Dry Flies: Snobbery or Just Plain Common Sense?

May 5, 2007 By: Marshall Cutchin

“One of the first advantages a beginner notices with dry flies is this: With a submerged fly, you are never quite sure that a cast has covered the fish’s lie properly.” Ken Allen writes about the coincidence of quill gordon and red quill hatches with the activity of Maine flora, and includes this great quote from William Tapply on dry fly purism: “However, at the risk of getting booted out of the Fellowship of Purists, I’ll expose our secret: We dry-fly snobs like to catch fish as much as anybody. Sportsmanship, tradition, artfulness and aesthetic values have nothing to do with it.” In the Kennebec Journal.