All articles from section
Editorial content tagged with Patterns
| Title | Body | Published | Time ago |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old School Zonkers |
Zonkers imitate baitfish as well as any other fly ever created, use common materials and are easy to tie |
1 month ago | |
| Tufty Flies |
The Tufty flies saw the light of day because of a need for some heavy metal for the author’s local high and coloured rivers |
1 month ago | |
| Surgical Stonefly |
Waterproof surgical tape is an excellent material for wings on insect imitations |
3 months ago | |
| Tutus |
These flies get their name from the Tutu, the short skirt worn by female ballet dancers |
4 months ago | |
| Silky Bugger |
This fly lives up to its name. In fact, silk ribbon is the only material used to tie it, apart from hook, bead and thread |
5 months ago | |
| Sedgeetle |
A when-in-doubt-fly that can be a sedge/caddis, beetle, moth or anything you – or the fish – might fancy |
5 months ago | |
| The Hallucinator |
This odd, multi-legged thingy named after a species found as a Cambrian fossil has a strange appeal to trout |
6 months ago | |
| Lifejacket Nymph |
The Lifejacket Nymph is tied with 2mm diameter silicone gasket foam |
7 months ago | |
| Fyn’ish Shrimp |
In Danish this shrimp fly is known as Den Fynske Reje, and it’s been successful in its basic form as well as in several variations |
8 months ago | |
| Amnesia Pupa |
This isn’t a forgetful or amnesic pupa, but has earned its name because it’s tied using Amnesia mono |
10 months ago | |
| Bugeyed Pupa |
Two tungsten beads on a loop of monofilament adds weight and eyes to this fly |
11 months ago | |
| Hair Winged Salmon Flies |
Material listings, pictures and tying notes for no less than 34 hair winged salmon fly patterns |
11 months ago | |
| Knotting Nymphs |
Introducing a way of making nymph bodies using elastic bead cord and a knotting technique |
11 months ago | |
| Pipette Hoppers and Poppers |
Lab equipment flies tied using plastic pipettes. |
1 year ago | |
| Ribbontail Baitfish |
A mobile tailed baitfish pattern tied with organza and synthetic fibres |
1 year ago | |
| Chain Gang Crayfish |
We should fish crayfish imitations more than we do. Crayfish can be used to target trout, bass, carp and other species |
1 year ago | |
| Copper Braid |
This type of braid is found in electronics stores, but is a great new addition to the fly tyer’s arsenal of useful copper products |
1 year ago | |
| Mini Headbanger |
A scaled-down version of the author’s own Headbanger Caddis, a cased nymph caddis pattern |
1 year ago | |
| Steel Pin Shrimp |
A scud pattern with 26 individual legs is no task if you make this small, ingenious tool out of wire. |
1 year ago | |
| Steel Shrimp |
Another Nick Thomas fly using bead chain for weight and orientation |
1 year ago | |
| Get Knotting |
Monofilament of many kinds can be used as a fly material as it can be seen in this simple Knot Bug |
1 year ago | |
| Chain Worm |
An upside-down latex worm, which is easy to tie and very efficient in high and dirty water |
1 year ago | |
| Springtail |
The Springtail has a soft and bendy body made from a boiled coil of colorful, elastic jewelry string |
1 year ago | |
| Taco Emerger |
The Taco Emerger was inspired by the split case patterns which are popular in the US |
1 year ago | |
| Sillikix |
I like rubber legs on dry flies. Their suggestion of something edible is the fish equivalent of ringing a dinner gong. |
2 years ago | |
| Facehugger |
At the vice no one can hear you scream. |
2 years ago | |
| Baltic flies for calm and clear water |
In this part of the series on different coastal conditions, we look at a common situation: water clear as gin and maybe even calm as a mirror. Not the easiest of fishing conditions, but adapting gear and flies to the situation helps. |
2 years ago | |
| Canyon Caddis |
This is a fly that was designed for a wooded canyon on one of the author’s favourite small rivers where the water has carved out a deep narrow channel through the limestone |
2 years ago | |
| Neoprene Beetle |
This neat little beetle’s body is made from extruded neoprene cord, which is widely available and a really useful tying material |
2 years ago | |
| Inspiration and Imitation |
The story about how the Toothpick Stone Clinger was inspired by turning over rocks and taking pictures |
2 years ago | |
| Highlighter Caddis |
The name of this fly is to be taken ad verbatim. You do need a highlighter pen to tie it |
2 years ago | |
| Hitched Hoglouse |
The hoglouse is also known as a sowbug or a cress bug, and is a very common freshwater crustacean. Here’s an easy imitation using an interesting tying technique. |
2 years ago | |
| The Prefab Shrimp |
My shrimp patterns have always been pretty impressionistic. That was until I saw a video using some pre-made legs… then I dug into my stash, and a fairly realistic shrimp emerged |
2 years ago | |
| Back to Basics |
Sometimes simple is best. Simple and scruffy in fact. Nick Thomas shows you how to tie a both simple and scruffy fly. |
2 years ago | |
| How to invent a fly pattern |
Coming up with new fly patterns is essentially like coming up with new dishes: it’s basically impossible. Everything is a variation of a variation of something that has been made before - even The Yarn Thief |
2 years ago | |
| The Third Yarn Thief |
How to tie the fly pattern that I "invented" in connection with a discussion about coming up with new fly patterns. |
2 years ago | |
| Micro Minnow |
Minnows upcycle small lifeforms into a tasty package of protein for bigger fish to eat, so minnow imitations make effective flies |
2 years ago | |
| Bites in Pink Satin |
Satin ribbon can’t be used in as many different ways as organza, but it definitely makes some juicy looking fish snacks. |
2 years ago | |
| Slinky Shrimp |
A shrimp pattern can be either a caricature or an imitation. The Slinky Shrimp falls somewhere in between |
3 years ago | |
| Matching the BWO hatch |
Flies fitting the "Blue Winged Olive" description are important in almost every river in the trout fishing world |
3 years ago | |
| May West Emerger |
Inspiration for a new fly design can come from anywhere. The May West is an example of a combination of materials that came together to create a new fly |
3 years ago | |
| The Water Vole |
This articulated fly tied by Danish Sune Andersen was inspired by the European water vole |
3 years ago | |
| Stealth Stonefly |
This is a dual purpose stonefly pattern tied on a jig hook. It can act both as a dry fly and an indicator |
3 years ago | |
| Skin & Foam Pupa |
An extended body caddis pupa tied with latex ribbon - the al dente tagliatelle of fly tying materials. |
3 years ago | |
| Canvas Crab |
As everyone knows crab-like means moving sideways, not forwards or backwards. The Canvas Crab fly moves sideways as crab flies should. |
3 years ago | |
| Softly Softly |
The Partridge Parachute Emerger – or PPE for short – is a soft hackle dry fly, all limp and spindly |
3 years ago | |
| Primordial Bonefish Stew |
This saltwater variation of Trevor Tanner’s Primordial Carp Stew works very well at fooling large spooky bonefish in shallow water |
3 years ago | |
| Stitch-Up Shrimp |
This scud pattern uses a simple sewing technique to add the legs that are a common trait for these widespread crustaceans, which are high in the fish menu in both fresh- and saltwater |
3 years ago | |
| Sleekit Streamer |
A productive zonker pattern tied with synthetic fur. Easy to tie, easy to cast. |
3 years ago | |
| Organzackle |
This nymph pattern teaches you how to make a sparkling hackle from organza ribbon – in two different ways even! |
3 years ago | |
| Combover |
The Combover is a generic mayfly nymph imitation. It gets its name from the hairstyle, now thankfully rarely seen. |
3 years ago | |
| Craft Beer Squid |
A simple, small squid pattern aimed at all the fish that enjoy eating little, cute cuttlefish |
3 years ago | |
| Dron’s Little Mice Gugger |
Mouse patterns can be highly effective on some species of fish. A small mouse is a good meal for most predators, and this pattern is easy to tie, and a great rodent imitation |
4 years ago | |
| Rattle.Bum Popper |
Dron Lee from Malaysia has created this excellent little popper using a combination of foam and braided tube - and a rattle for some extra noise |
4 years ago | |
| Josephine Baker |
This fly was originally a colorful bream fly from the southern US called Bead Butt or Jennifer Lopez. I transformed it to fit my needs and named my version Josephine Baker |
4 years ago | |
| NailFly |
Here’s a simple pattern for a summer salmon fly, which can be varied almost endlessly. It uses nail polish for the body and is super fast to tie. |
4 years ago | |
| Freaner’s Flasher Streamer |
A simple and flashy streamer that’s originally designed for smallmouth bass |
4 years ago | |
| Einars’ Vulgata Emerger |
This emerger pattern uses CDC and foam to create the floating thorax that’s typical of emerging insects |
4 years ago | |
| Red Tag Revisited |
I always loved the Red Tag. I have tied and fished this fly a thousand times, but tend to basically do it the same way every time. Not so anymore! |
4 years ago | |
| Red Tag Odyssey |
A bunch of pattern descriptions and materials lists for flies inspired by the Red Tag |
4 years ago | |
| Swimming Caddis Pupa |
This ragged looking caddis pupa from the hands of Norwegian Viggo Larsson will work well on both fast and calm water |
5 years ago | |
| Autumn Fly |
A great looking and very catchy Danish sea trout fly, useful all year round in spite of the name. |
5 years ago | |
| Betters' Flies |
Fran Betters was a creative tyer and originated several patterns that have become quite famous. Mike Hogue covers four of them in this article. |
5 years ago | |
| Einars’ Floating Foam Caddis Pupa |
A great and high floating caddis fly made with foam as a base material and a very simple and cool technique. |
5 years ago | |
| Euro BWOs Revisited |
In our continuous effort to obtain better and more practical mayfly imitations, we discovered a few new and simple solutions. |
5 years ago | |
| Kavik |
The Kavik is a simple zonker-based streamer, well suited for a lot of different fish, and easy to adapt in color and material choice |
5 years ago | |
| The March Brown Legacy |
The March Brown is one of the all time classic fly patterns, the origin of which must go back almost centuries. |
6 years ago | |
| The March Brown Odyssey |
My venture into the history and legacy of the classic March Brown led to a whole lot of variations over the theme |
6 years ago | |
| My oldest piece of material |
I have a dried hare skin, which I have owned for as long as I have tied flies. A lot of flies and a lot of wisdom has come from that skin. |
6 years ago | |
| An Italian take on Ora Smith |
Italian fly tyer Giuseppe Finardi is intrigued by US Ora Smith's streamers featuring wings made almost exclusively from golden pheasant crest. |
6 years ago | |
| The Magnus and Fred Clan |
The classical Danish coastal flies Magnus and Grey Fred have been an inspiration for many derivative patterns as well as hybrids. This is their story. |
6 years ago | |
| Meeting Magnus |
I had known Magnus for many years, the fly being a stable fly in my flybox. But it was only later that I met the man Magnus "live". |
6 years ago | |
| Omoe Brush in living color |
I purchased a purple dyed golden pheasant skin and thought I'd tie a Purple Omoe Brush… and then things happened. |
6 years ago | |
| Today’s Fly |
Over the years I have collected a ton of flies, tied by all kinds of tyers. I have started publishing pictures of of these flies. |
6 years ago | |
| Sea Trout CDC&Elk |
The CDC&Elk is a famous and efficient Caddis dry fly. This variation works for Baltic sea trout... and was actually inspired by the bonefish version of the fly |
6 years ago | |
| Zkinny |
A really simple and easy little baitfish fly, which will work for a lot of different fish and can be varied endlessly |
6 years ago | |
| Sea trout and foam flies |
Fishing Baltic sea trout in the surface with waking foam flies can be a lot of fun. Here’s how to do it – and a pattern that works. |
6 years ago | |
| Green Caddis Larvae |
Some say that caddisflies are even more important than mayflies. For us flyfishers that is probably correct. A good caddis pattern can save your day. |
6 years ago | |
| Pacific Northwest Streamer Conversions |
A small series of flies from Roy Patrick's pattern book converted into streamers |
