Classic Wet Flies

This article has been brewing for quite some time. One of the first fly tying books I ever got was Mike Dawe's "The Flytiers Manual". I think I got it for Christmas one year from my Mom. I was a little disappointed at first because it was UK based and seemed "different". The more I read it, however, the more I learned to appreciate that difference. Not only that, I kept going back to the chapter on wet flies. They were fascinating - and quite beautiful. They were unlike anything that was "in vogue" at the time in US based magazines and books. My interest in wet flies has been on a slow simmer ever since.

This past Fall and Winter, the simmer came to a full boil. It started with a visit to the International Fly Tying Symposium, where I watched Don Bastian tie for awhile and then sat in on his slide show. Granted, a gifted and experienced tyer like Don always makes fly tying seem incredibly easy, but I couldn't shake the "I can do that" feeling that was coming over me. I'd wrapped my share of thread, paid enough dues. It was time to scratch an itch. The first thing I did was dig out my 1965 edition of Bergman's "Trout", which was handed down to me from my father.

When I was browsing through the plates by Dr. Burke and picking out flies to tie, I tried to choose that that had a variety of wing styles. Some married, some duck flank, some solid "slate" as they call the natural duck and goose wing quills, some mottled, and some solid colors. I looked for a variety of colors schemes, some bright attractors as well as some flies sporting more subdued natural tones. I wanted a few with palmered hackles as well as a few with mixed hackles. Some classics are sprinkled in, but for the most part, many of these flies are not well known.

I must say, tying the sets of flies was great fun. I tied three of each, which filled a single row in an old Perrine #60 fly box. Due to the size of the hook, I had to skip rows, so I could fit 5 rows of three flies on each side of the box. Since I had two boxes, I had a total of 20 patterns to tie. I listed the patterns on a sheet of paper and sat down and tied. By New Year's, I was done.

Since Wet Flies seem to be coming back in fashion somewhat, I thought I'd share them with GFF readers.

Abbey Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Dark Red Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Gray Mallard

Finding mallard flank to make a nice slip wing is difficult. You need to use those "side" feathers that are essentially one sided, with the good side having solid web all the way to the tips of the barbs. I sorted through a lot of flank to find a few feathers to use on these flies.

Black and Orange Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Black Hackle Rib: Black Floss Body: Orange Floss Hackle: Black Wing: Black

This was supposed to be a Lord Baltimore, until I realized I forgot the jungle cock eye. As luck would have it, there was also a fly named the Black and Orange that match this recipe perfectly. Lucky me. Since my dyed black goose was more of a dark blue, I used natural crow quill for the wing. Looks nice.

Blue Bottle Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Blue Floss Hackle: Black, palmered over body Wing: Slate

I never noticed this fly until I saw it on the cover of Don Bastian's DVD. It caught my eye and I thought I'd try my hand at a few. It's a real handsome pattern. I'm a sucker for flies with palmered hackles.

Brandreth Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Red Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Yellow Wool Hackle: Yellow and Red Mixed Wing: Gray Mallard

The wool body of the Brandreth provides a different texture compared to the more widely used floss body.

Cassin Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Red and Peacock Sword Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Yellow Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Yellow

This is the first of Bergman's wet flies that I tied. I plan on fishing these on Long Island's Connetquot River, where some friends have found yellow to be a good color for the local brown trout.

Catskill Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Lemon Woodduck Body: Orange Floss Hackle: Brown, palmered Wing: Lemon Woodduck

When choose flies to tie from the book, I could not pass up a fly known as "Catskill", especially since it contains one of my favorite materials - lemon woodduck flank. Palmered hackle? Man - nice fly.

Dr. Burke Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Peacock Sword Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Yellow Wing: White Cheek: Jungle Cock

Dr. Burke was the man who painted all the plates in Bergman's book "Trout". This fly is just a wonderful blend of materials and colors, which also happen to work quite well as a streamer.

Fergusun Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Yellow and Red, married Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Yellow Floss Hackle: Green Wing: Mottled Turkey with a Yellow Stripe

A nice combination of colors in this fly. If tied using the traditional mottled turkey in the wing, use goose shoulder instead of goose quill for the yellow stripe, as it will marry easier.

