Breakaway Adventures: The Art of the Dry Fly
Breakaway Adventures: The Art of the Dry Fly
April First is the Start of Trout Fishing Season… Are You Ready?
With the April 1st opening day of the Trout Fishing Season just days away, its time to step up your fly-fishing game and catch a trout on the rise! The ultimate fly fishing method that every fly fisher wants to achieve is catching hungry trout on a dry fly!
Dry fly fishing is a technique where the fly fisherman tries to imitate an insect that is floating along on the surface of a stream, creek or river. As the insect travels downstream, it suddenly vanishes in a swirl of water. The insect just satisfied the appetite of a hungry trout. The swirl is caused by a trout rising up to the water’s surface and snatching up the unsuspecting insect as it is about to take flight as an adult insect called a Dun or dying insect that just finished laying its eggs called a Spinner.
The eggs represent the start of the life cycle of the insect - the number one food source of all trout. The eggs eventually become larva and then pupa; both stages are also referred to as nymphs. Thousands of nymphs continually inhabit the bottom of all bodies of water amongst the stone, rubble and vegetation. When the time is right, the nymphs will float to the surface where they emerge into adult insects called Duns. This is also called hatching and the eager fly fisherman is focused on matching this hatch with his artificial flies.
One of the first persons to begin studying insect life and connecting it to the pursuit of fly fishing was Sara Jane McBride of Mumford, NY. McBride, an entomologist and avid fly fisher, penned an article for the Rochester Evening Express back in 1876 (almost 150 years ago!) titled, “Beside the Singing Stream: A story of the Insect Fauna of Caledonia Creek”. She also opened up the first fly shop on one of the busiest stages in the world at 889 Broadway Avenue in New York City. Ms. McBride was a very accomplished fly tier as well!
Sara had travelled to England at the same time that the Houghton Fly Fishing Club first introduced the concept of Scientific Angling to the world - the scientific study of insect life for the purposes of catching trout on the Dry Fly. The HFFC was formed by Dr. T. C. Wickham in 1875 in Houghton, England on the banks of the River Test that they leased for exclusive use of its members. One of those members was Frederic M. Halford who published the first book on dry fly fishing in 1886 titled, “Floating Flies and How to Fish Them”, followed by a second book in 1889 titled, “Dry Fly Fishing - Theory and Practice”.
The HFFC was also responsible for inventing the forged steel eyed hook that replaced the looped gut leader snelled hook. They also were responsible for the floating fly line, use of long leaders and the development of the fly tying vise.
The new Houghton Fly Fishing Club came about in 2021 after the original HFFC disbanded in 1892 when their lease on the River Test expired. Headquartered in the River Dog Fly Shop in Houghton, NY the modern day HFFC is carrying on a tradition of advocating the philosophies and principles of scientific angling to a new generation of fly fishers!
The secret to becoming a great dry fly fisherman is to present your fly with a perfect drag free drift so that your fly rides the current at the exact speed and motion that an untethered natural insect would. The challenge is keeping your fly line and leader from either dragging or sweeping your fly across the current.
A method that many novice fly fishermen embrace is called a two fly technique where they attempt to use a dry fly as a sort of indicator to let them know when a fish has taken their second fly, a nymph, fished on the bottom. What most fishermen don’t realize when using this method, your surface fly is not freely drifting in the current without drag. The drag is caused by the deeply fished nymph where the current is moving slower than the surface water. Fishing the dropper indicator rig can be very successful in fooling hatchery of freshly stocked uneducated trout but not the wary wise ones.
To elevate your dry fly fishing, you have to fish a single fly as naturally as possible and this means always having a visual on your fly - even if it’s a size 26 - and making sure its drifting perfectly. Practice makes perfect but a good guide or instructor will shorten the learning curve dramatically.
Although choosing the right fly will add to your success, matching the hatch is not nearly as important as the drag free drift. A long leader, fine tippet and casting techniques of down and across verses straight up stream are some of the secrets most fly fishermen haven’t been exposed to. The reach cast and parachute cast help you land your fly line on the water without immediately causing your fly to drag. Good luck and on April 1st and don’t just fish the water…fish the rise and fool that wily old brown trout!
Notes worthy of mention:
Did you know the first Montana fly fisherman was Capt. Frederick Benteen of the 7th Cavalry under the command of George Armstrong Custer in 1877. Rumor has it that Benteen lead the charge with his fly rod!
On June 1st, the quaint Village of Caledonia and the Big Springs Museum will host the Second Annual Caledonia Trout Festival, celebrating its history as the birthplace of modern American trout fishing. In 1864, Seth Green, the godfather of fisheries science, started the oldest fish hatchery in the Western Hemisphere along Spring Creek in Caledonia. Seth Green’s research and work at the hatchery led to the spread in diversity and quality of trout fishing across the world. Spring Creek and the Caledonia fish hatchery remain a mecca for trout anglers.
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Indrek Kongats is an artist, traveler, outdoorsman, and business owner residing in Ellicottville. He operates River Dog Art Gallery in Houghton, NY, and his Breakaway Classic Adventures specializes in adventure travel destinations. Learn more about him at breakawayclassicadventures.com.