Brassie
Small, simple, and deadly is the best way to describe the Brassie. It uses just two materials in its construction to form an effective imitation of a wide range of midge pupae. Being simple, it can be tied very small right down to a size 20 hook. The most important part of the fly is the body, formed by close turns of wire that create a slim profile and add extra weight. This wire body helps the Brassie to sink quickly, making it an ideal subsurface pattern for use on rivers and lakes. In the...
Royal Wulff
First tied by the late Lee Wulff, the Royal Wulff is one of a series of dry flies that have a trademark V-shaped hair wing. The result is a fly that is robust and easy to tie. A bunch of bucktail or calf-tail hair is tied in so that it projects over the eye it is then divided into two wings by using figure-of-eight turns of thread. With its striking coloration, the Royal Wulff is not an imitative pattern but rather it is used to trigger the trout's inquisitiveness. It is an effective fly even...
Black Ghost
This is a very traditional style of streamer, but still very effective on both lakes and rivers. It uses paired cock hackles for the wing, placed back-to-back and tied in at the head. When using hackles in this way, it is important that they are of similar size. Check that the fibers are undamaged and then place the pairs of hackles together, dull-sides in. Hackles have a natural curve to them, and putting them together so that they curve toward one another means that they cancel each other out...
March Brown
Originally tied as an imitation of a specific species of mayfly, the March Brown has since been used as a more general and highly effective wet fly. The key to its success is the combination of hare's fur, partridge hackles, and hen pheasant wing to produce a very natural effect that works well on trout feeding on nothing in particular. When using hare's fur for a body, it is important to use both the softer underfur and the stiffer, spiky guard hairs to add a bit of life. The softer fur acts...
Info 47
IOnce the hook is fixed in the vise, wind the tying thread in close turns over the loop eye. Carry it down the shank and catch in a few fibers of dyed red cock hackle. 2 At the same point, catch in 3 inches 7.5cm of fine, silver tinsel. Secure the waste ends along the shank with thread, helping to form an even base for the body. 3 Remove some of the fibers from the end of a 3-inch 7.5-cm length of fluorescent orange chenille. Catch the chenille in at the base of the tail, using the bare section...
Info 12
1 Secure the hook in the vise. Wind on four turns of lead wire behind the eye and cover them with tying thread. Catch in a few fibers of hare's fur as a tail plus 2 inches 5cm of fine, gold tinsel. 2 Cover the waste ends of the hair and tinsel with thread before dubbing on a body of hare's fur. This should be a mix of guard hairs and softer underfur. Wind the hare's fur right up to the turns of lead wire. 3 Take hold of the gold tinsel and wind it over the fur in the opposite direction. This...
Info 15
IFix the hook and wind on close turns of lead wire, starting just short of the eye. Leave a section of the hook shank bare at the bend. Secure the wire with wraps of tying thread. Take a pinch of red fox squirrel back hairs and tie in as a tail. 2 Take 2 inches 5cm of fine, oval, gold tinsel and secure it in place at the base of the tail. Leave the waste end short so that it helps fill the bare section of hook to the rear of the lead wire. 3 Tease out a generous pinch of the red fox squirrel...
Stimulator
The Stimulator is a large, high-float fly with a low-wing profile that mimics a variety of caddis and stonefly species. With a tail and wing of buoyant elk hair, it can be fished dead-drift or skated without swamping, even in fast, broken water. Positioning can be a problem when tying in elk because it is hollow and easily compressed, so tight turns of thread will cause it to flare. Tight turns are therefore only used to fix the hair in place. Once this has been achieved, looser turns are used...
Egg Fly
The Egg Fly is tied to represent a salmon egg a source of food for many species of fish, including rainbow trout, char, and grayling. When Pacific salmon are on their reds, the number of eggs laid is simply vast, and other fish will congregate behind the spawning fish and pick off any eggs that drift downstream. The pattern is extremely simple to tie, the procedure being similar to that used for applying deer hair. First, a short, thick bunch of Glo-bug yarn is tied to the middle of the hook...
Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph
This pattern is a variation of the classic Pheasant Tail Nymph. Its body, tail, and rib are the same as the original, but the thorax of this pattern includes a few strands of pearl Lurex laid over the peacock herl. Pearl Lurex gives a wonderful flash and sparkle to any fly, and in the case of the Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph only a small amount of the material is used to keep the effect as subtle as possible. The aim is to suggest the sparkle caused by gases trapped within the skin of a mature...
