How Are Dry Flies Made – Joseph Sorbara

With tremendous increase in the popularity and interest of fly fishing, people purchase all the required gear and accessories that is required for fly fishing and often think of making their own flies. Making certain kind of flies maybe very tricky and once made they will be best used during off-season. Certain flies are very easy to make and even children can learn to make their own flies and get them involved in this sport.

As the history dates back to the Macedonian anglers who made use of artificial flies in the early second century, fishing in the Astraeus River. They made use of red color wool and tied fly wings or feathers around the wool to make the fly look original and this method was mostly successful.

Later in 18th century the American fishermen designed new types of artificial flies to catch the trout from the New York Catskill mountain region. They designed the fly that mimicked the native flies of that region and this worked really well in fooling the trout thinking that it was the original fly and landed to the water surface to catch them. Different types of artificial flies were used in different waters at different times for different fishes.

Though earlier artificial flies were made out of natural resources like wool, fur, and feathers, nowadays they are made using synthetic materials. Another recent development in fly fishing was to make use of barbless hooks as many fishermen practice the method of catch and release. Extracting the fish from barbed hook can be quite difficult and it will also harm the fish if you are planning to release it. Thus making use of barbless hook is easier to use and is safe for the fish.

In recent days there are thousands of artificial fly designs that can confuse the new fishers. Though each fly has a certain characteristic, almost all the flies serve the same purpose of starting with the hook, where the hook is disguised to be the fly to attract or fool the target fish. The material used to decorate the hook has changed over the past years as earlier it was wool, fur, and feathers but now it is made from plastic, mylar, foam and metals. These special materials are then glued to the hook to attract the fish.