Trout Tips: Dress flies so you can see them

Sometimes it's just as important for you, the angler, to see your fly as it is for the fish to see it. Photo by Chris Hunt.

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from TU's book, "Trout Tips," available online or in our annual gear liquidation sale, along with seasons one and two of TU's former TV series, "On the Rise."

I have been a fly-fishing guide since 2001, and a member since 1996, and the vice president of the Northern Virginia Chapter for many years. I have been giving a presentation to our local fly-fishing community, as well as speaking at several TU chapters in Virginia and Maryland on the topic of, "More Time Fishing, Less Time with Equipment." It is a collection of tips that I have learned not only from my own fly-fishing experiences, but from other anglers and guides over the years. 

It consists of about 25 tips, but the one that has been most helpful to me—because I am firmly entrenched in what I like to call the "March of Time," and so are my clients for the very same reason (eyesight isn't what it used to be)—is ... if you are dry-fly fishing and using small flies (tricos, BWOs, midges and small ants), apply floatant and then brush on Frog's Fanny or another desiccant; and instead of blowing it off, leave it on, which makes for a big, fluffy target that you can see for days. 

It has been so helpful with my clients, who now can see the drift of the fly.

— Kathleen "Kiki" Galvin