How To Tie Flies

I started tying flies about 30 years ago, but I still remember the first handful of patterns I learned to tie and fish. Maybe that’s more proof that I’m getting old – things that happened decades again are crystal clear in my memory, but I can’t quite recall what I had for breakfast this morning! […]

My introduction to the Golden Retriever came in a fly shop in Rangeley, Maine, in early June. A few friends and I had planned a trip to the “land of legends” in hopes of experiencing brook trout fishing the way it should be. And, of course, every good trip starts with a stop by the

Semperfli’s Dirty Bug Yarn is a specially designed mix of natural and synthetic materials, and in many ways reminds me of a modern version of Chadwick 477, the original material used to tie patterns such as the Utah Killer Bug. In fact, Semperfli also now offers a material called Chadwick 477 Substitute for tying this

In my box of terrestrial tricks, you’ll invariably find the Letort Cricket. Developed by Ed Shenk in the 1950s, Shenk often touted the Letort Cricket as his most effective fly, and he wasn’t wrong. He said he’d used it to catch trout on rivers all across the United States as well as Argentina, and although

The Smokejumper was developed by Montana fly fishing guide Mike Hoiness for fishing the Bighorn River. The fly works everywhere, though, and is particularly good in small sizes for matching midge hatches here in the Eastern U.S. One of the things I appreciate about this pattern, other than its effectiveness at catching trout, is that

The Micro Mayfly did not make my initial list of confidence flies. Nevertheless, it is just too effective to leave off. As with the Frenchie and Shop Vac, the Micro Mayfly is one of my go-to tag patterns. As a matter of fact, fishing the Micro Mayfly is identical to fishing the Shop Vac as

Summertime wild browns love eating the Green Weenie. I will never, ever be caught dead on a Class A brown trout stream in July, August, and September without a dubious quantity of Green Weenies in my fly box. In fact, both limestone and freestone wild browns crush the Green Weenie in the summertime when fished

Other than a standard Walt’s Worm, the Shop Vac has likely taken more small limestone spring creek fish for me than any other fly. This is a Western pattern from West Yellowstone, MT, also introduced to me by Grumpy Dave. He discovered this nymph on a fishing trip to the Madison River. Let me tell

The Frenchie is the first Euro nymphing-specific pattern that I ever encountered. As a matter of fact, the Frenchie fly is so similar to Frank Sawyer’s Pheasant Tail Nymph that only the addition of a hotspot and heavy weight really separates it from the original. From what I’ve read, Lance Egan developed, or introduced this