Fly Tying Gold Head Daddy
This is more a generic style of tying than an individual pattern. Goldhead Bugs can be tied in a variety of colors, although they all have a metal gold bead at the head to give weight and a fish-attracting sparkle. Being well weighted, Goldhead Bugs are designed to fish deep, and they work well both in lakes and rivers. When using a gold bead, it is important to find a hook that will accept it. The shape of some hooks prevents the bead slipping around the bend, so it is always worth checking...
Viva
Black and green is a great color combination for early season Stillwater patterns. The Viva, named after a 1960s British car model, is a lure that combines just these colors, with a black wing and body contrasted by a fluorescent lime-green tail. To provide a dense silhouette, the body is made of chenille and capped with a generous wing of dyed black turkey marabou. The marabou not only creates the right profile, but being soft and highly mobile, it gives the pattern plenty of action. When...
Gum Beetle
Microcellular foam is a wonderful material for creating beetle V5f imitations. The buoyancy of the foam means that the beetle will Brown f oat in the surface film without the need for a hackle or an trout added floatant. The foam is available in sheets of various thicknesses, the most useful for this size of fly being inch Rainbow 3mm . Colors also vary, yellow being the base for this Gum Beetle, which is a favorite Australian pattern. Black, however, is the most commonly used color because it...
Appetizer
This pattern was developed by Bob Church specifically to imitate the small baitfish found in many lakes and reservoirs. It was one of the first British patterns to incorporate marabou, which Church used to give the pattern the movement of a small fish. The Appetizer also has an overwing of gray squirrel tail, which, although dumbing down the action of the marabou, gives some control and also suggests the darker back of the fish. The tail and hackle are both a blend of gray mallard flank feather...
Soft Hackle
This deadly little fly looks like a cross between a nymph and a simple, hackled wet fly, and it is quick and easy to tie. The key to its success is the soft, highly mobile collar hackle. The feather used for this style of fly is normally a small game-bird feather such as gray partridge. The plumage of this bird has a subtle brown and tan mottling that makes it ideal for representing the legs of a small nymph or a drowned adult insect. When tying hackles from game-bird feathers, always tie the...
Info 46
1 Starting from a third of the way down the shank, wind on close turns of lead wire. Cover the lead with fluorescent red tying thread, stopping opposite the barb. Cut a section of silver Mylar tubing one-and-a-half times the hook length. 2 Remove any core inside the tubing and compress it slightly to increase the inside diameter. Slide the tubing along the shank up to the tying thread. 3 Allow the frayed ends of the tubing to slide slightly past where the thread is resting. Secure the end of...
Sparkle Pupa
A comprehensive study of the caddis fly's life cycle gave Gary LaFontaine the inspiration for this superbly designed imitation. It is tied to imitate a caddis pupa as it emerges to transpose into the winged adult. What makes it so clever is LaFontaine's use of Antron tied as a loose envelope over the main body. The result is that air trapped within the fibers produces a sparkle similar to that formed by gases within the skin of the natural. It is a pattern that works well on both rivers and...
Polar Shrimp
This brightly colored fly is a great favorite both for steelhead and the various species of Pacific salmon. The body is formed either from wool or chenille, the latter giving a more translucent effect. The white wing can be formed from either calf or polar bear hair. As when tying all hairwinged flies, care must be taken to ensure that the wing is securely locked in place. Use a strong thread that is not too thick. The more turns that can be applied to the wing base, the more likely it is to...
Parachute Hare S Ear
When trout are repeatedly rising with a gentle sipping action, this is certainly the pattern to try. Tied parachute style, this version of the ever-popular Hare's Ear is absolutely deadly when fish are feeding on insects trapped in the surface. The thing that sets parachute flies apart is the way the hackle is tied. Instead of being wound around the hook, the hackle is applied around a wing post, which sits upright at 90 degrees to the hook shank. This post can be constructed from a variety of...
Blue Charm
The Blue Charm is a standard Atlantic salmon fly, effective Atlantic throughout the summer months, when the river is running at its normal level. This version is tied as a simple hairwing, rather than the original that uses strips of bronze mallard edged with barred teal. Hairwing flies are now the most popular type of salmon fly Sea trout because they are easier to tie and more robust than their feather-winged equivalents. When tying floss bodies, using a double layer helps to create a...
