It’s a fine day for wet fly fishing.  The trout are in the riffles, bugs are soon to be hatching.  What could be better?  Well getting your equipment ready for wet fly fishing will make it better.  Here I will present information on equipment preparation and selection including rigging.

Rods, which should I use?  Well, the great thing about wet fly fishing is most rods will work just fine.  Given that you have selected a rod for the size of the water, any medium-action all-around rod will do just fine.   However, if you are looking for an edge select a rod with a softer tip.

Most strikes while wet fly fishing are aggressive and the takes are hard.  Sometimes too hard to keep the tippet from breaking.  The trout are downstream in the current and have a big advantage over the angler.   Coupled with some wet flies being small and you need a thin supple tippet for good action, hooking and landing a trout can be a challenge.  The softer tip will give under the stress of the pull, preventing the tippet from breaking.   T&T makes a rod called the Paradigm.  It is a medium-action rod with a forgiving tip section, a good choice when wet fly fishing.   

Most anglers would pair a rod like that with a floating line.  This is great since most wet fly fishing is in riffles.  Floating lines work great in riffles.  If you are fishing deeper water, a sinking tip may help.  Again, a nice all-around setup, however, the leader should be slightly different.

The leader works better with a long tippet section.   You want the flies to sink with as little weight as possible.  Long thin tippets help the flies sink.  On a medium size stream, I will use a 7.5’ 4x leader.  I cut 10” off the tippet section and tie on a 2mm tippet ring.  If you can find black rings, I prefer them to silver.  Next tie on 24” of 5x tippet.  The leader should be over 8’ long once you tie on the first fly.  Now I tie an 18” section of 5.5 tippet to the second wet.  The overall length of the leader is now over 9.5’ long but you have an extended section of the tippet.  That thin section will cut through the water better and allow the unweighted flies to sink.

Flies

Wet flies come in a huge variety of traditional patterns.  However, I only carry a few different patterns since I am attempting to imitate the action rather than the individual insect.  I break the flies into three categories, mayflies, caddis, and big flies. 

Mayfly wets are some of the older patterns and there are a lot of them.  However, I categorize them into large and small with a couple of more specific patterns.  For larger mayflies, I use the hare’s ear wet in size 12 or 14.  This covers large mayfly hatches including the March Brown hatch well.  This simple pattern uses partridge fibers for the tail, hare’s ear dubbing for the body, and a collar made of a partridge feather.  You can add wings to improve the pattern at times.  Just keep the wings short, about ½ the hook shank. 

For smaller mayflies, I use the pheasant tail wet.  This pattern uses a pheasant fiber abdomen and peacock thorax with a collar made of partridge.  I fish this in sizes 16 and 18.  This covers many mayflies and may work for caddis as well. 

These general patterns will well most of the time but around here I will tie a couple of additional patterns.  In May, the Sulfurs hatch in local waters, and a yellow wet fly can trigger strike when they are hatching.   I generally tie these in a size 16 with a pale yellow body and partridge collar.  Also, the famous BWO warrants a specific pattern.  I tie this pattern with a size 20 hook with a green body and dun collar.  Dirty water makes it harder for the trout to find the fly.  Bigger flies help.  That’s when I pull out the Big Wets.

Big Wet Flies work when the water is off-color or dirty.  There are easy for trout to find.  The large size coupled with the moving action allows the trout to hone in on the fly.   My favorite pattern is the Sheep Fly.   The gray body contrasts with the white and black barred wing nicely.  This pattern also works at dusk or at night.  Big trout go on the prowl after dark and this pattern is easy for them to find.  I also tie a brown mop fly with a collar and an orange bead.  During the fall this pattern works if the October Caddis are hatching. 

Rigging

Rigging the flies is almost always a two-fly rig.  I have tied a three-fly rig, but make sure your casting is spot on.  The flies can be the same or mix them up.  Sometimes I tie on a Hare’s ear trailed with a pheasant tail wet.  Sometimes it’s two hare’s ears or two pheasant tails.  It depends on what is hatching and the clarity of the water. 

I keep it simple when creating a wet fly rig.  I tie the first fly on with a clinch knot.  To make it easy to handle, I will take the second fly and thread tippet through the hook eye before cutting off the tippet.  This way there is one less thing to handle.  I will tie the fly on with a clinch knot.  Now I will pull 18” to 24” of tippet out and cut it.  I will take the tippet and tie it onto the bend of the hook of the first fly using a clinch knot.  If I want a third fly, I will repeat the process.  I try to keep the flies far enough apart that they won’t tangle up a fish, but close enough together to look like a group of hatching insects.  Be sure to crimp down any barbs on the hooks before fishing.

Most people find the equipment pretty straightforward.  Rods for wet fly fishing use a typical medium action rod and floating line so you won’t need to change much.  The only things you will need are some wet flies and shorter leaders.  Wet flies are shaggy and imitate an emerging insect.  Tie them in groups of two, you won’t usually need weight in the shallower water.   The next article will present tactics for putting the equipment to use in wet fly fishing.

Patrick Weaver
patrick@headwatersoutfitters.com