Imitations - Flies that look like the real thing - Keywords - The words we use - Words, tags, taxonomy - Fly fishing tag cloud - Global FlyFisher

Imitations
Flies that look like the real thing

The Green Inchworm

Foam: Most of the rivers in Northern and mid Patagonia are lined with trees, most of which are willows, and in summer they supply one of the trout's favourite meals, the willow worm.
Read about a simple, successful worm pattern here

Martin's Mundane
Crane Fly

Simple: The crane fly or daddy longlegs is a simple insect with some very distinct characteristics, in particular the very long legs, which are a key ingredient in any crane fly pattern. This pattern uses two materials and is dead simple to tie.
Follow the instructions here.

This link takes you to "Hospitalized kids need your flies!"

Hospitalized kids need your flies!

Help: It might sound crazy, but you can actually help hospitalized kids by tying flies for them! Tie flies in support for this science project for kids.
Read on to learn why and how.

Directly to "Shrimp anatomy for the fly tyer"

Shrimp anatomy for the fly tyer

Lecture: Having seen, tied and fished shrimp flies for many years, Martin feels a need to do a little lecture on the real appearance of shrimp, especially targeted at fly tyers.
Take the shrimp class here

Find "Tom's Hopper" on this page

Tom's Hopper

Terrestrial: Before you know it, the summer is upon us, and a hopper pattern can suddenly be what makes a day. Tom Biesot's hopper is a good bet. Using a foam body and a couple of neat tecniques he produces a really good imitation

This link takes you to "The Killer Mantis"

The Killer Mantis

Epoxy: Who else than epoxy wizard (and madman) Bob Kenly would take on tying... eh, building... eh, constructing a Mantis Shrimp as a fly? Follow the project this article where you can read Bob's story about the fly and see pictures of the process and the finished fly.
Join in here

Find "Martin's Mundane Zonker Worm" on this page

Martin's Mundane Zonker Worm

Zonker: For many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it. When the polychaete worms swim freely to spawn, the fish usually go berserk, be it trout, stripers, tarpon or a number of other species. As one writer puts it: It's like yelling "free lunch" to a high school football team.
Learn to tie a simple worm here

More about "Chinos!"

Chinos!

Prey: Colombian Carlos Heinsohn ties a neat baitfish pattern made of synthetic fibers. It's a tough fly with nice movement designed for any predator which feeds on smaller fish. The pattern is more a tying principle than a specific pattern.
See lots of examples here.

Go to the article "Das Cephalopod"

Das Cephalopod

Squid parade: Spring is near and the Cephalopod parade is about to begin. Blue Fish will soon arrive to partake in the high protein seafood buffet and there is also a gathering of Stripers to make it all worthwhile and goal oriented...
Learn to tie a head-foot fly here

This link takes you to "Squid Vicious"

Squid Vicious

Squid parade: Each fall and winter Puget Sound hosts millions of Squid as they move into inland waters to spawn. Puget Sound local Kelvin Kleinman has created the Squid Vicious to imitate these protein rich morsels.
Learn to tie the fly here

This link takes you to "Shark's Wasp"

Shark's Wasp

The sting: Bulgarian fly tyer and fly angler Radoslav Kiskinov takes another stab at imitating a terrestrial insect - this time the wasp - and with usual skill he manages to produce a very life-like fly. Bulgarian anglers and Bulgarian fish love it.
Get stung here.

Click to see "Domestic Fly"

Domestic Fly

Buzzz: The common housefly is indeed... eh.... common, and an obvious insect to imitate. Bulgarian Radoslav Kiskinov has made a simple but very efficient pattern imitating Musca domestica using foam, raffia and peacock herl, which will catch several species when fished dry.
See how to tie it here.

Skip to "Tabou Daddy"

Tabou Daddy

Crayfish: Steve Schweitzer is at it again. He just can't stay away from those chick-a-bou feathers. Maybe it's because chick-a-bou is so versatile and incredibly buggy looking. After tying up four variations of a crawdad pattern, he finally found what worked best. See what he caught on his latest addition to the Tabou Series of flies and
learn how to tie the Tabou Daddy.

"The Wiggling Jigging Worm" is found here

Wiggle Jig Worm

Another rag worm: Maybe you found the previously published tandem rag worm too tandemnised and would be better off with a one-hook-only fly.Then The Wiggling Jigging Worm shown in this article is a good alternative.
Lear to tie this annelid imittion here

Videos with "Imitations - Flies that look like the real thing" - More videos

Wasp in 194 seconds

See video in full resolution

Tying killer wasp pattern for "los chubbitos" (that'Â¨s chub for the rest of us). Excellent tying video from Lithauania.

Go to Honey Shrimp

Honey Shrimp
There are thousands of shrimp patterns in the world, made from the same template. This pattern is a time consumer, but it makes it more interesting tying shrimp flies. The eyes, proportions and legs gives this pattern some kind of magic.

