Swinging Dry Flies?

[randyflycaster]

Just curious: Does anyone swing dry flies? I never read of anglers doing it, but I don't see why not.

Opinions please,

Rany

[smij]

Used to swing elk hair caddis patterns way back in the day...

[sagefisher]

Randy,

As a rule of thumb I do not do so most of the time, but I will test the waters every time I go out on the river and if the fish strike on a swung fly, that is what I will do. Most of the time it is on a dead drift and certain flies also require a twitch now and then to imitate the real bug.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Preston Singletary]

The technique of "waking" a fly is quite commonly used for Atlantic salmon and steelhead and, under most conditions, is more effective than a conventionally dead-drifted dry fly. Sometimes waked flies can be very effective for trout but a fly skating across the surface can frequently alarm the fish and put them down. I often use a waking technique for trout when fishing imitations of large, active insects like Skwala stoneflies in the spring or Giant October Caddis in the late summer and fall; allowing them to dead drift but stopping the drift occasionally to force them to wake for a short distance, imitating the commotion generated by an egg-laying female or, in the case of the October Caddis, an adult returning to the water to drink.

[KeatonsDad2]

I do it sometimes when craneflies are out. Take a big leggy bug and skate it across the top of the water. It's a fun way to fish.

[Ray]

hope...never

[NJTroutbum]

Waking or Skating large EHC's can at times be great action.

[Royce]

Sort of.

A few years back I was fishing the Big Thompson below Estes Park, CO. As I was standing in the stream, one of the largest feeding-frenzies I've ever seen started happening around me. Rises everywhere. Some no more than 2 feet away from my legs. I didn't get a strike until I figured out to let my line drift down stream from me until it completely straughtened out. Then I would skate my fly upstream toward me a couple of feet and then let it drift down a few inches. Got a strike on about every short little drift.


I think the trout were actually following my fly as I skated it up stream and the would hit when it paused to begin the down stream drift.

[Allan]

What! Haven't any of you used or read about the 'Neversink Skater', a fly created by Edward Hewitt? I can attest to how it can be good under certain circumstances and will describe an actual event. Place - East Branch Delaware, right at Harvard. Late afternoon/early evening? I watched as a good trout chased a multi-colored moth across the current within 20 or so feet from me. The trout jumped 3 times trying to get the moth. Missed each time. I put on a Skater and caught that trout.

[BH Spey]

I regularly fish a BWO with a wet-fly swing technique fishing on the spring creeks in the Driftless Area and find it very effective. I will start off fishing it as a dry but as soon as it gets wet and starts to sink at all I'll go to the swing technique.

Good luck!