“Wet Fly Wonders” Workshop

by Don Fine

Weather forecasts for the Winter of 2019 are expected to be cold and snowy. Do you want an excuse to get out of the house, and still engage in a fly fishing opportunity without freezing in your waders? Join us on Saturday, February 9th from 9:30 AM until 2:30 PM when the PVFF will host our Third Annual Fly Tying Workshop. Perhaps you joined us last year for “Streamer Saturday”, or in 2017 for our “Cork Popper” Workshop. Well, we’ve gone under water again, the theme of the 2019 Fly Tying Workshop is “Wet Fly Wonders”!

The 2019 Fly Tying Workshop will feature tying a variety of Wet Flies. You might be asking what is a Wet Fly?

Wet Flies, are probably the oldest type of artificial fly which traditionally represent small minnows, Mayflies, Caddisflies and several other aquatic insects. The Wet Fly originated as the “Lady of the Lake” in the 1860s by an unknown angler, primarily for trout in lakes. The Wet Fly gained popularity because it was extremely effective when fished slowly on sinking lines (or with weighted floating line). Anglers began using Wet Flies in rivers for Sea Trout and Atlantic Salmon with success. Subsequently, Trout fishers used the same techniques to up their catch rate on those days when insects were not hatching. As such, fly tiers of this era created hundreds of patterns of Wet Flies in their attempt to represent the immature stage of an aquatic insect prior to the insect hatching on the surface of the water and into its mature (adult) stage.

This Workshop is for beginners, advanced and experts. Don’t worry about your skill level, come and learn more about how to tie and fish a Wet Fly. If you have your own tying equipment please bring it, however, we will have additional vises and tools available for those who may not have their own equipment. This event is open to all comers. The PVFF will provide all materials, tying instruction and list of fly patterns which you will be able to tie. Pizza and beverages will be provided around lunch time. There is not charge for the Workshop, however, donations will be accepted to cover the cost of the lunch.

The workshop will be held in Room 207 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 703 West Patrick Street, Frederick. Come join us for a day of fun and comraderie and learning to tie Wet Flies ‘to boot.’