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The Five Main Types of Fly Fishing Flies

from: Rob Lore

Although there are hundreds of types of flies used for fly fishing, most fly fishing flies fall into five specific categories, or types. These types are dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers and buck tails, and terrestrials. The main purpose of fly fishing flies is to imitate an insect that the fish wants to eat.

Dry Fly Fishing Flies

A dry fly fishing fly imitates a natural insect that is floating on the top of the water. Fish are very sensitive to any motion of their water and how currents move the insects they want for food. In fly fishing, if the dry fly fishing fly is moving even slightly against the current, the fish will have nothing to do with it. The fly fishing fly may look like something the fish recognizes but the dry fly fishing fly is not acting the same way an insect would. The fish recognizes the dry fly fishing fly as something foreign in the water and leaves the dry fly fishing fly alone.

Wet Fly Fishing Flies

In fly fishing, a wet fly fishing fly is imitating a drowned, or drowning, natural insect and is fished below the water surface. No one is sure if the wet fly fishing fly is seen as a drowning adult insect or a nymph from the perspective of the fish. Most fly fishermen today seem to believe that it is seen as a nymph. Because of this less and less wet fly fishing flies are being sold. Wet fly fishing is the oldest form of fly fishing. Wet fly fishing dates back to descriptions of the early Macedonian people.

Nymph Fly Fishing Flies

A nymph is the stage between an egg and the adult in the life cycle of an insect. In fly fishing flies that resemble nymphs are growing in popularity. The nymph fly fishing fly is just below the surface of the water. When a fish bulges the water without breaking the surface, he is nymphing. This means that the fish is eating the natural nymphs just as they are emerging from their shell. This is what a nymph fly imitates.

Streamers and Bucktail Fly Fishing Flies

Streamers and bucktail fly fishing flies do not imitate any part of the insect's life cycle. Streamers and bucktail fly fishing flies are much larger and represent small bait fish such as sculpin minnows. The main difference between streamers and bucktail fly fishing flies is that streamers are tied with feathers and bucktails are tied completely with hair. Fly fishing that uses streamers and bucktail fly fishing flies generally requires more fly fishing rod and line manipulation. The movements of streamers and bucktail fly fishing flies are supposed to duplicate the motions of the little fish.

Terrestrial Fly Fishing Flies

Although most flies represent water insects, terrestrial fly fishing flies are made to imitate a land insect that has fallen into the water. The two most common terrestrial fly fishing flies that are imitated for fly fishing are the ant and the grasshopper.

Besides these basic five categories of fly fishing flys, there are many other kinds of fly fishing flys that are used for fly fishing. Some fly fishing flys are a combination of one or more of the basic categories of fly fishing flys and some fly fishing flies do not fit into any group. The most important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter how the fly fishing fly looks to you, the fisherman. It matters how the fly fishing fly looks to the fish.

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