Palmered Flies, Simple And....

Palmered flies, simplicity equals fish catching ability. I have written about palmered flies in the past. The orange palmer and yellow palmer are two dry flies that exceed when called into service. But the palmered flies featured here are wet flies. They are simple to tie and require few materials. They are not difficult to fish, actually there is no set method other then cast them into the water. For the most part these flies will not sink deep but remain in that mid water level until they complete their drift at which they will rise up in the way a natural insect will.

The materials used are thread, dubbing and some hackle. The hackle is from a India rooster which seems to work well with these flies. The color of the hackle can vary from dark to light with that center band which is a bit darker. I usually use Australian opossum but any spikey dubbing will work.

Here is a palmered fly when dry. You can see the dark highlight from the badger hackle.

This one has a little lighter hackle.

When wet these flies take on a whole new look. They represent no single insect but do represent every insect that is in a stream. The hackle flares in the water and it's incredible the amount of movement these simple flies impart.

Take a real close look at this fly. You can see the distinct color variations, the tiny legs caused by the wrapping of the dubbing. A fish eye view that says "eat it"....so simple yet so complex.