney. At the same time, I've taken a lot of nice trout on a dry when the conditions are right (drift, flow, etc) when nothing else seemed to be working. I don't worry about trying to "match a hatch", but rather, look at it as trout will often take anything that looks good. I do know a nice Elk Hair Caddis or a Griffith Gnat has saved my day more than once.

Bob A (Springfield)

[jdmidwest]

My first lessons on fly fishing in Missouri came from books that were available to me at the time. My instructors were Ed Story, Helen Shaw, Chuck Tryon, Lee Wulff, Dave Whitlock, Dick Stewart, and Paul Jorgensen to name a few. I started fly fishing and tying without a mentor, just books. I used all of the techniques to catch fish, dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, and streamers. The only scuds I tied at the time was an orange shrimp pattern that still resides in my fly box today. The best books at the time was Chuck Tryon's "Fly Fishing for Trout in Missouri" and a softback publication by Ed Story of Feather-Craft called "Missouri Trout Flys, How to Tye and Fish Them". Ed's book contains hand drawings of the patterns and how to tye them. It has the original crackleback pattern in it. Chucks book has a wonderful hatch chart and a section on the streamside entymology of the insects of our streams. Modern fly fishers have so much more to offer now, Guides, internet, flyshops, Dvd's, TV programs, and alot more fellow fly fishers then when I started.

Some trout streams are a little different, Eleven Point and Spring River. I have seen great hatches but no rises. If you look at the stomach contents of 11 pt. trout you will probably see minnows or crayfish. If you look at Spring River trout you will find snails and moss. But, this still goes back to one of the fundamentals of fly fishing, observe and match the hatch(food source). Taney is different as it is really a lake not a stream below the tailwater except in low water times, so its hatches are probably dispersed over a wider area. And midges have to have an adult part of the life cycle, so who uses Griffiths Gnats anymore?

How many people walk up to a stream, reach down, and pick up a few rocks before they fish?

[Flysmallie]

so who uses Griffiths Gnats anymore?

How many people walk up to a stream, reach down, and pick up a few rocks before they fish?

I love the griffiths gnat. It is one of my favorite flies for trout and bluegill. And I always pick up rocks to see what's living on the bottom side. I don't usually do it before I start fishing but I will look at them throughout the day. I picked up a few the other day on Crane creek and they all had these little bright green worms with a black head on them. I have no idea what they were and I didn't have a fly that looked like them. But I will next time .

[jdmidwest]

Those would be caddis larva and I have a post in fly tying for a latex caddis nymph called the Trojanator. A pretty good imitation for a good source of trout food. That shows that stream has a healthy caddis population like alot of OZark Streams. An assortment of caddis flies should be in the box next time.