I've had pretty good luck with dries that include red hackle. After they sink, I strip them in, vary and experiment to see what rate works, and the fish have been cooperative. I used a bi-visible a couple of days ago that more or less matched a desultory hatch that might have been sulphur duns. (Let me know if I can be more vague.) I think that it was size 16. The rear part of the hackle was red, as was the tail. The front hackle approximated the color of the duns. The size was right. It was popular enough with the bream. I am growing increasingly fond of trude-style wings. They seem to perform better after my dries become wets. I have been stream fising and after my flies sink, I have been swinging through fast water with good results. I have been attracking the attention of everything from smallies thru fallfish.
If the fish keep pecking at my leader knots, every one of those knots is going to incorporate a small hook to deal with the miscreants...