Wet Flies - Ahrex Hooks

Old Wets

To me there are few flies that embody the whole essence of “a fly” as old, classic wet flies. There are plenty, hundreds, to choose from and I’ve featured some of them in previous posts. A few decades ago, most new fly tiers began with a Red Tag and once the basic techniques were in place, next on the agenda was learning to tie feather wings. Usually the subject was a March Brown wet. It’s simple (until you get to wings), catches well and challenges the fly tier. Hen pheasant wing slips aren’t hard for the experienced fly tier, but they’re not the easiest either.

Mallard wings

Wet Fly Box by Håkan Karsnäser-08
The Butcher, proberbly the best known classic wet fly – tied by Håkan Karsnäser.

When fly tiers and fly fishers think about “mallard wings”, I suppose that most of us have the image of a classic spey fly with its low set roof shaped wing of the beautiful (and impossible) brown- and black speckled feathers from a mallard’s wing.

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Tying and swinging soft hackle flies

There’s just something pure, clean and honest about simple soft hackles wet flies and spiders. Take a look at the classic British North Country Spiders, the loch style wet flies – or the flymphs from Liesenring or Hidy.

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