This section currently has 305 articles

All the great fly patterns

The best dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers - Material lists and tying instructions

Fly tying videos

Tying a Disco Leech

Pearl Core Cased Caddis

Tying an Intruder

Chewee Bloodworm

Quill Body Klinkhammer

A Tungsten Nymph

The Ayrshire Man Salmon Fly

Czeched Out Hare's Ear

Steelhead Beetle

Broom fly: While looking at steelhead flies with a BC guide, one fly in particular stood out: a somewhat ugly contraption with a deer hair wing and not least an "overhanging" head, in other words tied so that the hook eye was under the fly and not in front.
Meet the Steelhead Beetle

Grantham's Sedge

Steelhead fly: Grantham Sedge was originally designed by Ron Grantham in 1993. It is a unique solution to creating a fly which produces a substantial wake without having to be bulky or riffle hitched. Ron Grantham writes "When used with a floating fly line this unsinkable fly will stay on the surface as long as it is moving
Read about it here

Find "The Killer Mantis" on this page

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

More about "Martin's Mundane Zonker Worm"

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

Find "HKA Sunray/Bismo" on this page

HKA Sunray/Bismo

Tube fly: This fly is without doubt one of the best catching flies on the bigger rivers in Iceland! It was originated by Danish Henrik Kassow Andersen. Salmon guide Nils Jorgensen from Iceland shows you how to tie it.
See step by step pictures here.

Find "Jim Warner Swap" here

Jim Warner Swap

Streamers: Jim Warner has been one of the most influential fly tyers in New England, especially for those who spend their time trolling and fishing streamers in the many lakes and ponds of the region. The gang of the streamers@ list recently had a swap of his great fly patterns.
Click here to see the results.

Directly to "Carrie Challenge II"

Carrie Challenge II

Streamers: Back in 2002 a bunch of guys on the streamers@ mailing list decided to tie some flies "in the hand" without the benefit of a vise. This year a new crop took up the challenge with a different fly - Carrie's Favorite - and tackled the Look Ma, No Vise challange.
Click here to see the results.

Find "Bastard Crab" on this page

Bastard Crab

Bonefish fly: Yet another impressionistic crab pattern that includes materials providing a lot of movement. This an Aaron Adams pattern that is often eaten as it drops to the bottom.
Read the extract from Dick Brown's Bonefish Fly Patterns here

Directly to "Meko Special"

Meko Special

Bonefish fly: Omeko Glinton created the Meko Special in an attempt to come up with a single fly that you can fish over any color bottom so you don't have to waste time changing flies as you move from flat to flat.
Read the extract from Dick Brown's Bonefish Fly Patterns here

Jump to "The CDC & Elk family"

The CDC & Elk family

Improving the best: Hans Weilenmann's CDC & Elk is a fly as good as they come. Still a lot of people - including Hans himself and the author - have made variations. This article covers a whole bunch of CDC & Elk variations.
Meet the family here

Go to The Terrible Muddler

The Terrible Muddler
This is the lazy man's muddler, the sloppy tier's muddler, the beginner's muddler. It's actually quite close in style to some of the first Muddler Minnows tied by Don Gapen back in the 30's.

Go to Ken's Cuteling

Ken's Cuteling
A small, soft baitfish imitation that will do a very good job standing in for a sculpin, but can be adapted to look like almost any small fish. Learn to tie it here using easily available materials -

Go to The Killer Shrimp

The Killer Shrimp
The Killer Shrimp hardly looks like anything. It's gray and translucent, sparsely dressed and inconspicuous. But it catches fish. It's a great fly for those bright and calm days where sea trout seem to be unwilling to take any fly.

Go to The Bloody Zonker

The Bloody Zonker
This fly is a bright and tasty looking bite of feathers and fur that can sometimes be the key to luring a big trout. It's a variation of a variation of the Bloody Butcher.

Go to Bloody Butcher

Bloody Butcher
Originally this was a classic style wet fly with a feather wing, but it's easily transformed into an excellent sea trout fly. Black, red and silver are perfect together and makes the fly very visible. See tying steps and lots of pictures and

Go to The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree
This fly is primitive close to being embarrassing. It's even ugly. It uses one material only and a crude and synthetic one at that. But... and there's a but... GFF partner Martin Joergensen has to admit that it's an efficient fly. It catches a lot of fish.

All articles from this section...

Tie Better
·Oatman's Silver Darter
·The Killer Mantis
·Everyday Fly Tying Tips
·Major Traherne's flies
·Tying with CDC
·The CDC & Elk family
·DIY brushes and combs
·The Bloody Zonker
·Unsinkable flies
·Phloating Eyez
More...
Fish Better
·The only knot
·Capt. Mel's Tube Knot
·The Fish & The Fly Q&A
·Stepping into the Stream Q&A
·The bag trick
·A Backyard in Nowhere Q&A
·When lightning strikes
·Don't wade, you idiot!
·Car rod holders
·Fishing a bubble
More...
Gallery
·AD Maddox
·Pretty in pink
·Autumn Gallery
·Close to the surface
·Robin Armstrong
·Craig Bertram Smith
·Spring 2011
·A long winter 2010-11
·Better fishing pictures: Waters...
·1st spring trip
More...

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