Dry or Wet Fly?

Is the Serendipity a dry fly, a wet fly or what? Being small and the deer hair, I assume it is wet fly suspended just below the surface film. Is this correct? What colors do you recommend?

BobW

Hi Bob,

I think it is an emerger and you can decide whether that mean wet or dry. I fish it in the surface film and also under and indicator with weight.

I like red, black, orange, and chartreuse. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:7f1fb]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:7f1fb]

Bob,

Guess I'll stick with the definitions I grew up with:

If it is supposed to float ON the surface, it is a dry fly. Anything else is a wet.

Yes, a dry can be fished wet and some wets can be fished dry. But the intended purpose in how they were tied is more important in that definition than how they are fished.

Allan

Doug Persico, owner of the Rock Creek Mercantile in Montana, swears by a #8 Orange Serendipity. After fishing this pattern during the October Caddis Hatch, I must agree with him. Simple and effective! Scott

[This message has been edited by salovin (edited 13 February 2005).]

I'm going to argue for at least three catagories of flys, based on thier construction.

1. Dry flys that float high on the water, such as a catskills pattern or a elk hair caddis.

2. Standard sub-surface flies, streamers, nymphs, bead heads and the like.

3. Flies designed to sit in the film, like a serendipity emerger pattern or a no-hackle dun.

Certainly you might cross catagories and use a dry fly for fishing wet, or put a spot of floatant on a hare's ear to keep it in the film.

I think the design of the fly is effected by it's taget catagory. For example a nymph to be fished deep will be tied on a heavy wire hook, might have a lead underbody or a bead head. A dry high floating bug would use water repelent muskrat dubbing and a light wire hook and your best dry fly hackles. A surface film style fly often combines the materials used on a traditional nymph, but light wire hooks and possibly even a dubbing ball or light hackle to give a little floatation.

When I started the Fly Of The Week CD, I had the same dilemma, how to categorize the flies for the index. Here is my sorting

Dry Flies: designed to float on the water surface, usually representing an aquatic insect.

Wet Fly: designed to be worked beneath the water surface, usually representing a drowned Dry Fly.

Emergers: designed to work in the water surface, usually representing an aquatic insect moving to the surface.

Streamers: designed to work beneath the water surface, usually representing a minnow, crayfish, or leech.

Midge: Any fly that is size 18 or smaller.

Salmon/Steelhead: Streamer patterns who's original purpose was to be fished for Salmon or Steelhead (personnally I use them for Bass).

Saltwater: Fly that who's original purpose was to be fished for Saltwater Fish.

Terrestrial: Fly that represents some insect or mammal that is normally found on dry land but can be found washed into a body of water.

Nymph (Larva, Pupa): Fly representing a aquatic insect in its early stages of development, normally fished near the bottom.

~Parnelli

PS: It is not a perfect system, but is works for me.

[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 11 February 2005).]

Thanks for helping me on the fly category of the Serendipity. I will tye some up and give them a try this spring.

BobW