“Matching The Hatch With Wet Flies.” That’s the title of my Featured Tier demo this Sunday at 11:45am at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ. As I prepare for the demo, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.

When you’re fishing wet flies, matching the hatch doesn’t matter — until it does. And then, you’d best be prepared. What I mean is, there will be times when fish will eat a wet fly simply because it looks alive and like something good to eat. The bug that wet fly is supposed to represent may not be hatching at that moment. It may be entirely out of season. It may be the wrong color or size. But nonetheless, it gets stomped.

However, the more you fish with a team of three wet flies, the more you will encounter situations where the trout will only have what’s hatching, presented in the water column exactly where they are feeding on the naturals. They may pick out one fly on the three fly team to the ruthless exclusion of the other flies. That’s when matching the hatch pays dividends. You’ll be the person leaving the pool, trailed by other anglers who will want to know, “What fly were you using?”

So: know your hatch windows. Understand what food is most likely to be in the water. Understand how those bugs behave. Specific patterns aren’t as important as matching size, color, and profile. Give the trout a choice. They will always tell you when you get it right.

See you this weekend!