Do we really need wings.

[Traditionalist]

With unwaxed medium claret silk and  upright wing(s);

[Fishtales]

Some of those beautiful old traditionals are still sold,but I don't think any one uses them now.More likely to be framed on a wall or worn as a broach.

I don't think that can be used as a comparison. The built wing salmon flies were a Victorian need for invention. They had access to all these exotic feathers and saw the salmon fly as a way to use them. The fact that they actually caught fish was a bonus. The old salmon flies were much more drab.

As these old Spey flies show.

[attachimg=1]

Tweed flies were the same.

http://browniebogle.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/meg-with-the-muckle-mouth/

The hair wing has taken over from the built feather wing because of necessity as the exotic feathers are no longer easily available.

[Tweed]

I quickly become bored with  it. I am pretty sure most serous trout fly fishers  rapidly pass through the chuck and pull  stage. 

As I said in my "Peaceful Place"  film narrative this is why when conditions are dead I prefer fishing small stream pocket water than larger open glides or featureless lochs. It is far easier to fish thoughtfully and figure out where unseen fish will, hopefully,  be. Whether or not the fly has wings is a detail.  I do not enjoy chuck it and chance and this is probably  the main reason I could  never be a salmon fisher.

Each to their own and all that.  I'm mainly talking lochs here, but personally I love the feeling of finding the rhythym of fishing wets properly, be it from the boat or wading the bank.  When it really clicks you're often fishing as you walk or just feel 'in the zone' from a boat.  I also find it more active than fishing dries, and therefore don't get bored as quickly!  As I say, each to their own, and I can understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I reckon there's more to it than many give credit for though and it's telling that if someone's been away from it for a while - like me all too often - it can be the third day of a 3 day trip that you get into the groove, and the results follow.  Also witness comp. fishers - Shetland or Orkney for example - whether you agree with it or not, it's about putting fish in the boat, and most of them wouldn't start with the dries, unless there's an obvious rise on.  Chuck and chance or whatever, as has been said some get better results than others.

I also have more confidence in wets when searching water on lochs, as I know I'm covering more water.

[garryh]

didnt really mean this to become a dries are much more skillfull than wets debate,the point i suppose i was really trying to make i dont think wings are totally neccesary because i am not convinced fish see them as wings. just an observation that after having actually mostly done away with wings in my own WET fly fishing i havnt noticed a drop off in my catch rates it was not an attack on anyones preferences or methods,

Garry

[Tweed]

I don't think that's how it's been take Garry  .  It's opened up an interesting discussion though - it may have deviated off topic a wee bit right enough, but it is interesting to hear peoples preferences and their reasons for them.

Whether it's wings/no wings or dry/wet decisions - it seems it's a mixture of past experience/confidence/preferred method that dictates what we stick on the end.

[Wildfisher]

The reason wet fly  fishing blind on lochs works is that it's a  way to efficiently cover a lot of water. Step, cast,step,cast. If done methodically, like drifting in a boat  this covers a phenomenal area quickly. It's more to do with that than wings.

[Fishtales]

The reason wet fly  fishing blind on lochs works is that it's a  way to efficiently cover a lot of water. Step, cast,step,cast. If done methodically, like drifting in a boat  this covers a phenomenal area quickly. It's more to do with that than wings.

Funnily enough that isn't how I generally fish lochs, but then I fish three different flies on the same cast and only one is a winged wet. The others are a dry and a nymph

[Malcolm]

Wet fly on rivers is very often far from random. On the Clyde in April very often rising fish aren't taking dries. They are taking nymphs just below the surface and very often drowned adults. Like the fish taking dries they take up stations that are productive. Looking into the water on a windy day there are lots of drowned adults floating just a few inches under the surface and it's these that create these interesting times when swarms of Large dark olives float down and the fish rise all over but not to the flies we watch floating down like little galleons. Pit a clyde style wet on and fish dead drift and the fishing can quickly turn from the frustrating to the spectacular. Taking a holistic view means looking at the whole kife cycle and understanding when trout are feeding at the various stages: nymphs, emergers, duns, spinners and drowned flies. It's part of the learning experience and the importance of the drowned fly in windy conditions was a new lesson for me a couple of years ago.

[Fishtales]

There are also duns that crawl under water to lay their eggs and then either let go, die or get swept off and drift in the current at all depths.

[Malcolm]

Drowned olives are a staple on lochs too Malcolm

Didn't know that and never thought about that either although it's completely logical - another one for the memory banks. Maybe that's why they take the small spider that I often fish on the bob on lochs when I have a dry on the tail.