6 years ago | |
| The Brown Owl |
This very buggy looking streamer-slash-stonefly-slash-nymph caught my eye. Such a fly should be able to catch almost any kind of trout |
6 years ago | |
| Intruder conversions |
I got the crazy idea to convert some Danish sea trout and salmon flies to intruders. It worked out surprisingly well. |
6 years ago | |
| The Flying Flash Carpet |
Look! It’s a bird... It’s a plane... It’s the Flying Flash Carpet! A pike fly out of this world. |
6 years ago | |
| The Mörrum Fly |
The Mörrum fly has been named after the south Swedish river Mörrum, but is also sometimes referred to as The Grünewalder after its originator, Danish Jan Grünwald |
6 years ago | |
| Bar Guac Hopper |
This pattern, which takes its name from the popular appetizer Guacamole, was inspired by the 'Bar Guac' special at a local fly fishing hangout. |
6 years ago | |
| CDC Loop Wing Foam Emerger |
A simple and very hard-to-sink emerger from Russian Dmitri Tseliaritski |
6 years ago | |
| Green Highlander |
Another beautiful, full dressed salmon fly from Italian Stefano Farkas. This time a Green Highlander. |
6 years ago | |
| Blue Mist |
This is an impressionistic streamer, tied to match the schooling sardines being eaten by baby tarpon. It has fooled many fish |
6 years ago | |
| 5 Minute Bug |
This little beetle imitation is amazingly lifelike. Using few and ordinary materials, Russian tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski makes it quick and easy to tie. |
6 years ago | |
| The Mighty Green Drake |
The large mayflies are a summer phenomenon, but it might be worth reading up on off season. |
7 years ago | |
| My Erna |
A well proven Icelandic hair winged salmon fly, responsible for catching many large salmon |
7 years ago | |
| Dragons and Damsels |
Odonata is the Latin name for the order of dragonflies and damselflies. This article is about them. |
7 years ago | |
| Optic Flies |
With names that sounded fresh, in-your-face and downright sexy, the Optic Fly series entered the stage like a warm summer wind in the 1960’s cold war era. |
7 years ago | |
| Childers |
Italian Stefano Farkas continues to supply the most astonishing full dressed salmon flies. |
7 years ago | |
| Meade's crazy flies |
Australian Rob Meade's flies are totally crazy contraptions using foam in strange shapes, odd constructions, rubber legs, large eyes and lots of color. Flies just after my heart! |
7 years ago | |
| IPS '96: Muddler |
This is my entry from the first ever Illustrated Pattern Swap in 1996. No idea what an Illustrated Pattern Swap is? Well read on and learn. |
8 years ago | |
| Baltic flies for cold water |
This article in the series on fly patterns for particular coastal water conditions in the Baltic deals with the season upon us: winter. |
8 years ago | |
| Ugly Straggly Wolf |
This fly came about as a way to use some yarn that I bought on a small vacation with my wife when she was buying yarn for a wolf. Yup, a wolf! |
8 years ago | |
| Sam-I-Am |
I do not like bright shrimp flies. I do not like them Sam-I-Am. I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. Or maybe I would...? |
8 years ago | |
| Rattlesnake Streamer |
The Rattlesnake Streamer is a large, articulated fly originated by US tyer and guide Ray Schmidt. |
8 years ago | |
| Frances Plug |
Behind the somewhat strange name hides a somewhat strange fly originated by Danish salmon guide Marc Skovby. An good looking salmon tube fly that's both easy to tie and very efficient. |
8 years ago | |
| Narova Foam Beetle |
Russian Dmitri Tseliaritski's Narova foam dry fly is an easy and robust pattern template for terrestrials, beetles in particular |
8 years ago | |
| Ancient Pike Flies |
Fly fishing for pike certainly seems to have been a popular in central Europe during the late middle ages |
8 years ago | |
| Orange Trim |
This is a simple streamer, which was one of the first decent flies I ever put together myself. I still like it and enjoy tying it. |
8 years ago | |
| Raccoon |
Raccoon – or Vaskebjørn – is a highly successful and good looking Norwegian sea trout fly. |
8 years ago | |
| Foam Snail |
Snails can be surprisingly high on the trout menu, and a snail imitation can sometimes be a key to success - on stillwaters and ponds in particular. |
8 years ago | |
| Russian Wasp |
Russian fly tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski from St. Peterburg ties some mean looking imitations. Here's an example of his foam wasps |
8 years ago | |
| Tup's Indispensable |
Tup's Indispensable is a fly originated by R.S. Austin in 1890, utilizing a quite exotic material as dubbing. |
8 years ago | |
| The fish of a lifetime |
Just a week ago my good friend Jens caught what can rightfully be called the fish of a lifetime. Here's the story - and the fly that did it. |
8 years ago | |
| Jari's Tube Baitfish |
This simple hollow tied baitfish will be great for a lot of different species, in saltwater as well as in freshwater. |
8 years ago | |
| Tryggelev Terror |
We always say that sea trout in the ocean are opportunistic and will take almost any fly. This pattern disproves that thesis |
9 years ago | |
| NiCh Fly Suspended |
A small baitfish imitation that swims in the surface and lures sea bass and other predatory fish hunting bait high in the water. |
9 years ago | |
| The Octopus |
Danish Allan Nørskov Johansen ties a large, gaudy and semi-crazy fly with lots of hair, flash and rubber legs for stream fishing at night for sea run brown trout. |
9 years ago | |
| Baltic flies for turbulent water |
This is the first part of a small series dealing with various coastal conditions in the Baltic. We'll look at flies for clear, but turbulent water. Lots of visibility, but also lots of turmoil – and food. |
9 years ago | |
| Perrault's Standard |
This might not look like the most exciting book I own. It isn't valuable. It isn't particularly beautiful either – rather ugly actually. Still it's one of the gems in my collection. |
9 years ago | |
| Hutch's Pennell |
This is a classic UK wet fly for stillwaters. Good looking, easy to find materials, easy to tie. Why not tie it for the Baltic sea runs? |
9 years ago | |
| Lynx' Whisker |
This is a new take on another new take on the classic British stillwater pattern the Cat's Whisker |
9 years ago | |
| The Talisker Touchdown |
I found a 10+ year old fly in a fly box and liked what I saw. The reconstruction of the fly was named the Talisker Touchdown |
9 years ago | |
| Allan Must Shrimp |
A small shrimp from the hands of Allan Kuhlman who plays with eyes, shells and legs. |
9 years ago | |
| The Fair Fly |
The Fair Fly is in many ways a perfect zonker: large, very fishy looking, simple to tie. It's a very good sculpin imitation and an excellent large streamer. |
9 years ago | |
| Speedy |
This small baitfish pattern is named after the childhood nickname of the originator. |
9 years ago | |
| Coxy Streamer |
A simple hairwinged streamer in old school Danish coastal streamer style... with a twist... literally... of copper wire |
9 years ago | |
| Squirmy nymphs for black bass |
Italy based Romanian fly fisher Lucian Vasies ties an easy, wiggly nymph, which is very efficient for his local black bass - and probably many other species too. |
10 years ago | |
| The evolution of a fly called Klympen |
This is the true story of Klympen - a sea trout fly pattern, which I witnessed being created - and have seen evolve into something surprisingly far from the original. |
10 years ago | |
| Taming the Humpy |
The Humpy might be the greatest surface fly ever devised, but it also has a reputation of being difficult to tie. Learn to tame it here. |
10 years ago | |
| Euro BWOs |
Blue-Winged Olives (BWOs) are very widespread and important insects when it comes to trout fishing on most rivers both throughout Europe and the US. |
10 years ago | |
| USD Shrimp |
This is a fairly complex shrimp pattern, a little difficult to tie, but also durable. It fishes upside down and is tied by Danish Mads Schmidt who has had great success with the fly. |
10 years ago | |
| The Poly Dodger |
The Poly Dodger imparts its own action and sound by deflecting water via mounting a polymer clay disc onto the main hook itself. |
10 years ago | |
| The Perfect Transparent Bait Fish |
Flies are becoming more and more realistic - even the saltwater flies. Gammarus with transparent backs and scud patterns, shrimps tied with clear legs, looped tails and pulsating mouth parts and antennas. Now it is time for the bait fish. |
10 years ago | |
| Mauve? |
It all started with me being a bit sceptical about the colour of a hackle. It looked a bit too intense. |
10 years ago | |
| Squid Plus Three |
As the year changed from 2014 to 2015, the Danish sea trout community suddenly started buzzing about squid. And I buzzed along and developed Martin's Mundane Squid, soon to become the Squid Plus Three |
10 years ago | |
| Microjig nymphs and small streams |
One of the ways to fish small, fast, rocky streams is Czech nymphing with microjigs. |
10 years ago | |
| Braid a worm |
Sometimes a fly-tyer thinks out of the box, and suddenly the complex and difficult becomes very simple - like tying a great clam worm fly. |
11 years ago | |
| Mart's Peccary Paraloop Emerger |
This emerger is great for smaller, slower streams and has proven a very successful pattern for the author. It's tied the paraloop way with no hackle under the hook. |
11 years ago | |
| Sea Trout Munker |
Inspired by Kim Sorensen's salmon fly the Munker I set out to make a sea trout variant for the salt |
11 years ago | |
| The Munker |
A very successful Danish muddler tube fly developed by Kim Sorensen for salmon and sea trout, particularly suited for slow water. |
11 years ago | |
| Sydney Opera Mouse |
A crazy foam construction that looks very little like a mouse and a lot like an opera house |
11 years ago | |
| OSA Nymph |
A generic nymph that can do equally well as a stonefly or mayfly nymph as it can a waterboatman or backswimmer |
11 years ago | |
| Foam Caterpillars |
Caterpillars aren't the most common type of fishing flies, but like a good ant or beetle pattern they can be killers by an overgrown stream bank on a warm summers day. |
11 years ago | |
| Mouse flies |
Somewhat an oxymoron - a fly that's a mammal - but still a fun fly to tie, and not least to fish when the large fish are tuned in on a mouse menu. |
11 years ago | |
| Wet Flies |
Wet flies are once again very popular, but most we see are tied for presentation and not so much for fishing. Bob Petti enjoys tying wet flies and tries to style his after the fishing flies that are popular in the UK using colors and materials that work well in the water. |
11 years ago | |
| The Oscar Fly |
First there was The Collie Dog, then the less famous Charlie Fly and now the Oscar Fly. |
11 years ago | |
| X-Factor |
South African summer is here and the fish are rising. And the X-factor fly makes them even keener to go for the surface fly |
11 years ago | |
| Neguinha Fulô |
This fly is very simple to tie, very good for beginners, and uses very few tying materials. A lot of people in the Brazilian forum Fly Fishing Brasil really enjoyed it. |
12 years ago | |
| Micro Tarantula Crab |
A small and mobile crab fly designed with big, wary bonefish in mind. The fly is developed by the professional fly tyer known as Peter Xtremefly |
12 years ago | |
| Pike Duster |
Inspired by some large, colorful saddles and an ordinary feather duster, this pike fly is voluminous and voluptuous, easy to tie and easy to cast. |
12 years ago | |
| Mart's CdL Hen Caddis Emerger |
Martin Westbeek's Coq de Leon Hen Caddis Emerger has soft contours and soft materials that suggest the movements of an insect struggling to break free. |
12 years ago | |
| Glitter John |
While keeping the profile of the Copper John but using fewer and different materials the Glitter John came about. |
12 years ago | |
| Vintage Streamers |
I saw a post by Ted Patlen on a fly tying bulletin board. It was a simple post - a photo of a group of flies and a short statement stating his intention of tying the flies as close as possible to the way the originator tied the flies. |
12 years ago | |
| F&K Caddis |
This caddis pattern has a great profile and an hot spot that can attract fish. It's been very successful for the originator, South African Korrie Broos. |
12 years ago | |
| The Super Pupa |
With such a name a fly has to be good. And this one is. The Super Pupa is a killer pattern! Different, simple to tie, and very efficient. |
