Just curious: Does anyone swing dry flies? I never read of anglers doing it, but I don’t see why not.
Opinions please,
Rany
Used to swing elk hair caddis patterns way back in the day…
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—
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.
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.
hope…never
Waking or Skating large EHC’s can at times be great action.
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.
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.
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!
Of course! And not just simply “swinging”…but “jumping” an EHC against the current -which requires some practice- is absolutelly deadly when nothing works. I got strikes of big browns lying on the depth or behind bouldes, previously trying to fool them with another flies or on dead drift dries. A walked-and jumping caddis imitation with short strips against the current is in my experience, the most successful way to work a dry fly. Good luck!
Folks, thanks for your replies. I guess I should have said I was wondering about swinging mayflies.
Rand
Never swung mayfly dry’s myself, but:
I was on the river with a friend of mine who is new to fly fishing this summer and we got into a great evening PMD Hatch. I was catching a few, but noticed my newbie friend was bringing them in left and right. I was fishing the way I had been taught. Trying to obtain that perfect drag free drift. As I watched my friend I see he is casting up into a big eddy then lifting his rod and moving the fly all over the place on the water. Not sure why, but the fish loved it. His Parachute PMD was skittering all over the water, but the fish were just hammering it. So apparently there are cases where that works. Here is the weird thing. I could never bring myself to try it. I was too ingrained in my thinking that a dry fly, and especially a mayfly dry, must drift drag free. I just couldn’t do it. I kept thinking it mush just be a fluke he’s catching all those fish with that crazy method and kept right on plugging away with my perfect drag free drifts. So my newbie friend with his wild technique out fished me that day, and I went home humbled.
I have not swung dry flies but I have seen trout refuse dead drift March Brown mayflies and hammer twitched March brown dries
I have probably used the “technique” hundreds of times in my “hunnert +,-” years of fly fishing but I have never heard the term as a “technique”. As another earlier poster mentioned , I too tend to do this more often when using a dry and a dry dropper. Although I also have never used Tenkara , the “swing technique” would probably work best with the long rod and easier to manipulate line length. I’ll be in Wyoming beating the Snake and others to a froth in about three weeks so I will concentrate on swinging more. I will report…
Mark
PS: I obviously have given the term “technique” more gravitas than simply an occasional tactic to try as in " well, maybe if I …"
Rand,
Yes - while at the Michigan Fish-In this year I was fishing with Brad and Jack on a section of the Au Sable. Brad passed along that the fish he was catching were taking BWO emerger patterns as they swung and as they sat dragging at the end of the drift. I tried it with a size 18 BWO tied as a Klinkhamer style and caught dozens of fish. That particular day it was the “go to” method for catching fish. It work to some degree for the next couple of days in the same part of the river, even though the majority of fish had switched over to a more traditional dead drift take. A few fish would still swipe at and take this same pattern with obvious drag (I’m talking a visible wake here as the fly hung in the current). To say the least I was as surprised anyone could have been. I’d never intentionally tried to “drag” a may fly pattern with the expectation of catching fish. I can’t say it will be the first thing I try but when all else has failed I certainly intend to give it a run again based on this experience.
Here is a quote from an on line September fishing report from the Worley Bugger Fly Co. in Ellensburg (the fly shop and guide service I use all the time in eastern, WA).
The days of throwing hoppers tight to the bank are nearing their end, but where one food source diminishes, a new one opens up. The two hatches that will happen throughout the month of September are the Crane flies, and the Baetis mayflies. Both of these offer exciting dry fly opportunities into the fall. In October hatches of big, bright Halloween (October) Caddis will begin appearing along with Mahogany Dun Mayflies. At this time, skating a orange bodied caddis imitation provides some excellent dry fly fishing time while surrounded by unbelievable autumn colors.
As indicated in other answers, yes, there are times when we do ‘swing’ or ‘skate’ flies. Ain’t fishing great? 
Larry —sagefisher—