Teeny Nymph
Developed by top American fly fisher Jim Teeny, the Teeny Nymph is a simple but deadly pattern. It is tied in a wide range of sizes and colors and is effective for most species of game fish. The body material is comprised of cock pheasant tail fibers, either plain brown or dyed a range of colors, such as black, purple, pink, orange, and olive. The Teeny Nymph is quick and easy to tie so is a great pattern for fishing rocky ground where flies are all too readily snagged and lost. Without fearing...
Stoats Tai
A jet-black dressing contrasted with a sparkling silver rib and a Atlantic bright tail of golden pheasant crest feather make the Stoat's Tail salmon mQst effectjve 0f Atlantic salmon flies. The dark Jgpl silhouette it creates works in all conditions, from the colored water of a spring flood to the crystal-dear flow of a river at ea trout summer eve Originally, real stoat's tail was used for the wing, but now dyed bucktail is preferred, or squirrel tail in the smaller sizes of hook. The floss...
Turcks Tarantula
Devised by Guy Turck, this unorthodox fly has the distinction of winning the prestigious Jackson Hole One Fly competition. It combines a number of elements, such as its low calf-tail wing and Muddler head, along with rubber legs, to produce a large, dry fly that rises big, selective trout, even on hard-fished waters. Because it has plenty of built-in action, it can be fished in a whole manner of ways, from dead drift to twitched or skated. It is tied in a range of body colors from hare's fur to...
CDC Dun
Tied in a variety of sizes and shades of olive, the CDC Dun is ' f a wonderfully effective imitation of a whole range of small to troT medium mayfly species. The gray cul-de-canard wing provides just the right color and translucency to suggest those of the freshly emerged mayfly dun, producing a pattern that can be tied Cutthroat on confidence when fishing either rivers or lakes. The key when tying small dry flies is to keep the effect as slim and sparse as possible. Here, this is achieved by...
Suspender Buzzer
Plastic microcellular foam is one of the great successes of ' f modern fly-tying. Being buoyant and extremely tough, it is trout Perfect for creating a whole range of dry flies and emerger patterns. The key to using foam is judging the amount needed as little as possible, so that the fly still floats but bulk is kept to a Rainbow minimum. In this pattern, a small strip of foam is folded over to form a buoyant thorax. In this way, the Suspender Buzzer, which imitates a small, hatching midge,...
Daddy Longlegs
The crane fly, or daddy longlegs, is a semiaquatic insect that can be found throughout the summer and fall, though it is during Brown coo er months toward the end of the year that it is most prolific. The larvae live either in bankside soil or in the damp margins of either rivers or lakes, where they feed on the roots Rainbow of vegetation. Though the adults vary in size and color, they all trout have the characteristically thin, tapered body and long, gangling legs. These legs are a major...
Goddard Caddis
This pattern was originally known as the G amp H Sedge, after its inventors, John Goddard and Cliff Henry. It uses deer hair clipped into the roof-winged profile of an adult caddis fly. The result is not only a very natural shape, but also the buoyancy of the deer hair means that the fly floats like a cork, even when being skated over the surface. The deer hair is applied in exactly the same way as it would be for a Muddler Head, the only difference being that it runs the entire length of the...
Soldier Palmer
This bright red fly is a great favorite for loch-style fishing. With its bushy, palmered hackle, it works well on the top dropper of trout a ree-fly cast. Palmering is a technique used for tying a hackle the entire length of the body. It is a method used for many traditional lake flies, where the density of hackling produces a fly Rainbow that makes plenty of disturbance in the water's surface. It is also trout used on dry flies, particularly those that need to ride high in fast, broken water....
Light Cahill
The Light Cahill is a classic U.S. pattern and, though over 100 years old, is still a highly efficient fish catcher. It imitates a whole range of pale-colored mayflies, the most striking part of the fly being its speckled lemon wings. These wings are formed from fibers of lemon wood-duck flank feather, which are tied in as a single bunch and then divided to form a V-shaped profile. When tying this style of fly, the wing is normally applied before any other material. This allows the waste ends...
Timberline Emerger
f This brilliant little pattern was designed by top U.S. angler Randal Kaufman, and is deadly when trout are taking small, emerging trail mayflies- T'ecl on a '' t wire 00 Pattem can be fished dead-drift just under the surface, and is a great fly to try when trout are rising steadily but ordinary dun imitations are being Cutthroat re used. The immature wings of the natural are imitated by using two grizzle hackle points tied short, while a slim tail of gray marabou gives the impression of the...
