You gotta get the fly out there, let it sink and then work it to attract the fish. I do a lot of wet fly fishing, it's an added skill set, different than working the fly on the surface. Sometimes you work it shallow, sometimes down fifteen, twenty feet.
"Wet" flies imitate larva and emerging bugs. Dry flies imitate develop bugs, landing on the surface. Then there are "flies" that imitate eggs bounding on the stream bed or floating with the current. And, there are leeches, egg sucking leechs and, a favorite up here, leech sucking eggs. They work and they are purely a novelty someone dreamed up over a long, dark, boring winter.
edit: Fish can be both surface feeders and feed at depth. Sometimes you gotta put the fly below the surface. Lake trout hardly ever hunt on the surface in my experience. So, it's not always simulated flies being fished.
"Wet" flies imitate larva and emerging bugs. Dry flies imitate develop bugs, landing on the surface. Then there are "flies" that imitate eggs bounding on the stream bed or floating with the current. And, there are leeches, egg sucking leechs and, a favorite up here, leech sucking eggs. They work and they are purely a novelty someone dreamed up over a long, dark, boring winter.
edit: Fish can be both surface feeders and feed at depth. Sometimes you gotta put the fly below the surface. Lake trout hardly ever hunt on the surface in my experience. So, it's not always simulated flies being fished.