12 years ago | |
| Catskill Tube Flies |
The cradle of American fly-fishing in the Catskills and tube flies isn't something normally connected, but fly-tyer Richard Katzman ties tube flies to be fished in these hallowed waters. |
12 years ago | |
| Double Legs |
While browsing fly patterns on the web I found this interesting and buggy looking Swedish Caddis pattern, and discovered that its history actually traced back to a GFF seatrout pattern. |
12 years ago | |
| Gapen's Muddler Minnow |
This is an article about Don Gapen's original Muddler Minnow - a fly that is tied in countless versions and has inspired thousands of patterns, but only few that resemble the original |
12 years ago | |
| Perminator |
This rabbit zonker fly imitates a mantis shrimp, a very important food resource for big permit and bonefish, and utilizes the mobile zonker strips to induce life in the fly. |
12 years ago | |
| Sexy Crab |
A crab pattern tied with a solid structure using extremely resistant materials but at the same time keeping it naturally looking and full of movement |
12 years ago | |
| One Mallard Shrimp |
As a Baltic sea trout angler you can never get enough shrimp patterns, and this one was tied as a result of access to some really fine mallard feathers. |
12 years ago | |
| This fly is NOT called Europe! |
The name of this renowned fly is Europea 12 - with an a in the end - oftentimes just called E-12. It's a true European classic, a great caddis imitation and even easy to tie. |
12 years ago | |
| Genner Bug |
There's absolute nothing original or innovative about this fly. On the contrary: it's super simple and has probably been tied in a gazillion variations before. It was inspired by some nice mallard feathers brought to one of our fly-tying and fishing trips. |
12 years ago | |
| The Chicken or Pasta Fly |
Too much about airplane food... and too little about fly tying and fly fishing. An ancient pattern from the Illustrated Pattern Swap year 2000. |
12 years ago | |
| Jock Scott |
Some might consider it a bit mad or even crazy, but when Danish Niels Have ties full dressed, classic Jock Scott salmon flies, he ties them by the dozen... and then he fishes with them! |
12 years ago | |
| Ken's Incredibly Simple Shrimp |
Shrimp flies are very much en vogue in the Baltic region, and keep on getting more and more complex. This one is simple and dead easy to tie - and still a very good imitation. |
12 years ago | |
| Mickey Finn |
The Mickey Finn is one of the all time classic streamers. Simple, beautiful and fairly easy to tie - and a catcher. |
12 years ago | |
| Streamers 365 |
The Streamers 365 project has delighted streamer aficionados worldwide by delivering a new and beautiful streamer photo online every day. We have talked to Darren MacEachern, the man behind the project. |
12 years ago | |
| The Bat Fly |
To tie Andrew Herd's Bat Fly, you will need a packet of Polo mints, a pair of shears and a full-bore rifle. |
12 years ago | |
| Goldmine Crab |
A weedless crab pattern with lots of flash and color, yet with a discrete landing suitable for finicky fish. Tied for redfish and other warm saltwater species |
12 years ago | |
| Peeete's Pheather 'n' Phlash |
AKA Peeete's Welded Wide Body Tunnel Hull Pheather'n'Phlash Tube Phly. The name is complex, but the fly is simple, showing how to build a large baitfish imitation with few and easily accessible materials - and Pete Gray's neat welding technique. |
12 years ago | |
| Tight Line Shrimp |
A go to shrimp fly for tailing redfish from Laguna Madre based fly fisherman Roy Lopez. Easy to tie and perfect for the reds as well as a bunch of other species. |
12 years ago | |
| The Test Tube |
A weird and futuristic construction from the archives. Really easy to tie... eh, make... uhm... construct... Metal, plastic and glue. |
12 years ago | |
| Redfish Puff |
Lead dumbbell eyes, a bit of flash, marabou and some deer hair and and you have a deadly fly for fish prowling the flats for shrimp and crabs. It's the Redfish Puff, and it catches more than redfish. |
12 years ago | |
| Discovering the Marbury Lake Flies |
If today's tyer wants to tie the Mary Orvis Marbury Lake flies, they would be wise to think 'old school', and transport themselves back to a time when the hooks had blind eyes, the materials were natural, and the flies were colorful and uniquely adapted to the American fly fishing experience by Mary Orvis Marbury and her crew of women tyers. |
12 years ago | |
| Nize |
Nize is a tube fly tied the environmentally friendly way - reusing tube scraps from other flies. It's an efficient fly for salmon. |
13 years ago | |
| Allan's Winter Shrimp |
A simple shrimp pattern that does not use the popular but expensive Spey hackle |
13 years ago | |
| Portraits of Salmon Flies |
We have featured Danish Niels Have's beautiful full dressed classic salmon flies before, but here's another take on them. He ties these flies for fishing, but in a very high quality. |
13 years ago | |
| The Green Inchworm |
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. |
13 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Crazy Dane |
A slight variation of an really old fly of mine, which again was a derivative of Bob Nauheim's famed Crazy Charlie. It's simple and really mundane, and simpler than the already very simple original! |
13 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Crane Fly |
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. |
13 years ago | |
| Fleye Foils |
These new fish shaped foils from Bob Popovics are really great for making baitfish imitations. They come in several shapes and many sizes, and stick on the side of your flies, ready to be covered with resin. |
13 years ago | |
| The Polar Conehead |
This is a muddler design type of fly that is more or less a derived idea based on something that has been copied many times, but never the less an efficient fly that has caught the author many fish. |
13 years ago | |
| Alan Petrucci Streamers |
I can still remember the fist fish I caught on a streamer, a stocked brook trout on a Royal Coachman streamer. Since that time I have had success many times fishing these long flies. In my early days of fly fishing I bought all of my flies. |
13 years ago | |
| Zonker patterns |
This article features a handful of zonker patterns, which we cover in connection with our thorough theme on tying zonker flies and cutting or buying zonker strips. |
13 years ago | |
| Squirrel Zonker |
This is an update to one of the first patterns ever featured on the Global FlyFisher. The old article about this fly is from 1996, and has been on the site with its scanned B/W pictures ever since. |
13 years ago | |
| The Ronker |
Rubber legs and a zonker... in orange. The Ronker is a fly for deep dwelling trout, featuring some weight bright colors, mobile materials and not least rubber legs. |
13 years ago | |
| Hospitalized kids need your flies! |
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. |
13 years ago | |
| The Red and Copper Shrimp |
Several keen fly fishers now use this salmon fly most of the season. This pattern is good for rivers in a higher state of flow. |
13 years ago | |
| A New Look at the Grannom |
The Grannom is a small sedge (caddis to those in USA), which hatches in large quantities in April and is regarded as the first fly to prompt trout to "look up". |
13 years ago | |
| Trout beads |
Trout beads aren't beads in the traditional fly tying sense but perfect imitations of salmon eggs and deadly efficient for rainbows. And they can be fished on a fly rod. |
13 years ago | |
| GYMF |
The Green Yarn Mullet Fly. Few flies are as easy to tie, provided you can get a hold of the special yarn used. Martin found the material for this fly in his wife's knitting scraps. |
13 years ago | |
| Shrimp anatomy for the fly tyer |
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. |
13 years ago | |
| Mini Pig |
The Baltic seatrout community has been going berserk over a huge pink fly called the Pink Pig. I find that the Mini Pig is a more sensible alternative. This article covers two versions. |
13 years ago | |
| Tom's Hopper |
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 |
13 years ago | |
| Favorite Flies for Baltic Seatrout |
This book has been underway for more than 6 months, and I have worked on and off on it for a long time. |
13 years ago | |
| Pinky Pain |
Bright, colorful and visible. A perfect fly for slow fish in cold or murky water. It earned its name because the creator hooked his own nose with it on its maiden voyage! Seatrout like it, but other trout will too. |
13 years ago | |
| Rolled Muddler |
I met the Rolled Muddler in BC while fishing for Pacific salmon, but like it so much that I'll tie up a bunch for my local seatrout, and I'm sure they will work. |
13 years ago | |
| Djihad |
The Djihad is a bright fly with a shiny body, silver combined with black and red. Just my kind of fly. I like the Irish Shrimp tradition flies, and this is such a fly on steroids. It even uses one of my favorite materials: Golden Pheasant. |
13 years ago | |
| Seatrout flies for 2012 |
The seatrout season will soon be upon us here in northern Europe, and Martin thought he'd expand his horizon a bit and add some new seatrout patterns to his flybox before the 2012 season. |
13 years ago | |
| Brenda |
The Brenda is a beautiful, harmonic and productive seatrout pattern from Danish fly tyer Ove Monrad. It features a brass bead to add some weight and a sexy, jigging motion. |
13 years ago | |
| PK Mysis Variant |
An extremely lightly dressed and delicate fly that imitates a mysid originated by Danish fly tyer Per Karlsen. Per has made the Variant himself, and it's really simple! |
13 years ago | |
| Upgrading the Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear |
It might seem futile to try to improve one of the world's most proven patterns, but there's room for improvement. Trevor Morgan gives some classics an overhaul. |
13 years ago | |
| A few from Ora Smith |
The flies of Ora Smith that have captured my imagination were the little casting streamers with duck flank wings. They are like elongated wet flies. I sat down one weekend and tied up a selection, imaging some late spring day when I could cast these flies on a light line to some spooky trout. |
13 years ago | |
| The Killer Mantis |
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. |
13 years ago | |
| Jack Plotts' Foam flies |
These foam flies were sent to us 10 years ago, and this article has been long underway... High time we did something about it! Digging into the digital archives we found this bunch of crazy foam flies. |
13 years ago | |
| HKA Sunray/Bismo |
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 Folmer Jørgensen from Iceland shows you how to tie it. |
13 years ago | |
| Grantham's Sedge |
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 |
14 years ago | |
| Bastard Crab |
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. |
14 years ago | |
| Meko Special |
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. |
14 years ago | |
| Steelhead Beetle |
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. |
14 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Shrimp |
Another simple, three-material fly. This time a shrimp, well suited for seatrout and probably fine for a number of other saltwater species not least bonefish. Super simple to tie and with easily accessible and cheap materials. |
14 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Zonker Worm |
For many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it. When the worms spawn, the fish usually go berserk, be it trout, stripers or tarpon. As one writer puts it: It's like yelling "free lunch" to a high school football team. |
14 years ago | |
| The Terrible Muddler |
This is the lazy man's muddler, the sloppy tier's muddler, the beginner's muddler. |
14 years ago | |
| The CDC & Elk family |
Hans Weilenmann's CDC & Elk is a fly as good as they come. Still a lot of people - including Hans himself and the author of this article - have made variations. The article covers a whole bunch of CDC & Elk variations. |
14 years ago | |
| 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. |
14 years ago | |
| 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. |
14 years ago | |
| 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 - |
14 years ago | |
| 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. |
14 years ago | |
| The Clouserish |
