Category Archives: Wet Flies

My Favorite North Country Spiders: the Winter Brown

Best is relative, but if I were compiling a list of the best North Country spiders, the Winter Brown would be near the top. While legacy fishers of this fly may have intended it to represent a stone fly, the Winter Brown is for my purposes a caddis imitation (and the trout have agreed on occasions too numerous to mention). Much to like here, including a not-so-common hackle feather and the delectable secret sauce that is peacock herl.

The Winter Brown

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Hook: Wet or dry fly, 12-16
Silk: Orange
Head: Peacock herl
Hackle: Woodcock under covert

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Tying notes: The head is tied in first (I tied this fly “wrong” for years). Two or three close wraps are all you need. Next, attach the hackle, then wind it rearward, secure, and clip. Stroke the hackle fibers toward the head (this makes it easier for you to construct the body), then wind the body with two layers of silk. Tie off just behind the hackle, and stroke the fibers back to their natural position. You can find a general North Country spider video tutorial here.

Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies

A wee film from my new Wet Flies 2.0 presentation, guaranteed to get the tying and swinging juices flowing. Many thanks to Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions for the spiffy October Caddis image!

“Wet Flies 2.0” in the works

“Wet Flies 2.0” is the followup to the highly popular “Wet Flies 101” presentation. 2.0 will take a deeper dive into wet fly tactics and techniques — a more advanced course in how-to, where-to, when-to. I began working on it yesterday, and I’m at it again today. “Wet Flies 2.0” will make its debut at the 2019 Fly Fishing Show. I’m excited. I hope you are, too.

The Magic Fly, AKA Pale Watery Wingless wet variant. You betcha I’ll be talking about this one in Wet Flies 2.0.

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Pat Torrey’s Tiny BWO Soft Hackle

I recently received an email about this fly, couldn’t find the recipe on this site, and thought I should remedy that. I featured Pat Torrey’s Tiny Blue Winged Olive soft-hackle in an old American Angler article called “Match Game: Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies.” You can read it here.  This is a wet fly I like to fish as a dry, dusted with Frog’s Fanny, although it works subsurface as well. I first saw Pat’s fly on the UpCountry website many years ago, and it’s been a staple in my fly box ever since. (Hint: by changing the tail, body, and hackle color, the intrepid tyer can create a fine midge, Trico, or Needhami imitation.)

Tiny BWOSH

Hook: 1x fine curved emerger, size 20-26
Thread/Body: 8/0 dark brown
Tail: Brown or tan Antron
Rib: Fine copper wire
Hackle: Webby blue-grey dun hen

Fuzzy Nymphs

They’re not quite wet flies. They’re certainly not Euro nymphs. What they are is magnificently buggy and ugly and horrible and they catch fish. This wee trove of beasties will be appearing in “Wet Flies 101.”

Horrible little monsters: bottom left, Fox Squirrel; bottom middle, Hare’s Ear; bottom right, Ginger Caddis Larva.  

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A Winged Wet Fly Video Sampler

This selection of winged wets will be part of my “Wet Flies 101” presentation. It includes barred feather, quill, and jungle cock wings; English and American patterns; match-the-hatch and attractors like the Bergman-style flies from the color plates of Trout.

 

Greenwell’s Glory Winged Wet

An olde English pattern. If you peruse the ancient and modern literature, you can find any number of variants. I don’t fish quill winged flies much, but this is a spiffy little pattern — and it carries with it the cachet of tradition.

Greenwell’s Glory Winged Wet

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Hook: Wet fly size 12-16 (this is a TMC 3769 size 12)
Body: Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk, primrose yellow, darkened with cobbler’s wax
Rib: Fine gold wire
Hackle: Furnace hen
Wing: Starling primary

Wingless Wet Fly Video Sampler

A short tour through the art form that features classic wingless wet fly patterns developed by James Leisenring and others. This clip will be part of my revamped “Wet Flies 101” presentation.

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The sulphur hatch seems a long way off on this frigid January day. Still, an angler can dream…

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A Spider and Soft Hackle Sampler

This video includes traditional North Country spiders and a couple soft hackles of my own design. It’s going to be part of my upgraded presentation, “Wet Flies 101.”

Variations on a Dark Hendrickson theme

Some subsurface bugs for next month. The four with the wood duck wing are classic Dark Hendrickson wets. Clockwise, we have pairs of tungsten beadheads on a scud hook with the traditional tail, hackle, and body; black bead with Delaware River Club Spectrumized Hendrickson dubbing and a brown partridge hackle; and black bead with the traditional muskrat body and brown partridge hackle. I’ll fish the winged wets as the middle dropper and the beadheads on point. I can almost feel the frantic tugging right now.

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