When Drag Is Desirable

With all the talk about drag-free drifts, you’d think the fly fishing world revolved around limp leaders, bounce casts, and stack mends. But fly fishing is filled with examples of where doing the exact opposite of the general advice often gets better results. Skating flies is a perfect example.
This week on MidCurrent, Tom Rosenbauer shares his considerable insight on the subject in “When Drag is Desirable:”
“Imparting movement to a dry fly is one of the most effective and exciting ways to fish dry flies, but it must be done under the right circumstances with special techniques that distinguish movement given to the fly by the fisherman from ordinary drag.”