Very inspired by the Clouser style as well as the Thunder Creek, but not tied quite as any of the originals. The Clouser-ish will still go in the Clouser Deep Minnow category, and as all these flies it's an excellent and easy-to-tie fly. |
14 years ago | |
| Clouser Deep Minnow |
Only a few patterns are as generally useful and widespread as the Clouser Deep Minnow. Only a few patterns have their own entry in Wikipedia, but the Clouser Deep Minnow is up there with the Woolly Bugger, the Muddler Minnow, Grey Ghost, Royal Coachman, Diawl Bach and a few others. |
14 years ago | |
| Spider NJ |
Once again, simple is good! |
14 years ago | |
| Black Ghost Tube |
Believe in ghosts? How about a black one? If you're fishing sea trout or brown trout, or even salmon, there is no way around the Black Ghost. It has caught thousands of fish around the world. This is an all time classic that has proven itself. |
14 years ago | |
| Klympen |
Klympen is a simple and efficient fly for sea run browns, which should be able to catch many other kinds of fish. Originated by Henning Eskol, this fly has seen many variations since its birth. |
14 years ago | |
| Barrel Full of Bucktails |
Some of these flies are among the most well known of any genre of fishing flies others are a little on the obscure side. Some are simple and some are a bit complicated. I like 'em all. They all have their place on the water, and they all have a story to tell. |
14 years ago | |
| Red Tag |
Few flies are as classical as the Red Tag, which was originated as a dry fly for grayling, but has been adapted to many other kinds of fishing. The fly dates back to the 1850's where it came out of the vice of Martyn Flynn. This variation is for sea run browns. |
14 years ago | |
| Raven NJ |
Simple things somehow often seem to work and this has also been the case for one of Nils Jorgensen's absolute favorite salmon flies, the Raven NJ. It has proven itself many times. |
14 years ago | |
| PET Blue NJ |
Black and blue colors are great no matter where you are fishing for salmon or sea trout. The PET Blue is just one of several colors of Nils Jorgensen's PETs. They are great in all sizes and easy to tie on the new Pro Tube System. |
14 years ago | |
| Yellow Marabou Special |
While tying up a batch of streamers for a fly swap, GFF partner Bob Petti remembered an old tinsel trick that reduced some of the hand cramping thread wrapping that is all too common with long shanked streamers. |
14 years ago | |
| Zoo Cougar |
Kelly Galloup's Zoo Cougar is a pattern with some years on its back, but Martin recently discovered and started tying this staple big trout streamer. Large fly, goudy colors, deer hair! Just his kind of fly. |
15 years ago | |
| Frida |
Frida is the little sister of the beloved Grey Frede, and that alone is a recommendation. It's a small and compact, yet shiny fly meant for sea trout, but definitely useful for other species too - panfish in small sizes, bonefish in larger. |
15 years ago | |
| Great Lakes Irish Invaders |
Bob Kenly takes a turn with some tubes from the Canadian Tube Fly Company and converts a traditional Irish fly into something... let's just say not as traditional. So Chris's Irish Shrimp turned into Great Lakes Orange, a steelhead pattern tied on a tube. |
15 years ago | |
| Chinos! |
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. |
15 years ago | |
| Double K Reverse Spider |
Kelvin Kleinman shows us how to tie a really different saltwater fly based on the freshwater spider style, adapted for cutthroat stream fishing and then reversed to become a saltwater shrimp from outer space! A very special but also efficient pattern. |
15 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Sand Eel |
Sand eels are very common in most waters around the world. This is a very simple flatwing style sand eel that can be tied easily with very few, common materials, and make a great imitaion that is easy to cast on a light rod. |
15 years ago | |
| Martin's Mundane Fly Project |
This is the Mundane Fly Manifesto: Few and cheap materials, easy to find in the shops. Simple tying methods. Mundane flies. The whole idea is to make it simple and efficient to tie flies that work. |
15 years ago | |
| Ninja Toe Biter |
Since we all know that "Stripahs" never eat crabs... ['get stuck on the way down!?]... |
15 years ago | |
| Flats in the cold |
Flatwings - "the new black" in Denmark and Sweden. Are they really that good. Not too big for casting? For the trout? Will they twist? Are they better than other sand eel imitations? Are they better suited for pike? Kill your skepticism and take a |
15 years ago | |
| Kern's Perfect Leo Shrimp |
A realistic, perfect swimming shrimp imitation for both hot and cold water and a big variety of species. |
15 years ago | |
| Das Cephalopod |
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... |
15 years ago | |
| Squid Vicious |
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. |
15 years ago | |
| Action Emerging Caddis |
This fly is similar in outline to many existing caddis patterns, but has features unlike any caddis emerger pattern the originator has seen. It's based not so much on looking exactly like the real thing, but trying to get a fly to act like it. |
15 years ago | |
| Sinister Phly |
Another variation on large saltwater flies from the hands of Pete Gray. Mainly for striped bass, but useful for other specied too. This is the sinister version for fishing in darkness - or for dead drifting at O'dark thirty as Pete puts it. |
15 years ago | |
| Phar Side Phly |
They all start out as PhuzzieNotions [R&D ideas rattling around in Pete Gray's noggin and looking for a place to happen]... and then materialize into PharSidePhlyz. Saltwater flies can all start here and become almost anything. |
15 years ago | |
| Jan's Giant Buzzers |
I have always loved fishing buzzers for many years for trout, its just my favorite way of fly fishing except perhaps daddylonglegs. Most of my fishing is on reservoirs sometimes desolate windy rough places, where buzzers come into their own. |
15 years ago | |
| The Perfect Woolly |
Many flies were developed from the Woolly Bugger, German Raoul Kempkes got back to it and created a very simple pattern which is extremely durable and very easy to tie. Only a few materials are needed to tie a great pattern which is highly versatile. The perfect Woolly Bugger! |
15 years ago | |
| Chuck's FlutterStone |
Fly fishing guide Charles Robinton has put some serious trial and error into the design of his Chuck's FlutterStone. He thinks the result has the ideal amount of action, buggyness and overall attractiveness packed into the perfect stonefly profile. |
15 years ago | |
| The Fluff |
Fish must be stupid to mistake this simple and efficient pattern for something edible, and luckily they are and they do. Danish Per Gade leads you through the paces of tying and fishing The Fluff. |
15 years ago | |
| Para-Hackle Emerger |
Effective anglers carry a myriad of emerger-style flies to take picky trout during hatches. While there are many styles of emergers to choose from, para-hackle style flies may not come to mind first. Tying emergers para-hackle style is a forgotten technique not often taught and even fished less. We at GFF can't understand why!?! Read along as GFF partner Steve Schweitzer walks you through the |
15 years ago | |
| Lake Champ |
Many years ago, when Colombian Carlos Heinsohn began to tie flies, he didn't have more than a few basic materials and not more than three models of hooks. He wanted a huge dragonfly nymph, so he made one almost entirely with black and brown marabou on a #6 hook with a few wraps of copper wire. |
16 years ago | |
| Internet Flies |
All of a sudden, the new season or a spontaneous fly fishing trip with your best buddy is imminent. At that stage, you may think about ordering flies through an online shop. |
16 years ago | |
| The White |
The White is a stable pattern in originator Rasmus Hansen's coastal sea trout flybox, He uses it as a provocation (read: attractor) or as a shrimp imitation, and prefers it for turbulent water and autumn fishing. The fly is simple, one color only, and one of these universal flies that can catch anything. |
16 years ago | |
| Shark's Caddis Larva |
This is a very simple fly imitating the caddis larva. Some may call it realistic fly, some will say impressionistic, but no matter what, the originator says with 100% certainty that it's a killer pattern and he has caught lots of fish with it in many different places. |
16 years ago | |
| The Simplest Fly |
When I asked him “What is this”, he looked straight at my eyes and told me with his hoarse voice: “A fly!”. “What kind of fly” I Kept on with my questions, not thinking clearly. I had never seen artificial flies before. “Well, this is a fly that imitates a beetle”. |
16 years ago | |
| The Copper Bully |
No sea trout box should be without a small Gammerus imitation, and the Copper Bully is one of the most efficient and easily tied ones. Consisting of very few materials in this version, it hardly gets any easier. It can also be a scud or a cress bug in a tight spot. |
16 years ago | |
| Hare's Ear Bug |
When I ran through the step-by-step shots for this article I was a bit surprised that we actually managed to get as many as 12 different steps documented--me shooting pictures and my friend Ken Bonde Larsen tying. And I even had more pictures to choose from. |
16 years ago | |
| The Charlie Fly |
The Charlie Fly was inspired by the underfur from the originator's Chocolate Lab. Ken Bonde Larsen's dog has unwillingly become the material manufacturer for this great sea trout producer. As it often is with Danish with sea trout flies it's a small, generic pattern. |
16 years ago | |
| Shark's Wasp |
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. |
16 years ago | |
| Domestic Fly |
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. |
16 years ago | |
| Neo-Classic - instructions |
Step by step instructions for a classic salmon fly. |
16 years ago | |
| The Barbell Tube |
Steve Egge has been spending some time lately playing at the vise with some interesting bottle tubes.Here is his latest, which shows how varied you can be with tube tying. Tying behind the tube, on the tube body and in front of the tube. |
16 years ago | |
| Classics |
Tying flies not meant for fishing sounds odd to some but dragging others into the world of advanced techniques. Anders Ovesen takes us into his cave of threads and feathers and reveals some puzzles needed to tie da old school style. Hang on to this detailed description and fly to the |
16 years ago | |
| Magnus |
If one particular fly was to be celebrated as the Mother of all the typical Danish, gray, nondescript hackle flies it would have to be The Magnus. Originated in 1973 in Denmark it has become a goto-fly for Many Danish as well as foreign coastal anglers. |
16 years ago | |
| Brown Spinner |
An old, no-fashion dry fly. The one, that GFF partner Kasper tied right after having learned to tie the Red Tag Palmer and the one, that gave him many of his first dry fly experiences some twenty years ago, when it all started for him together with his grandfather. |
16 years ago | |
| Big Hole Demon |
A classical pattern originated back in the sixties - here adapted for Scandinavian sea trout fishing, but probably also useful for bass and other species as well as the brownies it was originally tied for. The fly is fairly easy to tie and we have made it even simpler. |
16 years ago | |
| Polar Perch |
Perch and Shad are tasty baitfish that warmwater game fish love to snack upon. Modifying the classic Deceiver-style pattern yields a tasty fly that is easy to cast and won't tangle upon itself. Find out from GFF partner Steve Schweitzer the key steps required to tie |
16 years ago | |
| G-String Eyes |
If you play guitar and tie flies...you are wasting some valuable tying material every time you change your strings. Old guitar strings have something to make flies land softly on the water and jig just enough to tease fish into striking. Learn from GFF partner Steve Schweitzer what to keep from old strings and how to tie |
16 years ago | |
| Tabou Daddy |
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 |
16 years ago | |
| The Omoe Brush |
This fly is originally meant to be an imitation of a small clamworm like a small Nereis, but can be considered a generic pattern more than an exact imitation of these polychaetes. It takes its outset in the red body feathers of the Golden Pheasant. |
