DF4. The Adam's Dry Fly

THE ADAMS FLY PATTERN
One of the most popular North America original dry flies is the Adam's. It can be used in a variety of waters, to imitate food items almost anywhere trout are found. It can be tied in various sizes to represent either mayfly or midge adults. In the early 1920's, fly fishermen on the Boardman River in northern lower Michigan were having problems. The Michigan grayling was gone. Rainbows had been stocked to provide fishing after the demise of the grayling but they were getting scarce and brook trout had been wiped out by over-fishing and habitat destruction. There was a newly stocked European trout that produced some good fishing, but it was creating a few headaches among fly fishermen. They found it so finicky that it was a source of frustration. That new fish was the brown trout. Because anglers and fly tiers were trying to find a fly the brown would take more readily, a new pattern was born. 

In 1922, Leonard Hallady created the first Adams dry fly. His home was on the banks of Mayfield pond, Michigan. Charles F. Adams, an attorney in Lorrain, Ohio (later Judge Adams) was fishing the pond. He was an enthusiastic angler who loved to fish for brook and brown trout and was friends with Hallady. Adams was given Halladay's new fly to try out on the Boardman River that evening. When he came back next morning he wanted to know what it was called as it was "knock out." Since Charles Adams had made the first good catch on it Halladay named it the Adam's. The Adam's pattern combines brown and grizzly hackle; many trout anglers claim it is the best fly ever made. Some, in fact, declare that if they had to use only one fly for all of their trout fishing, it would be the Adams. It not only pleased the browns but shortly found wide acclaim across the country and world-wide.

Because of the Adams' success, there have been many, many variations on the original pattern. The Adams parachute is another  *must* have in the fly box. It imitates a wide range of mayflies and is arguably the most productive fly one can have tethered to one's tippet. If I don't see an obvious hatch, I'll start with a Royal Wulff. Those white wings are easy to see and it's as good an attractor as any, in my experience. After that, it's the parachute Adams. Usually I use 16, since smaller than that seems to be less effective in the chalk streams I fish. I use a 12 if I'm prospecting in heavier water as it floats better. I use both standard Adams pattern in sizes 14 or16. The standard tie is a good general bug imitation for trout fishing. It can be fished dead drift or moved if needed on the water. The parachute tie has a decent mayfly shape and is a good imitation of darker mayflies on the surface. It seems to bring up even wary native browns as consistently as any pattern I know of. Using an Adams I have also caught Atlantic Char, Cutthroat, Grayling and Rainbow Trout. The combination of grizzle and brown hackles with a medium-grey body has produced a fantastic general dry fly that catches fish around the world again and again in a wide range of water types. This is why the Adams is one of the most popular trout flies in use today even though it was designed in the 1920's

DRY FLIES
The dry fly is designed to float on the surface of the water. To prevent it sinking, water repellent hackles are wound around the hook to distribute the weight over the surface of the water. The hackles also simulate the legs and splash of an aquatic or terrestrial insect trapped on the water surface. Most Dry flies are deceivers designed to imitate a specific natural fly like the crane fly, ant and hopper series of flies. Other flies like the Adams are more general designs that are just intended to produce an edible looking fly. Dry fly fishing has always been regarded as the supreme art in fly fishing circles. Accurate presentation of the fly can be essential. Trout will rise to a variety of natural flies but as far as the dry fly fisherman is concerned the mayfly hatch has to be the favored time. In almost all instances where trout feed on drowning insects the rule is not to move the fly. An imitation is far more likely to succeed if it is cast out and then left. So long as it is cast in the right spot.

The color of the fly is always important when matching the hatch, then size is the next important decision. The artificial fly does not have to be a precise imitation of the natural insect, but what is important is how and where it is presented in relation to the depth of water. This includes the height at which the fly floats above the surface of the water. Some fish will greedily take flies that are floating in the surface but ignore flies that are floating above it and visa versa depending on the conditions that day. Use your eyes to see which natural insects the fish are taking. A high-floating dry fly will have more chance of being taken on a bright day because of its visibility, but if it does not dent the surface film on a dull day it will be less effective. A fly floating in the surface on a sunless day leaves a much more visible halo of outlining light which surrounds it.

Always try and get the leader immediately in front of the fly to sink under the water as this makes it harder for the fish to spot. This can make the difference between a blank day or one with lots of action. When putting on floatant make sure you keep it off the leader. This is a common mistake that can affect your fish catching chances. Degrease the front 10 inches. Do not try and fish this pattern downstream as it will drown. Fish it upstream and look in front of you for where the fish are rising for the natural insect. Be observant. If the trout start to dine on spent spinners rather then duns consider changing fly patterns.

MAYFLIES
Some adult mayflies hatch throughout the year but other species hatch only during certain months of the year. The term Mayfly applies to all members of the order of insects not just those that emerge in May. There are hundreds of fly patterns tied to imitate the many different mayflies and stages of their development. The natural insect belongs to the group of insects called Ephemeroptera. Ephemeros means 'lasting a day' and peteron means 'a wing'. Mayflies have cylindrical bodies, slender legs and two pairs of veined wings which are held vertical when at rest. They are found all over the world and are commonly called up-winged flies in some areas. The adults do not feed and live for only a very short time: most less than a day and some only for a few minutes. 

The aquatic Mayfly nymphs moult anything from 12 to 50 times and take up to two years to reach adulthood. In any square yard or meter of a stream there may be a few hundred to many thousand mayfly nymphs. They are an important part of any predator fish's diet. The fully grown nymph swallows air and floats to the surface where it emerges into the subimaginal stage. The Dun sits on the water surface for a few seconds after hatching to enable the blood to pump up it's wings and for them to dry. The colder the weather the longer this takes. It is very vulnerable to attack at this time from under the water surface. On windy days, gusts can topple over the drifting duns and drown them. If you cannot see any rises for surface floating duns during a hatch on windy days the fish are feasting sub surface on the unlucky sinking drowned duns as well as the emerging nymphs. Try using a partridge and Yellow Soft hackled spider wet fly, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Wet fly, Blue Dun or Light Cahill wet fly to imitate drowned duns, depending on the local insects body color that can range from pale yellow, olive to tan. Wing color also varies throughout the world from pale gray to pale yellow. I often fish these wet flies on a dropper about 18 inches behind a dry fly. The soft hackle or wet fly imitating the drowned dun often catches the fish when nothing else works.

If the drifting newly emerged duns have not been eaten by a fish during this vulnerable time, they fly off and hide on the surrounding vegetation. Within 24 hours the duns molt into spinners and and are ready to mate. Mating swarms are formed by the males to attract females. They also occur at dawn or dusk to reduce the chances of single insects being taken. When a female flies into the swarm she mates with a male. The males fall onto the water spent and drown. They are known as 'spent spinners'. The females return to the riverside vegetation for a short period whilst the eggs mature. When the eggs are ready the females fly out over the water, dip into the water, lay their eggs and then fall into the water spent.  Some females species swim down to attach their eggs to submerged vegetation or objects. Others just land on the water surface making tempting targets for hungry trout. Try and scoop up a natural spinner floating dead in the water surface and match the body color with a parachute dry fly like a Greenwells, Tup's Indispensable or Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Parachute.