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For this technique you want to use a floating line. I generally prefer a 5wt or 6wt rod, but 4wt or 7wt rod will also work. The length of the rod will depend on the river or stream. A smaller rod (7.5ft to 8.5ft) will work fine for small streams and a longer rod (9ft to 10ft) will work best for larger streams and rivers.
When I fish a wet fly with a floating line on a river, I tend to pick targets on the water to cast to, such as the outside edge of a riffle, under a log, under a cut bank, a deep pool, shadows, and edges of current seams.
I strip out a bunch of line and shake some out of the rod close to me. I start casting and stripping out more line while I'm casting. I also do my best to keep the fly off the water until it is within range of the target. On every cast, I aim a couple feet above the water so the line will come tight above the water. (If the line comes tight on the water, the line, leader, and fly will slap the water and scare the crap out of any nearby fish.) I make three or four false casts and rotate my body upstream on every cast. On my second to last cast, my rod and line are perpendicular to the flow of the river. I make my last cast when my rod is pointed about 30 ° upstream of perpendicular. When I have almost completed the forward stroke on the last cast, I let go of the line and let the line in the air pull out any slack. The line should come tight in the air and drop to the water. With my rod tip still in the air, I let the line drift downstream and the fly sink until the line is again perpendicular to the river. At this point, I mend the line upstream by drawing a circle in the air with the tip of my rod. I am now fishing.
I let the line and fly drift downstream drag free as long as possible and take a couple steps downstream. As soon as I put drag on the line, the fly will lift up in the water column. This if the point where a lot of hits will happen.
When your line reaches the end of the drift and comes tight from the current and starts to drag, slowly lift your rod tip and recast the line to start another drift. Simply rotating your rod tip from the downstream position to the upstream position is often enough to reposition you fly at the top of the dirft in this situation.
