Wet flies aren’t cool, but they’re easy to use and catch fish like crazy

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Many fly patterns are briefly popular, then forgotten. But I’ve noticed lately that an entire category of flies seems to have vanished from view: the traditional wet fly. In fact, if you’ve taken up fly fishing in the last few decades, learning the most up-to-date techniques from the most popular sources, you may have never even heard of traditional wet flies, let alone used them. And that’s a shame, because even though they’re out of fashion, wet flies still have three admirable virtues: they’re simple to tie (or cheap to buy), they’re easy to use and they catch fish. Here’s a quick primer on fishing wet flies.

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