Thunder Creek Minnow
1 After fixing the hook in the vise, run on the tying thread at the eye and carry it down the shank to the bend. Catch in 6 inches 15cm of embossed or medium-width, oval, silver tinsel. 2 Wind the thread on in close turns to lock the waste end of the tinsel along the shank. This provides an even base for the tinsel body. Wind the tinsel in touching turns toward the eye. 3 Secure the end of the tinsel close to the eye and remove the excess. Take a bunch of white bucktail, approximately twice the...
Olive Matuka
The term Matuka originally applied to a specific New Zealand bird whose feathers were used for this style of fly. The term has since come to mean a winging style where the feathers are secured to the top of the body with turns of ribbing. The great advantage of this method is that it prevents the wing from twisting or getting caught under the bend of the hook while casting. The wing is prepared in the standard way of forming a streamer wing, using pairs of cock hackles placed back to back. Only...
Blae and Black
This traditional wet-fly pattern was designed to imitate the large black midges that hatch from many lakes from spring to early summer. Its Scottish roots are betrayed by the word blae, which actually means blue and refers to the fly's blue-gray wing, formed from starling or duck primary feather. Though a variation of this pattern uses a dubbed body, the original uses floss silk. To keep the effect smooth, the floss is wound in a double layer starting a short distance from the eye. To prevent...
Info 41
White marabou with a pinch of gray squirrel over the top Orange and green hackle fibers mixed with speckled gray mallard Size 6-8 3X longshank or two in tandem Orange and green hackle fibers mixed with speckled gray mallard 1 Secure the hook in the vise and run the tying thread from the eye to the bend. Take a few fibers each of gray mallard and orange and green cock hackle fibers, and catch them in as a tail. 2 At the same point catch in 3 inches 7.5cm of fine, oval, silver tinsel. Leave the...
Czech Nymph
With the basic profile of a caseless caddis larva, the Czech Nymph is extremely effective when trout and grayling are feeding hard on the riverbed. Developed by Czech anglers, the combination of heavy hook and lead underbody ensures that the pattern sinks extremely quickly, making it ideal for fishing in deep or fast-moving water. The Czech Nymph may be tied in a range of colors, with brown and green being the most effective. The shellback consists of a thin, flexible plastic strip, a product...
Serendipity
The Serendipity has a buoyant thorax constructed from deer hair, which has been spun and clipped into shape, and is a very effective imitation of a midge pupa. When chironomid midge pupae transpose into adults, they must first rise to the water's surface, hanging with the back of the thorax right in the surface film. This critical stage in the insect's life is mimicked beautifully by the Serendipity. The technique used to form the thorax is the same as used for a standard Muddler head, only the...
Sparkle Dun
No-hackle flies are designed for fishing smooth glides and other types of water where trout are suspicious of denser, hackled patterns. The Sparkle Dun is a variation on the original Compara Dun, with a tail of clear Antron replacing the natural, gray deer hair. The aim is to imitate a small mayfly emerging from its nymphal shuck, and the clear, sparkling tail does this superbly. The fly is made to float by using deer hair flared around the top of the hook in a semicircle. The hollow deer hair...
Sparkler
Although it vaguely resembles a small baitfish, the Sparkler is tied as an out-and-out attractor. It is most effective when fished on a fast-sinking line, especially when targeting rainbow trout in lakes. During the summer months, these fish can often be found feeding a few feet down on vast clouds of tiny water fleas known as Daphnia. Though these creatures are impossible to imitate, because of their size and sheer numbers, trout are more than willing to grab a flashy pattern such as the...
Bibio Fly Tying
This is a great fly to use when fishing a gray, rolling wave. The Bibio is of Irish origin, and was initially designed for catching sea trout. It has, however, proved extremely successful for both brown and rainbow trout when fishing large lakes and dams. With a hackle running the length of the body a technique known as palmering , it is a bushy fly that, when pulled through the water, creates a fish-attracting disturbance. The density of this hackle can be altered depending on the number of...
Info 37
2 Wind the Mylar down to the tail in closely butted turns. Wind it back to its catching-in point, making sure that no turns overlap as this will ruin the smooth effect. 3 Secure the loose end of Mylar at the eye. Take hold of the oval, silver tinsel and wind it over the body in five evenly spaced turns. Secure the tinsel at the eye. and remove the excess tinsel and Mylar. 4 Prepare a bunch of blue cock hackles by removing any broken fibers from the bases, leaving short stubs of bare stem. Catch...
