The Essential Fly - Fly Fishing Flies Shop

Hackled Wet Flies

Bead Head (BH) Bibio£0.53   £0.39 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Bead Head (BH) Black Zulu£0.53   £0.39 Available in Fly Size(s) 8, 10, 12.			Bibio£0.32   £0.32 Available in Fly Size(s) 12.
Erics Beetle£0.40   £0.32 Available in Fly Size(s) 10.			Black & Peacock Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Black Pennell£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.
Black Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Black Zulu£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14, 16.			Blue Zulu£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.
Bruiser - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Bumble Claret£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Bumble Golden Olive£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.
Clan Chief - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Claret - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Claret Pennell£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.
Coch-Y-Bondhu£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Dark Mackerel£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 8, 10, 12.			Digbys Demon£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.
Golden Olive - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Greenwell's Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12, 14, 16.			Grenadier£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.
Grenadier Special£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12.			Grey Ghost - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Grouse & Green£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.
Invicta - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Kate McLaren£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Ke-He-Black£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.
Olive - Irish Bumble£0.49   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.			Olive Palmer£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.			Partridge & Orange£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12, 14, 16.
Partridge & Yellow Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12, 14, 16.			Raymond Bumble£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12.			Red Tag£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12, 14.
Snipe & Purple Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14, 16.			Soldier Palmer£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 8, 10, 12, 14.			Tups Indispensable£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 10, 12, 14.
Wickhams Red Arsed£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12.			Wickhams Spider£0.40   £0.25 Available in Fly Size(s) 12, 14.

WET FLIES

A wet fly is designed to be fished below the water's surface. Wet flies vary from traditional wet flies used for over a hundred years to modern using flashabou type and other bright modern materials. The success of the wet fly often depends far more on its action than it resembling a specific insect and matching a hatch / nymph. When fish are on the feed the actual pattern is generally not important, but when the fish are preoccupied or need tempting the angler must use ingenuity to discover what the fish are feeding on and what color they are taking. When fishing wet flies, it is important to remember that the higher the wave on the water the higher the fly hook size can be, but still take into account the brightness and clarity of the water.

Trout do see subsurface insects with wings. Some flies begin to hatch below the water surface. Some up-winged flies swim or crawl beneath the surface as adult spinners in order to lay egg. Often duns & spinners are swamped by the current and forced under the water surface. Emerging duns that have been unable to get rid of their nymphal case or at the time of emerging are drowned when they float under rough water that is flowing over a large rock or ledge are also hunted by the fish. The trout on purpose lurk in slack water near eddies and small plunge pools to look out for these type of snacks. Clearly a trout does see winged insects under the surface at certain times of the year so be prepared with a selection of different colored wet flies for when the fish are not taking from the surface.

Fishing the Soft-Hackle Wet Fly

Probably the most common way to fish a soft-hackle wet fly is to cast it across and slightly downstream, letting it sink and then swing in the current, rising with the tightening line much as a natural rises to the surface before hatching. It's on this rise that fish usually strike. Another productive method is to cast the fly upstream on a short cast and then let it dead-drift back to you just under the surface (or, if tied on a light-wire hook, in the surface film). On lakes and ponds a soft hackle fly cast in front of a cruising trout and then twitched slightly can be absolutely deadly. Many soft-hackle fly anglers, especially in Europe, favor fishing two or three of these flies (of different colors and sizes) at a time.