[Barry Robertson]

Was having a rake about for one of Jedi's Straggle bibio's (Blob ) and found this intresting article!
Worth a read!
http://www.fliesonline.co.uk/erol.html#1843X0
There seams to be a lot of differences when it comes to fishing dries 
If you had to give one tip to someone fishing dries what would be the most important thing be to take care of  .

Just a curious question   

[ugie fisher]

The main thing i find when fishing with dries is that every 3 or 4 casts you have to degrease your line. I have found that foulers earth works the best. hope this is of use.

[Jim Eddie]

Baz , I'll gie ye blob you young whippersnapper   

I think they cover most things in the article , Ugiefisger is correct degrease your leader , I normally use a tapered leader no longer than 9ft , I also use a dessicant fly drier / restorer like loon top ride, also like a 9ft 5# rod for the dries , keep a low profile , don't cast a shadow on to the water, cast to rising fish , give it no more than 10 seconds , then maybe a twitch , nothing doing, cast again.

Now this is the bit I can't make my mind up about two schools of thought, first is strike before the fish has a chance to spit the flie out  , second wait until the fish has turned down with the fly before striking.   

 

Jim   

[Barry Robertson]

Dont get me wrong but i think everyone has there own style of fishing dries!
Would even go as far as saying that there is no correct way / suppose its what works best for the person but i do agree that all the fundemantals are the same!
 

[Sandy Nelson]

A lot would depend WHERE you are fishing the dries.

Personally getting them to sit in the surface rather than on it, seems to be the biggest general rule

But as you say we will all have different takes on this one and rightly too.
I think we should all be different and learn from each other

Sandy

[Barry Robertson]

Thats the whole point of the forum is it not lol, steal lots of ideas to play with but to give out your own ideas to. 

Do you ever cut the under side of a fully hackled dry in order to make it sit better in the film?
I think hoppers and Daddys fish better this way!

[Sandy Nelson]

Do you ever cut the under side of a fully hackled dry in order to make it sit better in the film?
I think hoppers and Daddys fish better this way!

Regularly. Usually i clip the bottom third out of the fly from 120' to 240' this leaves a leg like pattern on the surface, to my mind anyway

Much of my dry fly work is done on the river though, and i have a preference for tying with spun cdc hackles. Although they do suffer floatation after a couple of fish get their slime on them, constant cleaning is the way forward, i dont mind it, lets me enjoy being there more, but some people don't have the patience, especially during a rise.
That said Traditional style hackled upwing dries, give me a lot of pleasure to tie and i love to fish them even if they are marginally less successful (for me )
I find Shortish 9-10ft leaders on a nice 4-5wt 8ft bamboo flyrod, with a small match the hatch dryfly is the ONLY way to appreciate trout fishing, a 3wt Carbon comes close, but not close enough
Oh i wish it were April

Sandy

[Peter McCallum]

Avoid drag! Simple.

[Iain Goolager]

Fishin the dry is ace!

My personal rule is to use a single fly (I like to concentrate on a single dry - even though it might mean less fish if they are higher in the water). I'll fish a tapered leader with a tippet of copolymer and will degrease the leader/ tippet whenever I feel it's not sinking correctly (if that means every cast then so be it). I like the tippet diameter to match the fly size.
I also use light tackle - 4wt outfit which I think prevents any breaks offs when you lift into a fish.............nothing pisses a fish off more than being fooled by a dry, the amount of harsh runs encountered when a fish realises that it wasn't a real beast is amazing so you've got to let them get it out of their system.

Stillwaters - in anything from a ripple to a chop I like to fish claret or black hoppers - in a chop they are amazing! although I have a new found love of the small klinks - especially usefull when the water is more calm. By the way I never retreive dries (just a personal thing).

On the river Klinks and F-Flies are good but we'll see how paraduns and comparaduns do this season.

Just enjoy the experience as it will not get better than this.

Iain

[Cameron deBoth]

Oh i wish it were April

SO DO i

but ive only got my 7wt, may need to invest in a Barrio light weight one day!

[Rob Brownfield]

Avoid drag! Simple.

But sometimes drag works to your advantage! Skating a big sedge across the top can result in some spectacular hits! I have also done this with small Muddlers in the evening for Brownies on the Dee of all places.

The only rules in fishing is that there are none..heeheehee

My most productive evening dry fly fishing was at Loriston years ago. There where thousands of Caenis comming off the water, covering everything. I tried Caenis imitations, from standard dries to spent wing "drowned" flies and had the odd missed chance but no fish. Very frustrating. So in desperation I stuck on a muddler headed soldier palmer and cast out and stripped it back along the top. Bang!! Fish after fish after fish

[Sandy Nelson]

My most productive evening dry fly fishing was at Loriston years ago. There where thousands of Caenis comming off the water, covering everything. I tried Caenis imitations, from standard dries to spent wing "drowned" flies and had the odd missed chance but no fish. Very frustrating. So in desperation I stuck on a muddler headed soldier palmer and cast out and stripped it back along the top. Bang!! Fish after fish after fish

Another good fly for this is a large sugar cube buzzer, hare's ear body with white foam at either end, fished in exactly the same way, it disturbs a hell of a lot of water

Sandy

[Barry Robertson]

Fishin the dry is ace!

.............nothing pisses a fish off more than being fooled by a dry, the amount of harsh runs encountered when a fish realises that it wasn't a real beast is amazing so you've got to let them get it out of their system.

Could not agree more, i always thought that the monsters avoided the surface and dries as they were to wise. Have had a couple of monsters now and what a fight, its almost as if they have to dive for cover once they are hooked!

[Iain Goolager]

Baz the biggest Brownie I've had on the dry was about 3 3/4" on a claret Bobs Bits in a flat calm on a summers day from the bank at Rescobie and I was told that they were put in as fingerlings (not one of the stocked fish) so it should have been at least semi-educated.

I wasn't particularly talking about big fish when saying that they run like stink when taken on the dry, even smaller ones do.

Iain

[Barry Robertson]

I can agree with that to, some of the wee browns at lintrathen hit like a train!
All this fishing talk , i reckon i better pop out for a cast this afternoon