16 years ago | |
| The Grey Fred |
A true classic on the Danish coast and a very universal small fish imitation, which has not only caught thousands of sea trout, but would very likely also be able to catch almost anything that has scales and swims. |
16 years ago | |
| Jiggy |
A jigging fly for almost any predatory fish originated by Bob Popvics. After a trip to Danish island Bornholm in 2007 Kasper Mühlbach wanted to tie and try this successful pattern and ordered a special color. But someone else came first and bought his custom dyed bucktail. |
17 years ago | |
| Green Machine |
The Green Machine is a classic salmon fly from the Eastern part of Canada. It's fished as a wet fly in spite of being tied with deer hair and a hackle like a bomber. This article shows you step by step how to tie it and shows an alternative and easier way to create the green body. |
17 years ago | |
| Très Bien |
This is another bright tube fly for clear water designed by Danish fly tyer Ken Bonde Larsen. And another one that uses a cone to add weight to the front of the fly. And another one, where the metal cone can be replaced by a common head or a plastic cone. |
17 years ago | |
| The Overtaker |
A small black tube fly inspired by the classical Undertaker and flies like the Green Butt. This small fly shows that tube flies do not have to be large. It's petite, it's black and it's sexy with a small hotspot. |
17 years ago | |
| The Dirty White |
We continue our series of tube flies tied in the Scandinavian style. This fly is another subdued yellow, white and gray fly, well suited for bright light and clear water. It uses a mallard hackle to create a nice, closed shape. |
17 years ago | |
| Chinese White |
A bright tube fly for salmon in clear water created by Danish Ken Bonde Larsen. Tied in the Scandinavian style with a large and soft hair wing made of several layers. Easy to tie and impressive both in and out of the water. |
17 years ago | |
| Staring Sunray Shadow |
Ray Brook's classic the Sunray Shadow can hardly be outdone by any variation of this simple yet very efficient fly. But some people still like to add little details to killer patterns. This version of the Sunray has a body and eyes. |
17 years ago | |
| Bon Aventure flies |
Do you know what flies to tie for clear water and how to tie them? Follow the Danish flytier Ken Bonde Larsen carefully tie some attractive and yet not too visible flies for the Canadian salmon. Tubes are his favorite and some with new plastic discs. |
17 years ago | |
| A Pheasant Under Glass |
Two seemingly unrelated events led tube fly tyer par excellence Bob Kenly to this method of tying and to discover a coloring system that I have never tried before: dyed Lady Amherst tail feathers and a note requesting something different to be thrown in the water for salmon in New Foundland. |
17 years ago | |
| Niels' flies |
If you thought that silk lines, split cane rods and full dressed salmon flies was something people used a century ago, you may want to read this article about Niels Have who fishes his classical flies on a Phoenix silk line wound on a Hardy Perfect reel mounted on a Highlander two-hand split cane rod. |
17 years ago | |
| Jan's Emerger |
Another new pattern from Jan Grandal-Johansen, this time a buzzer emerger that fishes well on the reservoirs in the UK. Those hackle tip wings are just killer. |
17 years ago | |
| Mart's Parachute Ant |
During the warmer months of the year, they are just about anywhere... Ants. Martin Westbeek shows an easy way to tie a good ant imitation that will sit well on the surface and hopefully lure trout or grayling. |
17 years ago | |
| Salty dreams and glassy shrimp |
Chris Edghill writes: "Fascinating to see how they worked together, one would dive in between the rocks and sea grass, completely burying itself and the others just milled around waiting for a shrimp to dart out from it's hiding place where it would be quickly devoured." |
17 years ago | |
| Kai's Green Terror |
If one day you should lie on the bank pounding your fists into the sand in frustration over the lack of fish and someone sneaks around the corner offering you a chartreuse coloured fly, perhaps it's German Kai Nolting who brings you the fly that will save your day. |
18 years ago | |
| The Pink Pig - Pattegrisen |
Last year two DVDs about spin and fly fishing for sea trout in Denmark were released. New flies, spinning techniques and gear set-ups were parts of the DVDs, but what really struck the Germans, Swedes and Danes, were the underwater recordings, showing big schools of sea trout swimming around following the fly without taking. The DVD's quickly became modern classics. |
18 years ago | |
| Convertible tubes |
Tube fly tyer Tony Pagliei explains his Convertible Tube Flies - a modular system that combines a set of tube tied front parts and a set of dressed hooks into as many different flies as you can imagine in a versatile, modular system. |
18 years ago | |
| Jan's GP |
One day, while fishing my favourite water, Barnsfold in Lancashire, which is surrounded on one large side with a good head of pine trees round the reservoir, I noticed quite a few terrestrials being blown on to the water. The trout were going crazy for them. |
18 years ago | |
| Dual Tube Phlyz |
In an effort to entice larger striped muggers (stripers) during the spring herring run on Cape Cod when big fish venture back into the shallow estuaries to the herring runs, Pete Gray started tying 8-12+ inches herring flies on double tubes. |
18 years ago | |
| Burning Man |
This strange popper came out of Martin Joergensen's vice recently and has already proved its value several times. See why it might be interesting to you, how to tie it (in meticulous details) as well as how it moves - and in video too! And learn why it's called Burning Man. |
18 years ago | |
| 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 |
18 years ago | |
| Sunray Shadow |
The Sunray Shadow is a true killer fly for salmon fishing. Tied on a tube with a wing and no body, simple as few flies, but still - or maybe rather because of that - extremely efficient. The fly uses few materials and is very easy to tie. |
18 years ago | |
| Monster's Bug |
The tendency is, that flies become smaller and smaller trying to fool the fish. We end up using 7X, size 24 hooks and stealth moves on the river banks. Sometimes you need to go the opposite way, if you want a big fish at end of your tippet. |
18 years ago | |
| HiVis CDC Midge |
A high-visibility orange post and CDC makes this small dry perfect for your 7X tippet. Easy to tie, easy to follow on the water and a perfect choice when the fish are picky. Darryl Lampert from South Africa shows us one of his effective patterns. |
18 years ago | |
| Wiggle Jig Worm |
It is strongly inspired by the fly Sandiglen (The Sand Leech) originally tied by René Hansen. |
18 years ago | |
| The Real Rag Worm |
Every year in March and April the rag worms emerge from the bottom to secure the next generation. They swim freely in the water, wiggling from one side to the other. Sea gulls feed on the from above and many fish species seem to focus on them from beneath. |
18 years ago | |
| 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. |
19 years ago | |
| Mart's Bibio |
A nice thing about this Bibio is that it's versatile. Play with it, use lighter of heavier hooks, fish it with or without floatant, wrap a thinner or denser hackle, and so on. But make sure you have some Bibios in your flybox spring suddenly is here. |
19 years ago | |
| S&L's Lost Flies |
Dick Stewart and Bob Leeman's book "Trolling Flies for Trout and Salmon" has inspired fly tyers for the 24 years since it's publication in 1982. Here, finally, we get to see some of the patterns listed in the back of the book that did not have supporting photographs. |
19 years ago | |
| Our first mullets |
Since the 1960's the mullets have visited the Danish and South Swedish waters from late May to late October. They feed on green weed, are easily spooked and do not pay interest in flies - most of the time. Impossible - but in 2005 Kasper Mühlbach hooked one fish. |
19 years ago | |
| Messy Pike Fly |
Not one of Martin Joergensen's usual pike flies. For that it is way too complex and has too many tying steps and too many different materials. He doesn't like complex pike flies. "I spend dozens of minutes tying one, and a pike spends seconds shredding it!" he says. |
19 years ago | |
| Nothing... |
Sometimes trout and grayling sip "nothing" from the surface. You have tried the smallest parachute in your fly box - size 18. What they are taking is much smaller. You look again into your fly box, and right - there is no "Nothing" there. |
19 years ago | |
| 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. |
19 years ago | |
| 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. |
19 years ago | |
| The Plipper |
One of the strangest fly-contraptions ever to see daylight from my hands. It's a tube fly. It uses one basic material. It's tied without thread. It's ugly, but it works. It's a popper with a lip - a Plipper. |
19 years ago | |
| Favorite Dad |
In Virginia, the rivers are full of crayfish. Author Michael Smith AKA Rybolov went last week to the South Fork of the Shenandoah, and in a meter-square area along the shoreline, there had to be at least 30 crayfish. That may be why Skip's Dad works so well there. |
19 years ago | |
| Cheap Lazy Bastard |
Named the Cheap Lazy Bastard because the originator, Joe Kissane, uses cheap materials whenever possible, takes shortcuts (because he's lazy) and the fly is a bastard – the original pattern mated illicitly with the body of any number of famous nymphs. |
19 years ago | |
| Miscellanea Emerger |
The idea of Joe Kissane's Miscellanea Emerger is based on the idiom of "throwing in everything but the kitchen sink; however, he couldn't justify the length of "everything but the kitchen sink" for a pattern name, and someone told him that the name Kitchen Sink was already used |
19 years ago | |
| Malbran |
Malbran is the fly that catches everything. Created by Ramiro Garcia Malbràn and tied with simple and cheap materials it's the ideal fly for fierce predators like dorado, pike and bass. |
19 years ago | |
| Wingless Wets |
On a shelf in the shop was a little book that was propped open. It was Leisenring and Hidy's The Art of Tying The Wet-Fly and Fishing The Flymph. Inside, I found a treasure of patterns and some fishing instructions and I suddenly switched gears and began fishing these great little flies. |
19 years ago | |
| The Mango |
The Mickey Finn is one of the first streamers many beginning fly tyers learn to tie. Kasper Muehlbach never used it and for years a yellow and orange fly was missing in his fly box. Last year he was inspired to tie a replacement. |
19 years ago | |
| Classic Wet Flies |
Wet flies have been around as long as fly fishing itself. Are they starting to see a renaissance? In fly tying circles at least, that may be the case, as tyers look for new challenges and new sources of inspiritaion. |
19 years ago | |
| Strange X-Mas |
Minnow, sand eel, fry. This little fly will imitate most small, transparent fish. Based on a now-classical Danish sea trout fly with an added zonker strip, there is little new under the sun. But it does catch fish as pictures in the article will show you. |
19 years ago | |
| La Muerte |
You need luck, a good guide and skills to catch a tarpon. We can't supply the luck. You'll have to go there to get a good guide. The skill... well, you'll have to hone that yourself. But a good fly pattern, that's something we can help with. |
19 years ago | |
| Tribute to MOM |
The flies Mary documented were, invariably, ornate wet flies. They were, and are, the legacy of centuries of British salmon fly design spiced by the natural resources and original thinking available to their American interpreters. |
19 years ago | |
| Rackelhanen |
It will form legs, wing, body and the perfect silhouette of a caddis. It's a great floater and superb for fast water or as an indicator tied on above a seductive nymph. |
19 years ago | |
| PeeMew Midge |
In the vise, this pattern may not look exciting, but when wet, this fly takes on a whole new personality! It's a simple pattern for complex trout. Be sure to read Steve's "Tips for the Curious Fly Tier" which explains how this pattern came about and |
19 years ago | |
| The Tabou Caddis Emerger |
