Individual trout patterns are almost all variations on a set of standard themes, called pattern styles. The traditional Catskill dry fly is an example. It has been varied endlessly by changing the materials or colors for tails, wings, hackles, and bodies. Each variation has its own name: Adams, Light Cahill, Royal Coachman, Blue-Winged Olive, and so on. But the basic shape of each Catskill style of dry is always the same. So are the steps with which you tie the materials onto the hook.

When you've learned to tie any fly in a style--for example, the Adams in the Catskill style--then you've learned to tie them all. If you think of trout flies in terms of styles, rather than viewing them as a vast scattering of individual patterns, each of which you must patiently--or impatiently--learn to tie, then both your tying and your trout fishing will be greatly simplified. You just need to learn to tie a few styles.

Within each pattern style, a single dressing is usually best known and defines the style. The Catskill drys have their roots on our shores in Theodore Gordon's famous Quill Gordon, which had its own origins in hackled drys that Frederick Halford fished in the last century on British chalkstreams. The Adams is the most famous fly in the Catskill style today and is the most often used because it catches the most trout for the most fly fishers.

Traditional Dry Flies

Traditional dry flies have hackle fiber tails, slender bodies, upright paired wings, and collars wound from the best rooster hackle. The shape is based on the form of the natural mayfly dun. The hackle represents legs and wings and also floats the fly on fairly rough water. The tail, body, and hackle have the same footprint on the water-give the same light impressions-as the natural. That's often more important than an exact imitation of an insect, especially on riffles and runs, where a trout doesn't get a long look at a fly and must make a quick decision to take or refuse.

The Adams is the most important fly in the style to tie and carry in your fly boxes. It was originally tied to represent a flying caddis. The mottled grizzly and brown hackles represent the whirring wings of the natural caddis adult attempting to fly from the water. The dressing takes trout during mayfly and stonefly hatches as well and has become the most popular of all traditional dry flies.

Once you learn to tie the Adams, you can tie any fly in the Catskill style. Other raditional Catskill dry flies include (left to right, top to bottom) the Blue-winged Olive, Blue dun, Light Cahill, March Brown, Dark Hendrickson, and Royal Coachman. Click the image above to learn to tie each fly.

Useful Variations

The variations pictured above (and at left) cover the most common colors of natural mayfly duns. The Light Cahill imitates eastern sulfurs and western pale morning duns. The Blue-Winged Olive represents the widest array of hatches, all across the continent. The Blue Dun represents many gray mayflies. The March Brown and Dark Hendrickson represent specific eastern mayflies, but also look like many other naturals that show themselves to trout in brown and dark gray. The Royal Coachman is an excellent searching dry fly.

For your simplified dry-fly box, I recommend the Adams and Light Cahill in #12-#16, because they give you a dark and a light option. If you decide to use this traditional style to imitate a hatch, try the Blue-Winged Olive or any other listing that represents the hatch on water where you need hackle for flotation. For hatches on smooth water, consider a more imitative style of dry fly, such as the Hairwing Dun or Sparkle Dun.

Fishing Notes

Traditional dry flies float well if treated with dry-fly floatant, always best used before fishing the fly. Whenever you encounter a hatch of mayflies on somewhat rough water--anything but a spring creek or tailwater flat--capture a natural and try the traditional dry that's closest to it in size and color. If no hatch is happening, try the Adams, Light Cahill, or even Royal Coachman as a searching dressing--the drab Adams if you can see it, a brighter fly if you cannot.

Fish these hackled dry flies on upstream casts tight to visible rising trout or with a series of casts that float the fly over all the possible lies in what you read to be good holding water. The rougher the water, the closer you should wade and the shorter you should cast so you can see the fly, follow its drift, and notice when a trout takes it. Watch out for drag caused by currents tugging at your leader and line. If the fly moves unnaturally, lift it off and cast again. If a fish hits, lift your rod tip quickly but gently to set the hook. [The information in this article is adapted from Essential Trout Flies, by Dave Hughes.]