As fly tyers and fly fishers we have lots of patterns to work with. I have several books on wet flies, spiders, flymphs and nymphs. In many of these books the patterns show flies tied with a tail and flies tied without a tail. In my own tying I find that most of the flies do not have a tail. One book I work with named Fly Fishing Soft-Hackles by Allen McGee has many patterns featured and going through them I would say half of them have tails and the other half have not. Tails on these wet flies from my experience serve no purpose in the effectiveness of a wet fly. The overall look of the fly changes and that change is in the length of the fly. Below are a group of wet flies and soft-hackled emergers. Some are tied with tails and some with out. What are your thoughts, and what do you fish more often, tail or no tail?