Made with only two materials, this highly effective caddis emerger pattern will take only minutes to tie and allow you to load up your fly box with the Global FlyFisher's hottest new pattern. |
19 years ago | |
| Angel Body |
Shiny tubing materials are widely used as body material on streamers. So is ordinary tinsel. Here is a new way of making glittering, but more volumnious, pulsating and living bodies for your streamers using Angel Hair or a similar material. |
19 years ago | |
| Speyshal |
Like most ideas... they mature slowly. It was not until late March that, during a private flytying tuition session to a talented, young colleague, I saw clearly in my mind what my Skunks would look like. |
19 years ago | |
| OEDDS |
How many of your flies work both in salt and fresh water? How many of these actually look like something real? |
19 years ago | |
| 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... |
19 years ago | |
| Surf Candy |
Until now The Epoxy Miracle has given me quite a few fish and still is my favorite baitfish imitation. It is perfect under most circumstances. |
19 years ago | |
| Une Création |
We crank out some strange flies every now and then. Get an idea, dig through piles of materials and tie up a handful of slightly different flies, each one better than the previous one, but none of them really good. But sometimes one comes out OK. |
19 years ago | |
| Merry Christmas |
The Global FlyFisher staff wishes everybody a very merry Christmas - and a happy New Year if we don't see you before then. A Christmas Fly saw its way into Martin's fill-the-box-project. A slightly more colorful variation of his usual drab and dull flies. |
19 years ago | |
| EZ quintet |
EZ flies - that's what they are in the genuine all-American-marketing-way. Five classics with their patterns modified to be fairly easy and fast to tie - not least because of the simple body construction using braided tubing. |
19 years ago | |
| Fill-the-box |
"I have severely neglected my day-to-day flybox for more than a year" writes GFF partner Martin Joergensen. Now he sets out to fill a box with hundreds of sea trout flies in preparation for the coming spring. He envisions rows of uniform and neatly arranged flies. |
19 years ago | |
| Smallmouth Jump |
Mark Dysinger has been chasing smallmouth bass with the flyrod for many years, and during that time he's come across some surprisingly difficult fish. Super clear water and high fishing pressure can make these bass as fussy and easily spooked as any educated trout. |
19 years ago | |
| Bow River Bugger |
Al Grombacher has shared with us one of the most effective patterns for the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, famed for its excellent fishing for rainbow trout. |
19 years ago | |
| Mini Streamers |
How small can you tie a streamer and still call it a streamer? The folks on the streamers@ mailing list decided to challenge themselves to a swap of streamers no larger than a size 12. The results were move interesting. |
20 years ago | |
| Boney Flies |
Crazy Charlie, Bonefish Bitters, Bonefish CDC&Elk and more. Some of these bonefish flies are well known, some are close to unknown, but they can all catch bonefish. Martin Joergensen has selected a few and tells the story. |
20 years ago | |
| Bunny Split |
Two tails are better than one says Mark Dysinger, who is an avid pike angler. In this, his latest pattern, he has created a large and very lively fly for the mossy green predator of the lakes. And it can tempt a bass too... |
20 years ago | |
| How simple can it get? |
Tying instructions? Materials list?! |
20 years ago | |
| Darth Vader Nymph |
Black and deadly in appearence, the dark force of in the fly box - this is The Darth Vader Nymph. Get out your light sabres and put your old, scratched Star Wars video in the VCR, and tie some black nymphs. |
20 years ago | |
| Beginner's Buzzer |
A Buzzer is basically an imitation of the pupa of a midge. The buzzers are best known from British stillwater fishing, but are actually very widespread and common all over the world. Learn how to tie a simple buzzer and how to fish it. |
20 years ago | |
| The Triangle Fly |
This is a strange kind of saltwater fly for sea trout - nothing like other flies - sparse and skinny, tied on a treble, only two materials. But it works says GFF partner Martin Joergensen, who is almost embarassed to tell how to tie this über-simple fly. |
20 years ago | |
| 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. |
20 years ago | |
| Branchu |
Branchu is the Québecois word for wood duck, and a very suitable name for this fly with its characteristic wood duck wing. It's originated by Jean Guy Côte of Uni-Products, but has been slightly modified by GFF partner Martin Joergensen for his fishing. |
20 years ago | |
| Chubby Fishing |
Kasper Mühlbach started fishing for chub with small lumps of dough as a kid, but has since developed flies and techniques to take this query on a fly rod. His chub patterns are simple and will most likely catch you roach and bream too if they are around. |
21 years ago | |
| The Zuddler |
Question: What to you get when you combine elements of a Muddler Minnow and a Zonker? Answer: A Zuddler - an excellent steelhead fly. Joe Emery and John Rode have combined a zonker strip, a muddler head and a cone head into a killer pattern. |
21 years ago | |
| Spotless fly |
This fly is called Twospotted Fairfly. The two spots in the name comes from the bait, which it is supposed to imitate: the twospotted goby. Gobies are a common kind of fish in the shallow parts of almost all bodies of water. |
21 years ago | |
| Tooth & Nail |
Mark Dysinger presents a pair of pike flies that can take a beating - the Prince of pike and the Poxy Bunny. Large, durable and easy to tie as pike flies should be. Mark has used them extensively for his own Northern pike fishing |
21 years ago | |
| Hillbilly Copper John |
The most sought after pattern on GFF's search page is John Barr's more than excellent nymph pattern the Copper John. Martin Joergensen describes his version here: how to tie it and fish it. And adds its hillbilly kin the much simpler Copper Joe. |
21 years ago | |
| Little Devil |
An article on the Welsh classic The Diawl Bach and on the intriguing and intimidating concept of fishing a team of three flies on a very long leader. GFF partner Martin Joergensen has been to Wales and this is the first article from that trip. |
21 years ago | |
| Danish Pastry Fly |
This fly recently changed its name from The Copper Camel to The Danish Pastry Fly for reasons that are revealed in the article. It's an efficient and simple pattern for sea trout, but is very likely to be just as able to catch bass, bonefish and many other species. |
21 years ago | |
| Simple Streamers |
Ray Bergman is the originator of these three simple mixed wing streamers. The three were included in the updated version of Col. Bate's wonderful book "Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing". The combination of materials, the overall shape and color of the streamers really caught Bob Petti's eye. |
21 years ago | |
| Black Funnel |
This fly is kind of a coincidence. An idea. A fad. But it works. It is a funnel dun, Deveaux, Joergensen kind of pattern, which will imitate a hatching mosquito - albeit a very large one in the original version. It consists of two materials and is very easy to tie. |
21 years ago | |
| Czech nymphs |
Does anyone remember the early to mid 90's? The rage in the US, at least among tyers of trout flies, was Polish woven nymphs. Fast forward to the dawn of the new century and these articles and flies have all but disappeared? Were they a fad? What happened? |
21 years ago | |
| Bonefish Bitters |
I started using the Bonefish Bitters while fishing on my own in Mexico. I wrote: "I continued using my Bitters and caught many more fish on them the following days. After two weeks of fishing I felt like a champion and was very satisfied with myself." |
21 years ago | |
| Prince Nymphs |
Mike Hogue drops by and offers us some variations of one of the all time popular trout flies - the Prince Nymph. By adding "a little flash and glamour", we have a few new things to try the next time we're getting skunked and want to try something different. |
21 years ago | |
| SHCZCDNTM |
Yep! It's yet another one of that Danish madman's muddlers. This time with an even longer name: The Short Heavy Chicago-Zürich-Copenhagen Delayed Nutria Tube Muddler or SHCZCDNTM for easier remembering! |
22 years ago | |
| Bert Quimby |
Another entry in the continuing series of features highlighting the flies of the founders of the art of streamer tying. Bert Quimby is not as well known as many, but his flies are just as beautiful and original. |
22 years ago | |
| Better-Winged Olives |
A recent tying binge left me with a few thoughts on how to tie a quicker and better blue-winged olive mayfly. The ideas aren't necessarily new, but they certainly are worth sharing. |
22 years ago | |
| Baby Buggers |
Wooly buggers are one of the all time most effective fish catching flies. However, if you think you need heavy tackle and lots of lead to get them to work - think again. Peter Frailey tells about his "Baby Buggers", and how well they cast and fish. |
22 years ago | |
| 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! |
22 years ago | |
| 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! |
22 years ago | |
| Lake Erie Shiner |
Lake Erie Shiner is a Killing Bucktail from the vise of Floyd Franke |
22 years ago | |
| Screwhead Matuka |
GFF partner Martin Joergensen has been fooling aruond with Bidoz Products brand new Kameleon Heads. These aluminium heads screw onto almost any straight eye hook - such as the one on the Screwhead Matuka. |
22 years ago | |
| Comparadone! |
Comparaduns are one of the most versatile mayfly patterns in existence representing a low-riding mayfly to near perfection. However, many tiers shy this simple pattern due to the perceived complexity of tying the deer hair wings. Learn to master the technique with GFF partner Steve Schweitzer. |
23 years ago | |
| Copper Frede |
Combine the Danish killer patterns Frede and Copper Bully with a Woolly Bugger... Not surprisingly a deadly combination |
23 years ago | |
| Splayed-A-Live |
Pike fishing requires large flies, and they are not nice to cast! GFF partner Martin Joergensen has improvised over some well known salt water patterns and made them into a fly, which is light, large, easy to tie and still acceptable to cast on a 7 weight rod. |
23 years ago | |
| The Locofoam Story |
Harrison Steeve's story about a brand new foam material for terrestrials and many other flies. "You guys are crazy to spend so much time messing around with that loco foam." Needless to say the name stuck. Read the whole story here. |
23 years ago | |
| The Gold Nugget |
This little pattern will sink just like a beadhead and will imitate the colors a golden stone nymph has, almost to perfection. Follow the tying sequences in the article to make your own! Steve Schweitzer has created another killer! |
23 years ago | |
| The Universal Nymph |
It's a beadhead, no, a hare's ear, no... How about a flashback pheasant-tail... could be sort-of-a prince nymph, maybe a copper-john-alike or a biot-bug; whatever it is, it's versatile!. This is the Universal Nymph by GFF partner Steve Schweitzer. |
23 years ago | |
| 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! |
23 years ago | |
| CZCDNTM |
A tube fly is different - a muddler is me - a tube muddler is a perfect choice. Tube muddlers are not unknown to me. I have tied and fished a few in my time, and I like them... so do the fish by the way. |
23 years ago | |
| 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. |
23 years ago | |
| Small and large flies for sea trout |
I highly recommend using small flies for fall fishing for sea trout and rainbows in salt water. The fish have been feeding all summer and can be picky and veeery slow and reluctant to take any fly offered to them. |
23 years ago | |
| The Bjarke |
Bjarke is a fly that I primarily designed to make use of these very webby feathers that always seem to be left over on the necks and saddles, when all the 'good' feathers are used. |
23 years ago | |
| 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. |
23 years ago | |
| 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. |
23 years ago | |
| The killer fly |
How about a fly which has caught tuna in the tropics, salmon and trout in Russia, cod in Denmark and a number og other fish in Global destinations? Claus Bech-Petersen's simple Tinsel Fly is such a fly. Read Claus' article with history, patterns and fishing methods. |
