By Skip Morris
The Attractor-Fly Angle
On the first count, that flies must always resemble the natural feed of fish, innocent elemental logic (so, teenage logic) was at work. That logic does add up: Want a fish to eat your fly? Make your fly look like what that fish eats. What I didn’t yet understand is that fish have little regard for logic or for fly fishers’ adamant beliefs; consequently, attractor flies really do work. Under the right circumstances (which I can only ever determine by trying one) attractor flies can far out-fish imitative flies, can be simply deadly. These right circumstances are, in my experience, fairly common. And one such deadly attractor is the elegant Alexandra. —Excerpted from the Summer 2025 issue of Fly Fusion.
Morris makes the case clearly: sometimes suggestion, motion, and presence outperform strict imitation. When trout refuse the dead drift but continue to show, a swung wet can change everything.
Here are six classic patterns, from bold attractors to quiet naturals, that deserve a place in your swing rotation.