Fish Hawk Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Mottled Turkey Rib: Brown Floss Body: Flat Gold Tinsel Hackle: Brown Wing: Mottled Turkey Cheek: Jungle Cock

This fly calls for mottled turkey in the original recipe, but I happened upon a matched pair of speckled hen wings that looked terrific.

Fontinalis Fin Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: White Rib: Flat Silver Tinsel Body: Orange Floss Hackle: Furnace Wing: Orange, topped with narrow strips of dark slate and white

The Fontinalis Fin is another imitation of a clipped brook trout fin. This version is also often tied with an orange wool body.

Grizzly King Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Red Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Green Floss Hackle: Grizzly Wing: Gray Mallard

The wing on this fly is just a bit too long. The fly is commonly tied as a trout bucktail using gray squirrel tail for the wing, and is also used as a salmon fly tied on an upwing iron.

Last Chance Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Red Rib: Black Floss Body: Yellow Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Slate

I was surprised to find quite a few of the wet flies in Bergman's book sport some sort of floss or thread ribbing. I used Danville 3/0 to rib this fella, which is tied on a size 8 Mustad 3399 hook. Any heavier thread or floss would dominate the body too much.

Leadwing Coachman Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Peacock Herl Hackle: Brown Wing: Dark Slate

Another well known classic fly. The Leadwing Coachman is often used during Isonychia Season, since the nymphs of those mayflies are known to migrate to shore so they can emerge on streamside rocks.

Parmachene Belle Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Red and White Butt: Black Rib: Flat Silver Tinsel Body: Yellow Floss Hackle: Mixed red and white Wing: White with a Red Stripe

One of the most famous of all the "Bergman" wet flies. The Parmachene Belle is named after Parmachene Lake in Maine, USA. The first time I ever saw a real one was when a friend in Nova Scotia sent me some in a swap, telling me how he used them when fishing for sea run brookies. How cool is that?

Pebble Beach Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Claret Floss Rib: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Brown, palmered Throat: Black Wing: Orange

I'd like to know a little bit more about the history of this fly, as the Pebble Beach I know is known more for birdies and bogeys rather than trout and wet flies. Still - a pretty fly just the same.

Pink Lady Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Body: Pink Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Slate

One of my favorites of the lot. This pattern also makes for a beautiful dry fly. There are not many patterns that incorporate pink into their recipe without being gawdy.

Royal Coachman Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets Body: Peacock Herl with a center band of Red Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: White

One of the most famous flies of all time, whether the upwing dry fly, or the quill winged wet fly as shown here. This combination of materials has been used in a million different ways to catch all sorts of fish. A true timeless classic.

Silver Doctor Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Blue Wing: Green, Yellow, Red, married Cheek: Gray mallard, sparse

I can hear you now. "Silver Doctor? You kidding me? This does not match the recipe in Bergman's book." You're right. It doesn't. The recipe for this fly came from Mike Dawe's "Flytier's Companion", which is UK based. I loved the combination of colors and the mallard flank sides. Forgive me, Ray.

Telephone Box Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets Butt: Peacock Herl Rib: Black Floss Body: Orange Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Mottled Turkey Cheek: Jungle Cock

Here again I made use of speckled hen wing quills in place of the traditional mottled turkey. Don't they look nice? This is a real pretty fly. Not flashy, but certainly not dull by any means.

Tomah Joe Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Yellow Butt: Peacock Herl Body: Flat Gold Tinsel Hackle: Mixed Scarlet and Yellow Wing: Barred Woodduck

A real pretty fly. Nice combination of colors and materials. The wing can be made with either matching left/right slips of barred woodduck, or taking one wider slip and folding it lengthwise (the British method). By the way - this is a real fish catcher.

Trout Fin Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Red Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Badger Wing: Red, married to narrow strips of black and white

Knowing that brook trout were quite territorial, old timers would often clip the fin off a caught fish and use it for bait. Fly fishers imitated this behavior by creating several "trout fin" type flies, this being one of the popular variations.

Beauty Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Silver Tinsel Tail: Guinea Body: Dark Gray Floss Rib: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Guinea

Who turned the color off? Talk about a black-and-white fly, with a little silver and gray to mix things up a bit. Drab - but fishy, isn't it? I was looking for patterns that had Guinea wings, and this is one of the first I found.

Blae and Black Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Black Floss Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Natural Duck Quill

A not-quite-as-well-known fly from the UK, where "blae" refers to various shades of gray (like dun, slate, etc.). Quite a few of the patterns from the UK use GP tippet tails. I try to keep mine sparse and make sure both bands are showing, but keeping the separation between bands significant.

