The Classic Adams

[Dejon Hamann]

My first years fly fishing were guided under the patient tutorship of one "Sleepy Floyd Henderson."  He was primarily a dry fly purist.  Not only that he was an Adams purist.  He had classic Adams tied in sizes ranging from 8 to 20.  My grandfather would drive me down to the bank of the East Branch to meet Floyd just before the evening hatch.  We would fish one single Adams dry on a 10 foot leader.  No frills.  No tricks.  We spent a lot of time sitting on the bank watching fish in their various holding places.  We talked about Entomology.  We studied water structure and fish behavior.  He was also a champion duck carver so we watched birds and other wildlife.  If the fish wouldn't take a perfectly presented Adams then we would just sit and wait.  And watch.  There was something so pure about those years and  2 rows in my Dry Fly Box are always dedicated to this old standby.

One of Floyd's theories was Trout generally didn't give a dam about color, but they were sticklers for size. 

Bob Petti presents a nice classic example here:
http://www.danica.com/flytier/bobpetti/adams.htm

Fly: Bob Petti, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann

[Mark Hanes]

A great fly and i still know guys who only use it in a few different body colors to get them through most of there fishing.  The Adams wet is also a good fly.