Technique
Dry fly fishing: the basics that actually matter
Watching a fish come up and take is the reason most people take up fly fishing. It also punishes sloppiness more than any other method.
The drift is the whole thing
A dry fly is a piece of feather and fur that has to convince a fish it is a dying insect. It cannot do that if it is being towed. A natural insect on the surface moves at exactly the speed of the water it is sitting on and nothing else, so the moment your fly cuts a wake, it stops being food.
Cast up and across rather than straight up, mend upstream as soon as the line lands, and feed slack into the drift. Take the fly off the water and recast as soon as it starts to drag rather than letting it swing round — a dragging fly downstream of a fish tells it something is wrong.
Keep it floating
A dry fly sinks for two reasons: it got wet, and it got slimy. Treat a new fly with floatant before the first cast, not after it has drowned — hackle that has been dressed once floats better all day than hackle dressed five times.
After a fish, rinse the fly and dry it properly before re-dressing. Fish slime is what actually kills flotation, and floatant applied over slime just seals it in.
Change size before you change pattern
When a fish refuses, most people tie on a different fly. Usually the fly was fine and the size was wrong. Dropping two hook sizes — a #14 to a #18 — solves more refusals than any change of dressing, because size and silhouette are what a trout judges first and colour is what it judges last.
If size does not work, change the silhouette: swap a hackled dry for a parachute, which sits the body down in the film like a real dun rather than up on tiptoe.
Do not strike like a bass angler
A trout takes a dry fly and turns down with it. If you strike the instant you see the rise, you pull the fly out of an open mouth. The old advice is to say 'God save the Queen' before lifting; the point is simply to wait until the fish has closed and turned.
Lift, do not snatch. A smooth raise of the rod sets a small hook perfectly well and does not break 6X tippet.
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