Dead Swing Drift With Dry Flies

Dead Swing Drift With Dry Flies

Mike with a nice rainbow trout

Here’s Mike from Rockford MI with a nice rainbow trout that smashed a caddis pattern on the terminal end of the swing.

When fishing dry fly patterns, more times than not trout strike as the fly starts its final swing at the end of the drift. The fly line straightens out and causes the fly to skid across the top of the water column making a small wake at the very terminal end of your drift and then bang!  Strike.

Often times anglers make a mistake and retrieve the fly way too early in the drift without letting the fly line straighten out all the way out to the end of the drift.  Doing so allows the fly pattern to skate across the top of the water column in a swing motion as the fly line straightens out at the end of the swing behind you.

Trout are often times programed to strike just as the fly swings across top water at the end of the drift.  When you retrieve the fly too early without letting the fly line straighten out and swing behind at the end of the drift, you’re missing out on so many more possible strikes from hungry trout.  Give yourself as many chances as possible for trout to strike, spend more time on the end of the drift where the fly swings across the top of the water column at the end of the swing.

When there’s not much surface activity with feeding trout, try what I call “the dead swing drift.”  That is….Cast the fly out straight across from you.  Mend the line as needed keeping the fly line upstream of your fly presentation as it drifts down stream.  Try not to disturb the fly’s drift top water all the way down stream.  Allow your presentation to cover as much water as possible; feed the fly line out inches at a time allowing the fly pattern to drift undisturbed down stream.  Anticipate the strike at the final feet of the drift as your fly skates across the water column in a swing motion until it stops and straightens the fly line out directly behind you in a dead swing drift.

I’ve witnessed several trout follow the fly from where it originally lands, to all the way down stream at the terminal end of the drift where it finally strikes.

Give it a try, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised just how many more trout you’ll hook utilizing this dry fly fishing technique.

Post by: Jon Fortuna

 

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