Go to CDC Mayfly

CDC Mayfly
A small mayfly, which may be (mis)taken for a dun during the sometimes the concentreted hatches on late August and Septemper evenings. It uses a hollow extended body, parachute hackle and wings of cdc stems to float high.

Go to Wasp Year

Wasp Year
It has been a hot and dry summer in Scandinavia. Wasps have been a plague in many areas. They have been in every apple, every drink and every house. Some of them may have crossed a stream or river, winding up on the surface before continueing the rush. Some of them never left again.

Go to The Junior Mysis

The Junior Mysis
A fly tied for sea trout in the Baltic area. It proved to be efficient in other places too. Translucent and yet colored. Tie it in olive, rusty or tan and you can imitate any camouflaged mysis - and it will stand out from the crowd. Can be tied by seniors too...

Go to Epoxy Miracle

Epoxy Miracle
A wish for a generic bait imitation was what made Kasper Mühlbach develop a fly, which he originally dubbed the Epoxy Triumph; A small epoxied baitfish imitation along the lines of the American tradition.
This fly was since modified a bit, and is now the Epoxy Miracle.

Go to Imitative Fly Tying

Imitative Fly Tying
Ian Moutter is back with a followup to "Tying Flies the Paraloop Way". Consider this an applied fly tying book, as you not only learn how to tie the flies, but also how they were designed, why they were designed, and how they may be fished.

Go to C&F tube body tool

C&F tube body tool
The C&F extended tube body tool is more than two darning needles in a fancy holder. If you - like Dutch Henk Verhaar - like doing it yourself, this might be worth looking into. The flies tied with extended bodies can become very realistic and still be simple to tie.

Go to Stalcup's Mayflies

Stalcup's Mayflies
Shane's book is devoted to imitations imitations of each major stage of mayfly development - nymph, emerger, adult, and spinner - top to bottom as he says. For each section, he offers up several patterns, each with a introductory essay, step-by-step tying instructions, and a list of variations.

Go to Real Enough!

Real Enough!
A bunch of quite realistic flies by a bunch of well known and unknown international tiers. These fantastic flies are not super realistic imitations, but they certainly look real and convincing enough to fool both men and fish!

Go to Realistic Flies

Realistic Flies
Realistic flies are not only for the display case. As Steve Thornton shows us, realism can also be applied to practical and effective fishing flies. Trout and grayling beware!

Go to Brush eyes

Brush eyes
Shrimp patterns are always fun to tie. These salt water imitatoins are easy to do and fish well. Martin Joergensen has once again pursued the art of imitating these salt water arthopods - this time utilizing his family's hair brushes! Read the story and find the patterns here.

Go to Edwards' Little Ant

Edwards' Little Ant
Ant patterns are usually a bit of foam and a chaotic dry fly hackle. But why not tie it more imitative? It's quite easy.

Go to The Match Shrimp

The Match Shrimp
Matching the hatch is rarely the item when fishing for sea trout in the ocean. The fish are rarely selective and you're sometimes surprised by which flies they are willing to take. But on a few occasions it can be important to imitate the small animals eaten by the trout.

Go to Hoppers with Foam

Hoppers with Foam
I'll warn you now; the hopper is my favorite pattern. It's big, I can see it, it's fun to cast and present it with a plop, I have fun tying them and the fish just adore the big, juicy, summer delight. It's perfect for my less-than-perfect casting habits. The pattern presented in this article is non-typical in my cache of fly patterns, however. This one uses a glued-on, pre-shaped foam body. Hence, the thesis of this article.

Go to Pete's EZ Hopper

Pete's EZ Hopper
"...once they broke the surface film, the butts would tilt down and the head and shoulders would be the only part of the grasshopper above water. They neither rode high in the water, nor lay in a horizontal plane. My thought was to design a hopper that would duplicate that presentation." Read more about Peter Frailey's EZ Hopper.

Go to The Crab

The Crab
This is a fly made for a very specific purpose: cod fishing. It's used on a sink tip or sinking line over fairly deep water (3-4 meter or 10-13') from a float tube, and will turn upside down and 'walk' on the bottom.

Go to Opossum Shrimp

Opossum Shrimp
An imitation well suited for inshore fishing.

Go to The eel smelling shrimp

The eel smelling shrimp
Jan Reniers has become famous for his different shrimp creations, his latest being a shrimp imitation with a shield of real eel skin, which, when wet, has the typical smell that attracts fish.

Go to The Floating Shrimp

The Floating Shrimp
One of Hanafi Saleh's patterns is the "HS Floating Shrimp" which is very suitable for fishing just above the bottomweeds, or just above the bottom without the risk of getting snagged at underwater obstacles.

Go to Mysid

Mysid
Wanna tie a mysis? This might be the pattern... Small, easy to tie. It can even stand in for a small dragonfly nymph.

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