Is it still

[narcodog]

Is it still dry fly fishing if you allow your fly to drag in the water after it's float. Then after you allow it to dance around you catch some big browns?

[Allan]

narco,

Perhaps if you answer this question you'll have your answer:
If you are fishing a wet fly, bring it to the surface and, as you skitter it on and across the surface, you catch some big browns, are you fishing 'wet' or 'dry'?

[squire]

It's dry fly fishing if you say so, nobody's watching anyway.

[quashnet]

That's a good description of how John Atherton fished spiders, as described in The Fly and the Fish (1951). Hewitt would have fished his skaters the same way, even earlier.

[catskilljohn]

Who cares? Its the big brown that matters, right Mike? CJ

[BrownBear]

With caddis on our home waters, if it's not fluttering and waking it's not catching fish. I prefer to imitate the real thing and catch fish, rather than live up to someone else's definitions of reality.

[Bamboo&Brookies]

You may ruffle the feathers of some purists, but Len Wright -- among others -- would encourage it.

In 'Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect,' Wright describes twitching his downwing caddis pattern to imitate the naturals... with great success.

Of course, he also wrote 'Fly Fishing Heresies' so he wasn't afraid of goring sacred cows.

Here's the depressing thing about my casting -- it seems that I can offer a perfect presentation with a dead-drift fly right over a finicky trout about a dozen times... and then when the fly is skittering at the end of the drift while I daydream a fish will whack it and nearly yank the rod from my hand!



Rob

[ted patlen]

it's not the mazeradi...it's how you drive it.

if that isn't dry fly fishing then what is?