Dry fly fishing is done using a floating line, with your fly floating on top of the water. This is the most exciting form of fly fishing, as the angler can see when the fish takes the fly. Dry fly fishing is the generally preferred method of fly fishing for beginner anglers, because it is easier to detect a strike, and because of the instant gratification of seeing the fish strike their fly. The fly itself needs to remain dry, as a wet fly does not float very well on the surface of the water. Dry fly fishing is a very popular form of fishing when fishing for trout.
While trout generally consume 90% of their diet from below the water, the 10% they consume from above the water’s surface is more than enough to keep most anglers busy. The dry fly itself may be and attractor or a natural imitator. An attractor is a fly that does not look like any specific insect, or anything else in nature, but attracts a fish because the fish thinks its food, or may attack the fly out of a aggressive or territorial response. An natural fly (also called an imitator) imitates something that you will see in nature, such as an ant or a mayfly.
A beginner may wish to start dry fly fishing with a dry fly that is easy to see such as a mayfly imitation such as a Parachute Adams – being able to see the fly is very helpful for the beginner. To keep your fly dry, you can use a floatant or waterproofing pretreatment.
When casting the line, the fly should land softly on the water, as if dropped, and the leader should be fully extended from the fly line. The fly is normally cast upstream of where you intend catching a fish, or where you have seen a fish you intend catching, and then the fly drifts downstream towards the fish.
As rivers have faster and slower currents, the fly line may overtake the fly, or the dry fly may overtake the line, thus disturbing the natural drift of the fly, and this could possibly spook the fish. The process of lifting and moving the part of the line to re-align it with the fly’s drift is called mending. The mend can be upstream or downstream of the fly depending on the currents carrying the line and the fly. Any mending of the fly line should not disturb the natural drift of the fly. For the beginner, learning to mend is easier if the fly is clearly visible.
Once you have caught a fish with a fly, the fly will be wet and may not float that well. You can dry out a fly by false casting, which is the process of casting the fly back and forth in the air. You can also apply some floatant to the fly to improve its floating qualities.
When fry fly fishing on small, clear-water streams its best if the angler moves stealthily upstream, as fish tend to face upstream and most of their food supply is carried down to them on the current. As the fish’s attention is focused upstream, most anglers move and fish upstream into the current, starting from a position downstream of the fish’s suspected lie.
Fish sit and wait for their food to float down to them in the slower current areas (which are normally created by boulders or nearby pools in the river) of a river, and are thereby able to expend less energy swimming against the current. The angler should try to cast the fly on the edge of the slower water and drift the fly back downstream towards the fish. If this is done properly, the fly will seem to drift downstream in a natural manner, and will not seem connected to the fly line. When the fish takes the fly, the angler must raise the rod to set the hook – this is known as the strike.
Dry fly fishing in lakes or dams is slightly different to dry fly fishing in streams or rivers. Fish tend to cruise or congregate in the transitional areas of a lake or dam (such as an inflowing stream, any dropoff areas, or the edge of weed beds). Watching the fish’s swimming patterns, and by casting well ahead of any fish that you see, will often bring results. Also, using a boat will allow you to cover a lot more water than you would wading into the lake or dam.