23 years ago | |
| Waddington shanks |
Classics in a classic way. These flies may look like something of today, but the concept of Wadington shanks is old as Methusalem. Danish fly tyer Niels Have has converted four classics to effective flies for early salmon and sea trout fishing. See the pictures and patterns. |
23 years ago | |
| The Dalby Dribbler |
Dalby is a place in Western Sealand often fished by Danish coastal fisher and photographer Mark Vagn Hansen. For one of his trips here, he tied a fly using a couple of brown hackles and an orange hot spot on the back of the hook. |
23 years ago | |
| Cluster Egg Fly |
As you probably know the egg was way earlier than the chicken. This article show you how to make The Cluster Egg Fly (pom-pom eggs) - a very popular type of fly for steelhead and salmon. |
23 years ago | |
| Muddler mania |
It should be no secret that I'm a great fan of muddlers. These functional, characteristic and very beautiful flies that I connect directly with my favorite kind of fishing: night fishing for sea trout in the ocean. The technique used for tying them has always fascinated me, and although I do tie a lot of them, I still have a lot to learn in respect to spinning deer hair. |
23 years ago | |
| My Fly Box |
This is my fly box. The very box that I carry in my chestpack when I go fishing on the Danish coast. It's a hand made Schweitzer mahogany box, if you're interested - the most stylish type of fly box I have ever owned. |
23 years ago | |
| Dalby Revenger |
This was one of the first flies I tied with a rabbit skin I got dyed with picric acid. The innovations found in this pattern are limited - to put it mildly - not much new under the sun here. The color is also far from any color found in food items digested by sea trout. |
23 years ago | |
| Inspiration |
A few muddlers as inspiration |
23 years ago | |
| Loch Dhu Salmon |
A pattern for salmon in the summer dusk. A salmon fly inspired by the Scottish pattern named after the lake Loch Dhu |
23 years ago | |
| Monster Muddler |
A large muddler for pike |
23 years ago | |
| Muddler mania - Full Metal Jacket Nutria Muddler |
A conehead muddler/zonker |
23 years ago | |
| Muddler mania - Small Polar Muddler |
A small muddler |
23 years ago | |
| Salt Water Caddis |
A muddler pattern |
23 years ago | |
| The Orange Silver |
A fly which is just a piece of imagination created one evenning in march. I have been fooling around with a plain type of steelhead or salmon flies this last year. These are all signified by simple feather wings and the use of classic materials like floss, tinsel and plain feathers |
23 years ago | |
| The Rocket |
During a recent gettogether with some Danish flyfishers I hauled out some of my cod flies. One of them was this one - The Rocket. They were quite excited about the fly - first of all because it's a light tube fly, second because it's very durable. They saw in it not only the cod fly that I had made, but also a pike fly, a fly for pike perch and a universal fly for all kinds of deep fishing for larger fish. |
23 years ago | |
| Tying a muddler |
The most important step in preparation is getting the right kind of hair. Buy your hair at a reliable source. Good spinning hair patches are dense and have little underfur. The single natural hair should be dull and light at the base, slightly waved at the root, and have a short tapered tan/black tip section. |
23 years ago | |
| The Bumble Bee |
This pattern was originally made one evening when I was tying with some friends. My friend Henning had some light SLF left over from one of his flies. I scavenged the SLF and started a fly on a heavy Tiemco hook. The tail was casually made from some natural bucktail that I had brought. |
23 years ago | |
| Bunny Leech |
This is a steelhead pattern, normally made with black or purple rabbit. But with natural rabbit it makes a very good pattern for the coast. By cutting a narrower strip of rabbit and choosing natural colors a lighter dressing is achieved. Good for spring fishing and fishing in current like over reefs. |
24 years ago | |
| The Black Frede |
The Grey Frede is a surefire pattern for sea trout. It's a very versatile and robust fly that has become very popular. I decided to tie a darker version of the same fly. |
24 years ago | |
| The Bottle Cleaner |
This is an old favorite. Good under almost all conditions and with a lot of trout in its history. |
24 years ago | |
| Christmas Tree |
Again a 'classic' Danish fly. Actually only uses one significant material: a piece of mylar tubing. Body can be covered with yarn or floss to add color. A really good fly for cold or unclear water. Fish deep and slow in the winter. |
24 years ago | |
| Crazy Dane |
Anybody can see that the Crazy Dane is really a Crazy Charlie - a very common salt water fly from the U.S. This type of fly is rarely seen in our part of the world, and I know no other fishers that use it. |
24 years ago | |
| David |
Even though the pattern was inspired by a technique showed to me by Davy Wotton, it's not named after him, but after my little brother David. |
24 years ago | |
| The Fair Fly |
This fly is a larger and more imitative variation of the Squirrel Zonker. The addition of the eyes and the heavy hair hackle makes the fly more fishlike and the Fair Fly is a good imitation of a sculpin. |
24 years ago | |
| Morrisfoam Diver |
"My, what an ugly fly!" Henning glances with disgust at the brightly colored foam fly shining from the hook rest on my 5 wt. Learn more about the Morrisfoam Diver for sea trout. |
24 years ago | |
| Grey Frede |
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the Danish shoreline fly fisher Peter Loevendahl, who is a discrete man. He goes around quietly in his native western Seeland and catches fish. A lot of fish. |
24 years ago | |
| A Black Fly |
I've had little experience fishing with this fly which is quite recent in my collection. It has all the characteristics of a good night fly, it's fast and easy to tie and durable too. It should be a fly worth having in you box. |
24 years ago | |
| An experiment |
What else would you expect to find in a lab...? |
24 years ago | |
| Sand eel/lance |
The sand eel or lance - called the tobis in Danish - is one of the most common fish on the Dansih coasts, and is an important part of the diet of especially larger sea trout and cod for that matter. Because of that it is an interesting fish to imitate. |
24 years ago | |
| Henning's Snot |
This fly was originally developed by Henning Eskol, a member of the Bananaflies - my fly tying guild. |
24 years ago | |
| Salt water spiders |
The least dressed fly of all. The classic spider fly has to be one of the least dressed flies of all times. A slender body and a thin hackle - and that's it. |
24 years ago | |
| Gift wrapping string fly |
I have some remote relatives in Boston who occasionally sends over christmas gifts to my kids. This year the gifts were packed with some particularly interesting string. This string was braided in the colors red and green with some shiny material laid in. It said "flies" all over it! I scavenged the remains from the unpacking and stoved it away between my fly tying materials. |
24 years ago | |
| Muddler spec. |
Muddlers are mostly used for dusk or night fishing in the summer. Muddlers will work in the surface, streaming, making a wave wich can be seen by the fish against the light sky. |
24 years ago | |
| Woodchuck |
Now is the time of year to experiment with new materials. If you haven't had the pleasure of using groundhog/woodchuck, I recommend you give it a try. |
24 years ago | |
| Sawada tubes |
Niels Have's take on some Ken Sawada patterns - tied on tubes. |
24 years ago | |
| Deep in my heart |
Deep in my heart, I prefer stream flyfishing for trout. However, Holland has precious few trout class streams, and next to none fishable trout, so most of my local flyfishing is for warmwater species. In fact all of my stream trout fishing happens abroad, mainly in the States, as well as in Belgium and Denmark. |
24 years ago | |
| Chinook in the salt |
The chinook is considered by many to be the prime game fish of the North East Pacific, with only the steelhead challenging that title. |
24 years ago | |
| Omoe Brush |
Ken Bonde Larsen's now-classical Danish sea trout pattern. |
24 years ago | |
| Opossum Shrimp |
An imitation well suited for inshore fishing. |
24 years ago | |
| Squirrel streamer |
This small streamer is as neutral and ordinary as can be. It's a small trout fry pattern, that can be used in fairly clear water in spring and autumn. Retrieve in short, fast jerks. |
24 years ago | |
| 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. |
24 years ago | |
| The IQ shrimps |
Both IQ and Orange shrimp are excellent Sea Trout flies. They are easy and quick to tie. I've used them as a secret weapon for several years now. Weather conditions will dictate the size of fly I prefer. You may tie these patterns on any type of hook, singles, double including trebles in small sizes 10 to 14. |
24 years ago | |
| The Mia Fly |
Most dog owning fly fishers have probably combed their dogs and been struck by the fact that dogs' hair would make a fine dubbing material. Danish fly angler and photographer Mark Vagn Hansen did so with his dog Mia. |
24 years ago | |
| The Moor Fly |
This one of the really genuine Danish flies for sea trout in the streams. The Moor Fly (Hedefluen in Danish) in some fishers eyes work magic and can at times be the most dominating fly on certain Danish sea trout streams. |
24 years ago | |
| The Moyerfokker |
A well worn, ugly, but nevertheless effective specimen of The Moyerfokker |
24 years ago | |
| Atlantic conversions |
Although the subject of this article may seem like heresy to dedicated tyers of classic atlantic salmon patterns, I thought it might be a fun exercise this winter to adapt some of these classic patterns to New England streamers. It was indeed a challenging and enjoyable tying experience. |
25 years ago | |
| Chris Edghills salt water patterns |
A selection of saltwater patterns from Chris Edghill |
25 years ago | |
| 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." |
25 years ago | |
| The IQ Zeb Macahan |
This fly was ordered by Swedish Fly fishing shop as a logo type. I got the material and colors witch would be included and free hands to create. IQ Zeb Macahan was the final product of this. |
25 years ago | |
| Bass bugs |
I'm not sure how floating bass flies got the name "bug", but it certainly has stuck. Whether constructed of wood, plastic, foam, or hair, they all seem to be lumped into the generic category of "bass bug". |
25 years ago | |
| Tube Muddler |
A great looking tube fly |
25 years ago | |
| Simo Lumme |
He send me copies of some of his own creations and moreover delicate watercolour drawings of his in Scandinavia very famous Sedge Pupa - imitation. As his flies are very little known in Europe, I shall try to give a description. |
25 years ago | |
| Susquehanna Smallmouth patterns |
If you mention smallmouth bass fishing in Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna River immediately comes to mind. This article features 14 efficient flies for Susquehanna smallmouth from the hands first time contributor Robb Nicewonger. |
25 years ago | |
| Nutria muddler |
A large surface muddler for all fish that eat in the darkness. |
25 years ago | |
| Opossum |
A simple fly for sea trout. |
25 years ago | |
| George F. Grant’s Flies |
George F. Grant's flies utilize some very special techniques. |
25 years ago | |
| Spey Hackles |
I've been fascinated with spey flies for a long time. The first I had ever seen was a Purple Spey tied by Tim Purvis, which arrived in a swap of steelhead flies a bunch of us FF@'ers exchanged several years ago. The next was an Olive Spey tied by Juro Mukai in a swap of atlantic salmon flies. |
25 years ago | |
| Woodduck Flank |
I have to admit a particular fondness for woodduck flank. Ever since I was given my first baggie of feathers from a duck hunting friend, I was smitten. The color - the texture - the barring of the feathers. |
25 years ago | |
| The Red Fly |
A large colorful fly for cod fishing. |
25 years ago | |
| Chillimps |
Small orange fly for for garfish |
25 years ago | |
| Valeur's Pike Streamer |
This amazing fly is ment for pike. It's caught a lot already on the line of originator Morten Valeur who states that this is one of the few flies he can truly call his own. |
