WET FLIES AND HOW TO FISH THEM
DAVE HUGHES
June, 2019

   In June we welcome back legendary angler, author and fly tier Dave Hughes with a brand new program on Wet Flies and Wet Fly Fishing.  Despite its ancient origins and varied styles, wet fly fishing is frequently overlooked by the modern fly fisherman. Dave will show that, fished correctly, these versatile flies can outfish the more standard contents of your fly box. In his long career Dave has been fortunate to meet, and in most cases to fish with, some of the most famous wet-fly anglers in the world:  Sylvester Nemes and his soft-hackles, Pete Hidy and his flymphs, Polly Rosborough and his fuzzy nymphs (the basis for all-fur wet flies), and Davy Wotton, instructor in the video Wet Fly Ways. This new presentation reviews the various wet fly styles, with notes on what makes each attractive to trout, including notes on many hatches that they match. It focuses on how to rig and fish wet flies.

DAVE HUGHES

Dave Hughes is author of more than 20 books about fly fishing for trout. They include Wet Flies, Handbook of Hatches, Reading Trout Water, Essential Trout Flies, the classic Western Hatches (with Rick Hafele), American Fly Tying Manual, Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters, Trout From Small Streams, Pocketguide to Western Hatches and the massive reference Trout Flies.

His articles on fly fishing have appeared in Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, Northwest Fly Fishing, and Fly Tyer magazines. Dave served as editor of Flyfishing & Tying Journal for eight years, and is currently a columnist for American Angler, and Flyfishing & Tying Journal.

Born in Astoria, Oregon on the 4th of July, 1945, Dave worked his way through college at jobs specializing in the Three Ds--Dirty, Difficult, and Dangerous:  mink ranches, tuna canneries, and shrimp boats. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1967, from Army Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1968. Dave served one-and-a-half years in Viet Nam, 6 months as a communications site commander in the Mekong Delta, one year as liaison officer to the Commanding General of communications in the Southeast Asia theater.

Dave was founding president of Oregon Trout in 1983, and was awarded life membership in the Federation of Flyfishers in 1985. He was awarded the Pete Hidy honorary life membership in the Flyfishers Club of Oregon in 1992 for his literary accomplishments. Dave received the prestigious Letcher Lambuth Angler Craftsman Award in 2008 from the Washington Fly Fishing Club. He is a life member of his home club, the Rainland Flycasters in Astoria, Oregon.

Dave is an accomplished amateur aquatic entomologist. His hobbies include collecting, identifying, and photographing the aquatic insects that are fed upon by trout, as well as tying and fishing the flies that match those insects and fool those trout.

Dave lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Japanese fly fishing writer Masako Tani.