I am a big fan of Davy Wotton’s video, “Wet Fly Ways.” I learn something new every time I watch it. The rigging of droppers, the angle of the “cast” of flies (ie. three flies, usually all wets or maybe one dry at the top, or “hand” position, and two wets) — all rich stuff.

There is one point in the video when the straight man asks the Welsh Wizard of the Wet Fly if he ever adds a little weight to the rig.

Wotton bites the guy’s head off. It’s pretty amusing.

Good thing the Wiz wasn’t around this evening on the Housatonic.

Last night I was in the middle of about five different hatches and couldn’t catch a thing. Fish were begging to be caught, yet they spurned by every offering.

Tonight, in a different spot, I hardly saw any bugs coming up. Of the ones I saw, there was a cream-colored bug, and a dark, big bug.

Also mosquitoes. They like me. I believe the mosquitoes of the Housatonic eat very sparingly during the day, knowing I am likely to show up around dinner time.

So I rigged up with a big Light Cahill dry on top, a Leadwing Coachman wet in the middle, and a Light Cahill wet below.

It was windy, and I foolishly brought a 4 weight, 10 foot rod. Although it was windy enough that I don’t think anything short of an 8 weight would have made much difference.

So I spent the first two hours getting blown around and tangled up. There were a couple of bumps on the Cahill wet, but I couldn’t seal the deal.

I then went downstream, to a stretch of runs and riffles that operates to the side of the main current. I have had good results here in the past. The video clip shows the stretch, although you can’t tell that it is about four feet deep in the calm part. The point is there are different depths and different currents operating in a relatively short stretch — ideal for a short line, long leader and long rod approach.

I saw what had to be an isonychia coming off the water. So I cheesed the dry fly, put on an iso emerger, and kept the rest of the rig.

And I added a little piece of split shot to the leader, about six inches above the point (or bottom) fly, in this case, the Light Cahill wet.

Casting a little upstream, I quickly mended and kept the rod up high. Hardly any line on the water, all leader. Second try, a decent brown took the now slightly weighted Cahill.

Rinse and repeat, for the next hour and a half. I caught trout on all three flies, not the usual experience. One of them was pretty good but he wriggled off. That’s what you get with barbless hooks.

So while Wotton would disapprove, it was that miniscule amount of weight that got the cast of flies down enough for the fish to see them and react.