26 years ago | |
| Cone head flies |
A few early samples of Danish fly tyer Ken Bonde Larsen's cone head flies. |
26 years ago | |
| Red Tag Palmer |
An all time classic which here is tied for sea trout in ocean and stream. |
26 years ago | |
| Bullet Head Magnus |
The Magnus is a pattern always present in my fly box. I've caught a lot of fish on it, it's simple to tie and surprisingly durable. It's normally tied with ball chain eyes, but after I found a good supplier of bullet shaped bead head, I tried tying some with bullet heads. |
26 years ago | |
| The Idiot |
The Idiot - or 'Idioten' in Danish - is another typical Danish sea trout pattern. The story of this fly is quite well known and documented. A team of Danish fly fishers including Erik Døssing were fishing in Norway when one of the company stated that he had never caught a sea trout on fly in the stream Karup Aa - probably Denmark's most productive and famous sea trout stream. |
26 years ago | |
| The Femmer Crab |
This fly is the latest development in my experiments with the melt glue I have used with some success for cod. This version is much smaller than the original and uses a simpler and better method for building the body. This not only makes the fly faster to make, but also much easier to cast. |
26 years ago | |
| The Sabot Fly |
On the surface the job was simple, come up with some pike flies for my friend's teenage son's trip to Canada, something small enough that a teenager can handle and still tempt a pike. |
26 years ago | |
| Hen Hackle Demystified |
Hen hackles have long been the source of confusion to many fly tyers. Whether they are looking for wings for their dry flies or hackles for their wet flies, there seems to plenty of head scratching when it comes time to purchase the appropriate feathers. |
26 years ago | |
| Umbrella for streams |
I have been experimenting a bit with stream patterns for sea trout. One of the results has been a larger and more salmon fly like version of the Umbrella - a salt water fly that I have used with good success. |
26 years ago | |
| North Country flies on blind hooks |
More than 30 years ago I tied some of the North Country Flies on blind hooks. At that time Veniard Ltd. had them in their catalogue - but I had no silk-worm gut, so I tied them to fine monofile nylon. |
26 years ago | |
| Philatelic phlies |
Do Postal Services have notions of flyfishing? Do flyfishers have something in common with stamp collectors? |
26 years ago | |
| The Flee |
This fly was made as an imitation of a very numerous and common group of small crustaceans/isopods, that are present on the menu of sea trout. The animals are very small - a few millimeters - but still the trout will eat them in great numbers. This is especially in the late summer and autumn. |
27 years ago | |
| Umbrella |
The umbrella is a nice looking fly inspired by stream flies for sea trout. It was formerly known as the Double Umbrella because of the to wet fly type hackle feathers, that gives the fly its unique appearance and a lot of life in the water. The feathers will collapse when wet and almost cover the silver tinsel in a pulsing motion. |
27 years ago | |
| The New Flee |
A small and simple sea trout fly |
27 years ago | |
| Kluting |
A bottom seeking fly for pike, bass, cod, pike perch, sea trout - even bonefish and many other fish. |
27 years ago | |
| Orange Twist |
This fly used to be a twist fly like the yellow Twist of Lemon, but it changed and eventually lost the typical twisted body. It has a normal tinsel body and a thorax of peacock herl, but looks much like the Twist of Lemon. |
27 years ago | |
| Fishing the Muddler Minnow |
The muddler can double as a serviceable grasshopper, cricket or even damselfly nymph. One can fish it dry and doped up, damp, wet and sunk. |
27 years ago | |
| IQ Dawn series |
The purpose of the IQ Dawn Series is to cover most variations you can encounter at a salmon river. And hopefully catch a Salmon Salar, king of fish! All flies can easily be made to spey flies - just change the hackle to heron feather instead, in the same color. |
27 years ago | |
| Banderillas |
The tube fly - or tube fly system - you can see on this page, is called the Banderillas. The name comes from the Spanish name for the sticks the the bullfigther uses during the fight. The body sections of this fly has some resemblance to these sticks. |
27 years ago | |
| The Flasher |
The Flasher fly is not so much a fly as a method of adding a spinner to any tube fly which under certain circumstances enhances its attractiveness to almost any species of fish. |
27 years ago | |
| Cheapskate Heron |
I came upon an idea. Actually I combined two incidents into one idea. First of all I was going through my heron feathers (yes, I have more than one) and found some butts that I had saved after having tied whole body hackles. I wanted to use these feathers, which still had a lot of useful and long barbs, but unfortunately a very thick stem. |
27 years ago | |
| 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. |
28 years ago | |
| 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. |
28 years ago | |
| The Gladiator |
The Gladiator started as a joke but one with a lot of thought behind its origins. |
28 years ago | |
| The Real Deer Hair |
A sedge pattern in the Goddard tradition - with a twist. This fly is a combination of the G+H Sedge and a hackling method adapted from Dutch Piet Weeda - making it a one-material-fly. |
28 years ago | |
| Doing the Limbata |
I apologize to you in advance for the disappointment you will feel upon learning that this article is not about a hot new dance step from south of the border and will not contribute to your romantic relationships or skills on the dance floor. |
28 years ago | |
| The Flex Hex |
The fly that did the Limbata as told by Jim Hauer |
28 years ago | |
| Coney Snowbugger |
This streamer fly is actually a variation of the well-known Woolly Bugger. It imitates a small baitfish. |
28 years ago | |
| Twist of Lemon |
This fly uses a special technique where a strand of floss and a strand of tinsel is twisted together before the combo is wound on the hook shank. |
28 years ago | |
| Charlie's Bead Head Scud |
A simple and good looking scud pattern from Charles Garwood. |
28 years ago | |
| Fatal Attraction |
Part wet fly and part streamer, it has all the obnoxious flash of a Mepps spinner in the water, and it's just as effective. |
28 years ago | |
| Chilli Pepper Flies |
So you thought that chilli pepper was a small, strong, spicey fruit? Well, it is... but it's also a seemingly popular name for fishing flies. In the past I have come over no less than three patterns with the name Chilli Pepper. |
28 years ago | |
| Coney flies |
The flies on this page are all well known patterns which have all been juiced up a bit - many with some modern materials, but all with cone heads. |
28 years ago | |
| Charlie's Phesant Tail Nymph |
The Pheasant tail nymph is a true classic. The original was tied by Frank Sawyer using only copper thread and phesant tail fibers. This pattern has been elaborated a bit by Charles A.Garwood from North Carolina, and uses peacock herl for the abdomen and regular tying thread. |
28 years ago | |
| The Shank |
An almost naked fly with almost no materials. |
28 years ago | |
| Magnus Muddler |
This muddler is tied on a small stainless Mustad hook using orange deer hair, orange dyed grizzly hackle and natural rabbit dubbing with a bit of orange flash mixed in. A small beauty indeed and sooo easy to see at night. |
28 years ago | |
| Foam flies for panfish |
I purchased a copy of Skip Morris' book on tying flys for bass and panfish and another of his books on foam flies. His books are excellent and I recommend them above all others for beginning tyers. The pictures and instructions are superb! |
28 years ago | |
| Sheep hair flies |
Recently I've begun working with a material that was introduced to me through the tying of Dave Whitlock. In particular, his "sheep series" of baitfish flies. It's Icelandic Sheep Hair, although some distributors refer to it as "Streamer Hair" or "Secret Streamer Hair". I've found it to be a wonderful tying material for large streamer type flies. |
28 years ago | |
| Charlie's Prince Nymph |
This fly was inspired by the original Prince Nymph, but modified by Charles Garwood of North Carolina for an easier tie and more visibility. |
28 years ago | |
| Miss Ring |
The name and appearance of this fly owes a bit to the New Zealand Mrs. Simpson flies in which a couple of feathers are roofed on each side of the fly. These flies are also known as Killer flies or tied in the Killwell style. |
28 years ago | |
| The Magnus |
Magnus is a 'classic' on the Danish coast. This small anonymous fly and its very similar brothers the Frede, Sandshrimp and many others, are probably the most catching flies on the coasts of Denmark. The eyes and the palmer hackle are the prime characteristics of the Magnus, which is mostly used in clear water. |
28 years ago | |
| The history of the gold bead |
The gold bead flies that are now so popular, actually originated in the central part of Europe - more than 100 years ago. |
28 years ago | |
| Poul Jorgensen's General Practitioner |
In this autumn I had the pleasure of meeting my countryman Poul Jorgensen at two lectures he held here in Jutland, Denmark. |
29 years ago | |
| Monster Muddlers |
A large muddler pattern for big fish. This one has caught both pike and baby tarpon. |
29 years ago | |
| Grey Duster |
Later my friend and I ran into problems on our favorite stream, when the tiny Caënis dayflies hatched. The trout sipped the fresh emerged flies all over the water - but they rejected all the flies we offered. Then we found a note in a magazine saying, that the fly with the peculiar name - the 'Grey Duster' - should be the right medicine, if it was tied with a parachute hackle. |
29 years ago | |
| The Jassid |
The headline contains some truth in the sense: When trout/graylings eat tiny surface-food, they only nead to open their mouth to a narrow slot and sip the fly in. If one presents them with a fly with a broad hackle - then they can’t suck it in through their narrow mouth. |
29 years ago | |
| Two flies in one |
The small dipterae - Simulium sp. - has always been a problem - they are tiny and shows up in fantastic numbers. Why should a trout prefer our imitations when there are so many all over the water? |
29 years ago | |
| Squirrel zonker |
I used to hate zonkers; those pre cut rabbit strips were like hell to tie with: too thick skin, too long hair, too wide strips. I stopped tying them until someone told me how to cut my own strips. |
29 years ago | |
| Francois le Ny |
The french pediatrician Jean-Paul Pequegnot has written a book about french flies - "Repertoire des Mouches Artificielles Français". 1975. It is translated to english in the last years. He gives among others also descriptions of flies from Britanny. |
29 years ago | |
| Glitter Shrimp |
A killer fly in the right hands on a cold winter day. A very simple shrimp pattern for Danish sea trout and many other targets. |
29 years ago | |
| The Mymph |
This has been my most successfull trout fly in the autumn of 1995. I've caught most of my trout from a float tube, and I believe that one of the keys to the success of this fly is the fact that it's weighted. This and the fact that it's actually very nymph like tells me that it would probably act fine as a stonefly nymph imitation, and this has given the fly it's name 'My nymph' or 'Mymph' for short. |
29 years ago | |
| Mysid |
Wanna tie a mysis? This might be the pattern... Small, easy to tie. It can even stand in for a small dragonfly nymph. |
29 years ago | |
| CDC&Elk |
Hans Weilenmann's classical contemporary sedge fly. |
29 years ago | |
| Small muddler |
Muddlers are a type of flies that I love to tie and fish with. And they also catch fish. In my small story from the Danish summer night, you can read what this small modest muddler can do. A fly I had a fair success with |
29 years ago | |
| Magnus Classic |
A great Danish fly for sea trout - The classic Magnus |
30 years ago | |
| Full Metal Jacket Nutria Muddler, variations |
This fly is in a way my 'signature fly'. It's a beautiful fly (in my own humble opinion), and even though it's heavy - very heavy, actually - it's a good fishing fly, that dives deep and overcomes current and turbulence. |
30 years ago |