Adams
Although now over eighty years old, the Adams is still a very modern looking fly. The combination of grizzle and brown hackles with a medium-gray body has produced a great general dry fly pattern that catches fish around the world in a wide range of water types. This makes the Adams one of the most popular trout flies in use today. This pattern uses hackle point wings along with two hackles wound together. Hackle point wings have the advantage that they are quick and easy to tie, and they don't...
Trout Fly With A Red Tail Or Tag
This is a very traditional little fly, most famous as a winter pattern for grayling. However, it is actually a very good general pattern, equally useful on rivers and lakes. Although most often used as a dry fly, it can also be tied to be fished wet, the only difference being that a softer-fiber hackle is used. An otherwise somber-hued fly, what really sets it off is the bright tag of red wool that gives the pattern its name. Tying a wool tail is not difficult the main thing to watch out for is...
CDC Emerger
Cul-de-canard is a wonderful material for tying both dry flies and emergers. The feather comes from around the preen gland of a duck, and its fibers contain many tiny filaments impregnated with the natural oil of the duck. This means that cul-de-canard floats superbly, as do the flies tied with it. The CDC Emerger imitates a small mayfly nymph at the very point of transition into the winged adult. Its looped back sits right in the surface film producing a lifelike imitation of this most...
Munro Killer
Many hairwinged salmon flies, particularly those tied on standard Atlantic single or double hooks, have quite short wings, often reaching salmon on y as far as qq bend. The Munro Killer breaks this rule, and has a wing at least twice the length of the hook. The result is a fly with far more action in the water, making it effective even in slower moving parts of a river. The Munro Killer also has a bicolored wing formed by overlaying yellow bucktail with black bucktail. The two colors are placed...
Daves Hopper
This brilliant imitation of a grasshopper was developed by ' f top American fly-tyer Dave Whitlock, who is responsible for a 'trou number of other extremely effective patterns. It is a complicated pattern to tie, but well worth the effort, as it is deadly during r , h'9h summer when trout are feeding on the natural hoppers. Cutthroat The wing is fashioned from a folded strip of turkey wing quill. To make sure that it retains its shape over many casts and fish, spray the back of the quill with a...
Bluewinged Olive
Various species of mayfly throughout the world have the name Blue-winged Olive applied to them. They range in size from medium to small, but all have the same olive-colored body and thorax and smoky blue wings. This particular pattern is a thorax-tie version, so that rather than being wound in a tight collar, the hackle is spread in open turns over the length of the thorax. This gives a more natural footprint on the water, which is improved even further by clipping away the hackle fibers...
Muddler Minnow
This is the original Don Gapen pattern that spawned, literally, thousands of flies that now carry the Muddler appellation. First designed to imitate a small bottom-dwelling fish, Muddlers are now tied as general attractor patterns and to imitate anything from caddis flies to grasshoppers. While each Muddler may differ in color and profile, all have the same basis in their construction the spinning and clipping of deer hair to create a buoyant head or body. Being hollow and easily compressed,...
Scud
Scud, shrimp, call it what you will, this pattern imitates a small crustacean found in most rich lakes and rivers. Because of its curved, thickset shape, the Scud is a great pattern for packing full of lead, and by using wraps or layers of lead foil along the shank it can be tied very heavy. This allows it to be fished successfully in deep or fast-flowing water, where a lighter pattern simply wouldn't get down to the fish feeding on the bottom. Using a curved-shank shrimp hook, the Scud has a...
Rubberlegged Hares Ear
s The Hare's Ear Nymph already has a reputation as a deadly pattern when fishing either rivers or lakes. However, add some Brown ultra-fine rubber legs and you have a pattern that twitches and trout 3 J pulses with life as it drifts with the current. Although standard rubber-legged patterns have been around for a long time, the Cutthroat introduction of very fine rubber strands has meant that the technique can be employed with virtually any type of nymph. These strands come in various...
Clouser Minnow
The Clouser Minnow is an extremely effective baitfish imitation that catches a whole range of game fish in fresh- and saltwater. Brown ts a ure comes from a combination of heavy lead eyes and trout long, mobile tail and wing that give it a wonderful ducking-diving action on every twitch of the retrieve. It is also tied to Arctic take the knocks that come when catching large, powerful fish, and the use of tough materials such as bucktail, ultra-strong thread, and Super Glue ensures that the...