Fly Fishing Lures aka flies

Fly Fishing – 5 Main Types Of Lure:

Agreed that there are a score of flies out there and each must have been used at some point or the other by every fly fisherman. However, all the flies fall into 5 main categories of fly fishing lure.

These are:

1. Dry Flies

2. Wet Flies

3. Nymphs

4. Streamers/Buck tails

5. Terrestrials

The main purpose of the fly, or lure, is to make it look like a particular insect the fish is known to like.

A Dry fly is an imitation of any kind of insect that floats on the water. Remember the fish are not fools and are very alert about their environment. They know what type of insects live on or in the water that they live in and they also know how the water currents and the wind make the insect move. So, it is not easy to fool the fish. A characteristic of fly fishing is that the angler will move the fly just like it were a live insect, so if an angler is moving a dry fly against the current a fish in he water will never even give it a second thought. Now will that not be a waste of time? This is because the fish recognizes the fly as something very familiar but because it is not acting like an insect the fish will ignore it as a foreign body in the water.

A wet fly is made to behave like a drowning insect the fish recognizes. A wet fly is dropped below the surface of the water unlike dry fly that is allowed to float on the surface. Wet fly fishing is a fishing technique that dates back to the Macedonian people of the 2nd century and is a very effective form of fishing.

The nymph is a lure that is becoming more popular than the wet fly. This is because a lot of fisher men are of the belief that he fish looks at a wet fly as a nymph. A nymph also imitates a drowning insect and lures the fish to eat it. This is a lure that, like the wet fly, is also lowered just below the surface of the water and this technique is fast assuming the name ‘nymphing’.

Streamers are lure that get their name from the live food that already exist in the stream. These flies do not resemble or try to imitate any part of the insect world. However they do look like the live food the fish like to eat in the streams. Buck tails are lure that are tied with hair while Streamers are tied with feathers.   Apart from the five categories of flies used in fly fishing they may be others in use as this is a sport that every one tries to experiment with and come up with the best technique and lure to get the best trophy for their collection.  If you discover a certain type of fly for fishing you should share your discovery online with your fellow fly fishermen.