With so many shooting options in early fall, it’s no wonder many sportsmen overlook the waning days of fly fishing season. For a devout dry fly fishing enthusiast like myself, it’s late season heaven among a background kaleidoscope of changing leaves.
Of all the styles of fly fishing, proficiently and productively presenting a dry fly to trout and salmon is by far the most satisfying. It is also the most challenging because during low, warm water conditions, fish are selective and easily spooked.
Dry fly anglers must gently lay the line across the water surface with no splash. One of the keys to this is straightening the line out above the stream surface and allowing it to float down, rather than laying out across the water with the snap of a wet fly cast.
Always try to fish the edges of a holding pool first, then work the fly inward. This prevents the fish from being spooked by the line going over their backs.
A long, lightweight leader is a great asset in proper fly presentation. New fluorocarbon leader material is so much thinner than monofilament, it’s nearly invisible.
At least a 9-foot tapered leader with a 2- to 4-pound test tippet will work well on regional lakes and streams during warm autumn months.
Right: Despite multiple gunning options this month, fly fishing season is coming to an end and unusually warm weather has kept trout and salmon striking dry flies. Catch and release a few while you can. Credit: Courtesy of Bill Graves
No matter how well an angler casts, nor how well suited the line and leader are, it’s the fly selection that determines results. Size, color and body style all combine to entice feeding trout to ignore the real insects and slurp down a well-placed imitation.
I’m no entomologist and I’m not one to net surface bugs and try to match the hatch, yet I regularly take trout on the surface with 12 particular dry fly patterns. Over the years my dependable dozen have worked in Maine, Quebec, New Brunswick, Connecticut and Montana, and I have no doubt they will work on trout and salmon, day or night, moving water or still, in any state.
When I was not yet a teenager, and learning to fly cast at my Dad’s side, a mosquito pattern was very productive. Six decades later, the mosquito dry fly still takes the trout on a regular basis.
Other old standbys are the Slim Jims, brown, red, green and my favorite, gray. The unique thing about a gray slim Jim is that it will take brook trout if it’s fished dry or wet. Slim Jim patterns are seldom seen or heard of outside Maine; they’re particularly prominent in Aroostook County, where according to legend, this special fly was created.
Originated in 1915 in New York, the Hendrickson is an imitation of a Mayfly emerger. Hendricksons are great flies to attract large fish throughout the entire season. Unlike some dry flies, it works great even during sunny, mid-day hatches.
No fly box is complete without Cahills, light and dark versions. Dark Cahills are tied in a wet fly version as well as the dry, while the light Cahill is tied in more than 10 versions across the United States. Cahill hatches are prominent on most regional waterways and will produce action all summer and into Fall.
It’s a great fly for neophyte dry-flyers since it is so highly visible on the water and easy to follow on a drift.
The brown and grizzly color combination of an Adams can represent several basic Mayflies. At least a dozen variations exist of the Adams dry fly, but beyond the original style, the spent wing produces best.
When the water surface is littered with dying Mayflies, a spent wing Adams will be literally torn to pieces as fish after fish eats it.
Right: Proven dry fly patterns are a must for consistent action on Maine brooks and streams. Fly tiers would do well to refill their fly boxes during winter evenings. Credit: Courtesy of Bill Graves
Created in the late 1800s by the father of American dry fly fishing, Theodore Gordan, the Quill Gordan remains a tried and true pattern more than 100 years later. It’s sort of a generic Mayfly representative and is attractive to larger fish.
In this same category is the blue dun dry fly, a pattern used to imitate a variety of dark Mayfly duns. Blues are an excellent late August and September offering on Aroostook waterways.
Over the last five years a Henryville special has leapt to the top of my list of favorites. Tied with swept back wings, this caddis replica is always dependable as a dry and equally productive when fished wet just under the surface.
Lee Wulff created a series of high-floating, full-bodied dry flies in 1929 that have a dual upright hair wing. No selection would be complete without a white Wulff and a royal Wulff. Light-colored Wulff patterns are essential for late evening and night fishing, and often produce trophy size fish.
My final fly box slot of any dependable dozen dry flies would have to go to the grasshopper pattern. Specifically the red-tailed, yellow body with brown hackle, and swept back turkey winged version. During late summer and autumn in agricultural areas, this terrestrial mimic has accounted for a lot of normally selective brook trout.
For a bonus, have at least one of the many green drake patterns: emerger, full floating or crippled dun will all work at one time or another.
Sizes in all flies should range from 14 to 18.
Just because these are my favorite dry flies, don’t think for a moment I don’t have twice as many other patterns for backup, just in case.
A well-stocked fly box is the key to happiness and success.
