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 Post subject: Wet Fly Swing, UL Style
PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:25 pm • # 1 
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Location: Washington State
Last spring I stumbled across a wonderful article; Beyond the Swing, on swinging classic winged wet flies like these graceful Bob Petti beauties.
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It brought back memories of my early days of fishing the outlets and inlets of mountain lakes trailing something like a dimestore Royal Coachman, Leadwing Coachman, or Light Caddis, about 12" behind Mosquito dry, about 3 feet below a teardrop casting bubble with an ultralight spinning rod. Unlike with salmon eggs, I never got skunked. When I swing on big water or troll streamers on lakes with a stout 6 weight the takes always seem to range from surprise to jolt and the fish tend to be larger. I thought, "What would that be like on a 3 weight?". I carry some soft hackles but they have always worked better for me on a dead drift so I put a few old #12 Royal Coachman and a couple of other winged wet flies in my creekin' box for my first hike of the year into one of my Curtis Creeks. When I didn't see much aerial activity, I resolved that I would spend the day swinging wets. I didn't catch the number of fish that I have on my best dry fly or nymphing days but Boy what a day! Each take from a wild 8" to 11" Coastal Cuttie was strong. The TFO Finesse 3 weight has a moderate action with a forgiving flex that seems to work very well as a fish takes the fly and turns, securely hooking itself in the corner of the jaw with little effort on my part. It worked on the swing into the head of a pool, and feeding under overhanging brush, into and around corners, rocks, and stumps; that can be challenging with dries and nymphs. Are you swinging skinny water with your lithe ultralight?


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:21 pm • # 2 
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Those flies are gorgeous. I swing wets all the time on skinny water. On some small streams, it is easier to wade with the current than against it (casting upstream, for upstream classic dry fly techniques) and on many small streams here in Idaho, small brookies and cutts, readily take soft hackles, grey hackles and other classic wet patterns such as those lovely coachmans you posts pictures of. I cast a lot of trude patterns too. While it is fun to watch trout rise to a dry fly present upstream as you cast and strip the slack back, I find the jolting feel of a downstream swinging wet fly is equally fun. I often fish with a friend who is a bit older than I am and he says he just cannot wade against the current for long. It works good as we park and he fishes wets down stream and I fish dries upstream....unless I change my mind and want to swing some wets too...then we leap frog.

Again, nice flies.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:40 am • # 3 
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beautiful flies-p-


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:02 pm • # 4 
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Joined: 09/25/09
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Location: Prince Edward Island
I love swinging classic wets in the fall.
Two of my favourite trout wet flies originated as salmon flies.
Pink Mystery and Green Machine.
Downsized to the UL realm, they make deadly trout flies.
Why they work or what they represent to a trout is a mystery to me.

ImageImage


The Green Machine allows for tons of variations in tails, tags and body profile and colours.
I also tie the Pink Mystery with a red hackle tail that almost always gets interest and trout hooked.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 2:29 pm • # 5 
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Location: Golden State
I love swinging soft hackle flies. Here are two flies of the top producing flies that my fishing mentor tied for me.

ImageImage


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 8:43 pm • # 6 
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I like this one.
tundraman18 wrote:
Image


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 1:02 am • # 7 
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Yup I like that one too.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:58 am • # 8 
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I swing soft hackles, emergers and wets downstream a lot especially when no hatches are coming off. I have enjoyed much success doing so and where I fish guys literally line up to fish nymph/indicator rigs in calmer pools between the faster more turbulent stretches of water that I have to myself.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 12:06 pm • # 9 
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Very nice!


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:07 pm • # 10 
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Location: Presque Isle, Maine
With the high water this year swinging soft hackles has been very productive for me.

Two of my favorites

Image

Image


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:17 pm • # 11 
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Location: Longmont, Colorado
Bryan, beautiful and effective wets. Thanks for the reminder with fall coming on here.


Tim, those are some really nice looking soft hackles. Do you mind if I tie a few for myself?
Will.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:30 pm • # 12 
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Quote:
Do you mind if I tie a few for myself?


Not at all, go for it, they're just variations of hairs ear soft hackles


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:51 am • # 13 
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nice flies. Bear, What is the soft hackle on the two flies?-p-


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:40 pm • # 14 
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Thanks, Partridge on the glass bead and Brahma Hen on the hairs ear


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:00 pm • # 15 
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Nice! I've never used Brahma Hen. I may have to check it out sometime.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 7:55 am • # 16 
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Bear: Nice proportions on your soft hackles.

tundraman: That looks like a Stewart spider, or at least tied in that style.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 11:17 pm • # 17 
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I don't really swing wets, but I should start with my UL 3-wt 11' switch rod!


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:59 am • # 18 
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Joined: 12/31/13
Posts: 309
Location: Magnolia, Texas
I do quite a bit of wet fly swinging with all my rods, ultra lights included. My personal fly fishing history began favoring dry flies, because they were easy to cast, fun to watch the take, and were "the" type of fly all the writers bragged about.

Then I got more into nymphing, caught more fish.

Then I took a trip to Yellowstone as a teenager and caught more fish on the swing than I did dredging nymphs or floating dries. That sparked something in my brain that caught fire.

I still fish a lot of nymphs, and still like watching a fish smack a dry fly - but swinging wets and streamers is my favorite moving water technique. I tie and fish a lot of soft hackles, but this past year I found myself being pulled into fishing more traditional wet fly patterns, and creating "new" ones inspired by old school style, plus I tied a lot of down-sized atlantic salmon and steelhead patterns that did very well.

Most of my trouting is done targeting coastal cutthroat on the north Oregon coast, and those fish go gaga for soft hackles and reverse spider flies.

I've even spent the last few years on a quest to find the perfect rod for wet fly fishing. I've had a few that were good - but none I purchased or built stayed - for various reasons (I learned those cheap blanks from eBay are cheap for a reason - one blank broke three times, in different places each time).

I really want something like a Greys 10' 2 or 3 weight for this, but no shops local to me carry this rod and I want to at least cast it before plunking that kind of cash down.

There's nothing quite like the feeling when a fish slams your swung fly - I had a 10 inch cutty take a fly so hard once I thought I was connecting with a summer run steelhead. There is something about the presentation of a swung fly that triggers a "kill it now!" response in a fish's brain.

My favorite patterns are the tried & true royal coachman, royal trude (tied with a bit of flash in the wing), partridge & orange, and a guinea & orange pattern tied up with neon orange synthetic dubbing and a gold rib - that one drives the cutts and resident rainbows wild.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 3:16 pm • # 19 
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Location: Southern Oregon
Beautiful flies!
I'm going to have to try swinging for small trout this spring.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 4:51 pm • # 20 
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Joined: 02/17/13
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Location: San Antonio Texas
Check out Davey Wotton and his book "Wet Fly Ways" and DVD on wet fly fishing.
At our recent GRTU TroutFest Dave Whitlock spoke very highly of Wotton and his techniques.

Jimbo


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