Butcher Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Red Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Irridescent Blue segment from Mallard Drake flight feather

Everyone knows about this fly. The theory is that the silver is the butcher's blade, the red is the blood from the meat, and the irridescent blue is his apron. Whatever. It's a great fly. The original called for Ibis for the tail, but I use just a few whisps of hackle.

Dark Montreal Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Scarlet Wisps (hackle) Body: Magenta Floss Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Hackle: Magenta Wing: Mottled Turkey

Who could not like this fly? What a great combination of colors. Gold and claret/magenta with a mottled wing. A real beauty. It's easy to see why this has caught so many fishermen's attention over the years. This one was tied with chicken wing quills like the flies above. Amazing, eh?

Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Bronze Mallard Body: Hare's Ear Dubbing Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Wing: Slate NOTE: This tie is slightly different from the traditional in that it uses holographic gold tinsel.

Probably the single most famous fly of all. I am a bit embarrassed to admit I've embellished the traditional dressing a bit by adding the bronze mallard tail and using holographic gold tinsel for a tag and a rib. I can't help it. That holo gold is a fish magnet.

Greenwell's Glory Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Body: Pearsall's Gossamer Silk Thread, Primrose, darkened with dark brown cobbler's wax Rib: Fine Oval Gold Tinsel Hackle: Greenwell's Hen (furnace) Wing: Slate

The UK's version of an Adams. Everyone ties and fishes the Greenwell's Glory in an almost infinite number of varieties. This particular one was intended to be close to the original dressing, including the dark waxed primrose body and the narrower-than-usual Starling slip wing.

Hardy's Favorite Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Peacock Herl Rib: Red Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Mottled Turkey

One from Helen Shaw's wonderful book on wet flies, "Flies for Fish and Fishermen - The Wet Flies". I first saw this fly in a swap I did back in 1994 and it's caught my eye ever since. Hen again.

Light Caddis Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Silver Tinsel Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Peacock Herl Rib: Orange Floss Hackle: Brown Wing: Light Slate

Another one from Helen's book. It makes a good match with the Hardy's Favorite. I used to tie this one with a wing tied "Hughes" style with a bunch of dark dun hen saddle fibers. The quill wing looks much nicer.

Mallard and Claret Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag:Flat Silver Tinsel Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Claret Seal's Fur Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Bronze Mallard

Obviously, I am struggling with my bronze mallard wings. This fly is fishable, but it will not win any beauty contests. I almost chose not to include it here, but it's such a good fly. It's very popular in the UK and has spawned countless variations on the "mallard and claret" theme.

Governor Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tip: Flat Gold Tinsel Tag: Scarlet Floss Body: Peacock Herl Hackle: Brown Wing: Mottled Turkey

One I had never heard of prior to getting a copy of Helen's book. One day I was in the mood for some herl bodied wet flies, and this one caught my eye. Again - hen here instead of turkey (I know - I'm being redundant - but I don't want to be called out on the mat by the internet fly tying police.)

Guinea Hen Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tag: Flat Gold Tinsel Tail: Crimson Body: Crimson Fur or Wool Rib: Flat Gold Tinsel Hackle: Light Claret Wing: Guinea

Can you believe this fly? The red wool body leaps out at you when you're holding the actual fly. It looks like a Christmas ornament in my fly box. I like it.

Silver and Black Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Black

Another from Helen's book. I wanted a dark fly with a bit of flash. This will do the trick.

Teal, Blue, and Silver Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet Body: Flat Silver Tinsel Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel Hackle: Blue Wing: Teal Flank

Another very well known fly - although probably more so for sea trout than for trout fishing. I have done very well with this fly, however, fishing it during the height of the season with all sorts of little fry are about.

Whickham's Fancy Hook: Mustad 3399, #8 Tail: Brown Hackle Body: Flat Gold Tinsel Rib: Oval Gold Tinsel or Gold Wire Hackle: Brown, palmered Wing: Slate

I wish I had done something different with the first turn of hackle, as the overall effect of the palmer makes the fly look butt heavy. Still - this will be a fish catcher. Gold tinsel, brown rib - what's not to like? This will catch fish - and in fact has caught fish for far longer than I have been fishing.