There does not seem to be a widely agreed, black and white definition of what activities constitute fly fishing. Different clubs have varying rules, while modern ‘hybrid’ tackle and flies complicate matters further. However, most flyfishers intuitively ‘know’ what fly fishing is and merely adjust their technique and tackle to suit the rules of the waters that they fish.
For the sake of simplicity, fly fishing has been split into three areas on this website. These are:
- Dry Fly Fishing – where the artificial is designed to float and sits in or on the surface and has a maximum hook size of 8.
- Nymphing – where an artificial without hackles and designed to sink is fished sub-surface and has a maximum hook size of 8.
- Wet Fly and Lure Fly Fishing – where the artificial has hackles or appendages and is fished sub-surface or ‘stripped’ across the surface.
Fighting Trout
| Dry Flies | Nymphs | Wet Flies |
 Adams Dry Fly |
 Sawyer Pheasant Tail Nymph |
 Greenwell's Glory Wet Fly |