You Favorite Wet Fly Patterns

[shakey]

Partridge and green,yellow, orange .
Starling and purple . Stewart's spider .
Peacock and starling,brown , grizzly,black.

Greenwells glory ,GRHE,pass lake ,wooly worm,lead wing coachman, royal coachman,cow dung .

Montreal ,hornberg (as a wet),Hendrickson ,cahil

So good!

 

[shakey]

Tups indispensable is good too

 

[tracker12]

The Peacock and Starling mention by Kobalt is a great fly. I was given a few on the Gunpowder a few years ago. When nothing else works that's one of my go to flies. I have even caught Steelhead with it when the creeks are low any clear.

 

[shakey]

also,if you fish nymphs,and want to get into fly fishing, be aware that there are some nymphs that you can fish like a wet fly .

a perfect example of this is a prince nymph. you can use it as a fly just fine.

this works with many nymphs that have a good amount of hackle.zugbugs for example.

if you have griffith's gnats,you can fish them like a wooly worm.

a neat little thing to do with flies,wet or dry,is to tye them with a sparse tail.if mayflies are hatching,leave the tail on,if caddis are hatching,rip the tail off.

another good thing to do is to vary the weight of the hook. you can tye wets on dry fly hooks and dress them with floatant ,then,fish them in the film as a damp fly.
or,tye them on heavy hooks ,like a 3906 or 3399,and they will sink further.

cobbler's wax is handy to have. you can use it on purple or brown thread to insinuate black,or on yellow thread to insinuate olive(like a greenwell's glory) or to vary any fly.

a common problem i see is using flies that are too small for the situation. a partridge and yellow in a 12 usually out fishes a 14 etc.

a lot of wet flies work well in an eight !

wet flies are a way of life.

 

[troutbert]

shakey wrote:

also,if you fish nymphs,and want to get into fly fishing, be aware that there are some nymphs that you can fish like a wet fly .

When you say "fish like a wet fly", what technique are you referring to?

How do you fish wet flies? And how does that differ from the way you fish nymphs?

There are many ways to fish both. But often the way I fish wets and nymphs are very similar. In fact I often fish both at the same time. A nymph on the end, a wet fly on a dropper. (And no float.)

 

[NewSal]

shakey wrote:
also,if you fish nymphs,and want to get into fly fishing, be aware that there are some nymphs that you can fish like a wet fly .

a perfect example of this is a prince nymph. you can use it as a fly just fine.

this works with many nymphs that have a good amount of hackle.zugbugs for example.

if you have griffith's gnats,you can fish them like a wooly worm.

a neat little thing to do with flies,wet or dry,is to tye them with a sparse tail.if mayflies are hatching,leave the tail on,if caddis are hatching,rip the tail off.

another good thing to do is to vary the weight of the hook. you can tye wets on dry fly hooks and dress them with floatant ,then,fish them in the film as a damp fly.
or,tye them on heavy hooks ,like a 3906 or 3399,and they will sink further.

cobbler's wax is handy to have. you can use it on purple or brown thread to insinuate black,or on yellow thread to insinuate olive(like a greenwell's glory) or to vary any fly.

a common problem i see is using flies that are too small for the situation. a partridge and yellow in a 12 usually out fishes a 14 etc.

a lot of wet flies work well in an eight !

wet flies are a way of life.

I've been tying a variety of soft hackles in colors ranging from straight yellow, to a flashy orange to experiment during the sulpher hatch this year, and using advice that you relay here about fishing wets in larger sizes I have them all tied in the regular 16s and 14s but also have them in 12, and 10's, very excited to try them this year

 

[nomad_archer]

Interesting. I tied a BH soft hackle using a PH bleached ginger/yellow is that may work during sulpher time. The year is my first year fishing the spring hatches so I dont know what to expect.

As for hook size I have been tying on the usual 14,16, 18 standard or 2xl nymph/wet hooks. Seems like I need to order some bigger sized hooks tomorrow.

 

[nomad_archer]

Anyone have a good source for cobblers wax or is there a suitable substitute?

 

[GenCon]

nomad_archer wrote:
Anyone have a good source for cobblers wax or is there a suitable substitute?

Nomad, sorry I missed your question above about splitting grouse tails. First trim the fibers off each side. Leave about 1/16" Then soak quills several hours. When ready to split I place them on a board with the back up the quill up. Then carefully split with an exacto knife or single edge razor blade. Takes a bit of practice and a lot of patience.

GenCon

 

[redietz]

nomad_archer wrote:
Anyone have a good source for cobblers wax or is there a suitable substitute?

Several options:

1) Order from Great Feathers: Great Feathers Wax

2) Order Veniard's Tying Wax

3) Make your own. It's a combination of bee's wax, pine resin (aka rosin) and oil of some sort. Exact proportions are a personal choice, but I'm sure if you google it you'll find a number of suggestions as a place to start.

 

[JeffK]

Bag pipe suppliers have cobbler's wax.

 

[ryguyfi]

I only really fish wets during the grannom hatch. For that I tie a simple peacock and partridge wet. Put some wire on the body to keep the peacock durable. I'll weight it a bit with some lead tape or wire. Fish 2-3 of them or one trailed behind the dry. LOVE that hatch. It'll be here before we know it.

 

[ryguyfi]

shakey wrote:
Tups indispensable is good too

Do you use the original material or do you die it yourself? :lol: :lol:

 

[nomad_archer]

JeffK wrote:
Bag pipe suppliers have cobbler's wax.

Certainly not some where I would have looked

 

[nomad_archer]

redietz wrote:

nomad_archer wrote:
Anyone have a good source for cobblers wax or is there a suitable substitute?

Several options:

1) Order from Great Feathers: Great Feathers Wax

2) Order Veniard's Tying Wax

3) Make your own. It's a combination of bee's wax, pine resin (aka rosin) and oil of some sort. Exact proportions are a personal choice, but I'm sure if you google it you'll find a number of suggestions as a place to start.

Ok probably going to buy it. So Great feathers has it hard, medium, and soft. Any preference?

 

[redietz]

nomad_archer wrote:

Ok probably going to buy it. So Great feathers has it hard, medium, and soft. Any preference?

Supposedly, the soft is "winter" wax (i.e easier to work when it's cold), and the hard is "summer" (doesn't goop when it's hot) -- the difference is the amount of oil added.

Personally, I tie in my heated/air conditioned house which is more or less the same temperature the year round, so I go with the medium.

 

[nomad_archer]

Thanks redietz. I hoped it was that simple.

 

[Tups]

Run your block of wax under the hot water tap to soften it before using.

 

[shakey]

ryguyfi wrote:

shakey wrote:
Tups indispensable is good too

Do you use the original material or do you die it yourself? :lol: :lol:

I have several different mixes. Some are secret,some contain fur which is.... hard to obtain ????

 

[shakey]

Cobblers wax is different than tying wax . You can get it from Dette trout flies.
Joe fox is one of the greatest.

A brown/black grease pencil or crayon could sub.