Barry Ord Clarke’s guide to tying dry flies includes step-by-step instructions for crafting a variety of designs such as Caddis flies, Midge flies, Grayling flies, Ant fly, Daddy long legs flies and Mayfly dry flies. Whether you’re an experienced angler or a beginner, mastering the art of tying your own flies can significantly enhance your fly-fishing experience. With Clarke’s expert guidance, you’ll be able to create dry flies that mimic the natural insects found in rivers and streams, effectively attracting fish and increasing your chances of a successful catch.
By using high-quality materials and following Clarke’s detailed instructions, you can craft intricate and durable flies that will hold up against the rigors of fishing. Clarke’s patterns have been honed over years of experience, and are designed to catch a variety of fish species in different water conditions.
In addition to providing instructions for each pattern, Clarke also includes helpful tips and techniques to ensure that your dry flies look and perform their best. From selecting the right materials to finishing your flies with precision, Clarke’s expertise is sure to improve your fly-tying skills.
So why settle for store-bought flies when you can create your own custom designs that will attract more fish and enhance your overall fly-fishing experience? With Barry Ord Clarke’s dry fly patterns and tying instructions, you can take your skills to the next level and enjoy even greater success on the water.
Welcome back to another tying session here on thefeatherbender.com. During heavy hatches of mayfly, you’ll often notice that trout favor cripples or stillborns over a healthy dun. The reason is simple: these vulnerable insects require far less energy to forage, … Continue reading Tying a Cripple Mayfly with Barry Ord Clarke
It’s that time of year when the most important terrestrial is swarming, and no trout fisherman should go without a reliable ant pattern in their box! This little semi-realistic flying ant is a quick and easy tie that floats all … Continue reading Tying the Deer Hair Ant: An Essential Floating Terrestrial Pattern
One of my earliest patterns that has worked well for me over the past 30 years. This is an incredibly versatile pattern. You can fish it as a standard dry fly, or fish it as an emerger using a sinking … Continue reading Clarke’s Deer Hair Pupa
An unusual slow water caddis dry fly pattern with a double wing and dense hackle, made for those days when the fish are rising steady. Slow water caddis pattern recipe Continue reading Slow water caddis dry fly
One of the flies that No fly box should be without! This simple but classic pattern can imitate just about everything on the water that is black and can be fished the whole year round. The ideal sizes are from … Continue reading The Classic Black Gnat Dry Fly
A lovely little Caddis with three nice techniques for the body, wing and hackle. This pattern can be used for any of the smaller caddis species. Fish it dry or as an emerger bith work extremely well. How to tie … Continue reading Alpha Caddis
A must have little pattern that can be fished as a dry, wet or even an emerger. With a quill body and a deer hair hackle, this is a very buggy midge that can be fished all year round. How … Continue reading Deer Hair Dry
This follow up video from the snow shoe rabbit foot prep video, shows how to position and measure the wing and tail for a mayfly dun. Also using the snow shoe underfur for dubbing the body. This pattern can be … Continue reading Snow shoe dun
If you are looking for a superb all round mayfly dun pattern, that is easy to tie and will work for just about any mayfly hatch, if you match the correct hook size and colour – you need look no … Continue reading Adams hair wing dun
This is probably the most important and universal mayfly dun that you can have in your box! The Craig Mathews sparkle dun is a no hackle pattern that can be tied in just about any size and colour to match … Continue reading Sparkle Mayfly Dun
An absolute must pattern if you are fishing mayfly hatches! Some very different and interesting techniques for this unusual parachute pattern, including my Para weld parachute technique. Once this technique is mastered, it can be used for any size or … Continue reading Para weld Mayfly
I’m not sure of the origins of this interesting pattern but it looks very fishy as both a Dun and an emerger. The hackle and legs are made from the long guard hairs from a hares mask (not ears) and … Continue reading Diane Mayfly
We all know the original Dyret pattern from Gunnar Bingen, but heres a pattern that I have been playing with the past two seasons that has been a killer for wild brown trout. Just a simple variant of the original … Continue reading Bibio Dyret
Another scruffy fishing pattern with a paraloop wing/crest that keeps this pattern floating all day long high and dry. With a very spiky footprint it can double as a all purpose searching pattern and the trout love it! Crested Caddis … Continue reading Crested Caddis
A relatively new pattern that I have only fished with this season, that has proven extremely effective, especially in the smaller sizes. Consisting of a CDC detached body and a comparadun wing of CDL and CDC, this extremely simple pattern … Continue reading The Emaciated Mayfly
Probably the quickest fly that you will ever tie! This little comparadun midge is the ‘bees knees’ when it comes to simplicity and presentation. It sits low in the surface and can be tied in whatever colour you require. Use … Continue reading The No See Um Midge fly
This wonderful little pattern from fly tyer Mike Mercer is a great all-rounder that was originally designed as a crippled caddis fly it can be fished successfully under most hatches and conditions. Pay special attention to the proportions and amount … Continue reading Missing Link fly pattern
It’s that time of year again when old red legs hatches in great numbers! This is a very easy but extremely effective bibio pattern that has worked for me for decades. Also some very neat techniques for making the hairy … Continue reading Bibio Pomonae dry fly
This popular Finnish pattern, is a Goddard variant with a parachute hackle. I’v been tying these up for a fishing trip in August to the Finnmarksvidda, in the very North of Norway, where caddis flies are most defiantly on the … Continue reading Nyblom Caddis
A great little pattern for when the craneflies are about that is easy to tie and will float all day long. You can also tie these in attractor colours, orange, yellow and red all work well. Foam Cylinder cranefly pattern … Continue reading Foam Cylinder cranefly
The Parachute Hare’s Ear dry fly stands as one of the most dependable choices for anglers throughout the fishing season. Crafting a handful of these flies in sizes #12, #14, and #16 is a surefire way to enhance your fly … Continue reading Parachute Hares ear dry fly
A very quick and easy must have caddis. With only a tiny bunch of elk hair and a little CDC, you can tie this skating caddis that I guarantee is a game changer during caddis hatches. Clarke’s caddis fly pattern … Continue reading Clarke’s caddis fly
A quick skating caddis pattern that won’t let you down. Tie it with a natural or bleached wing for better vision. Tied with materials that I have harvested myself from the forest here in Norway. Harvester Caddis pattern How to … Continue reading Harvester Caddis fly
A must have pattern that is ultra quick to tie and very realistic on the water. The hot glue rods can be purchased for next to nothing at hobby shops and one rod will make enough ants for you and … Continue reading Hot Glue Para Ant fly
One of those simple patterns that never seems to fail. This little black midge fly with a trailing UV shuck is, as the name suggests, a foolproof choice when the fish are on small midges. I’v only ever needed black … Continue reading Surefire midge fly
A CDC variant for the classic fat boy dry fly Humpy. Here we replace the traditional deer hair hump and wing with a couple of CDC hackles. If you find the original pattern with deer hair challenging, this is a … Continue reading CDC Humpy fly
This extraordinary style of mayfly dun from Spanish fly tyer Luis Means Baeza is a very interesting pattern, with several unique and innovative, techniques and uses of materials well worth watching to the very end. PM14GAFL mayfly pattern How to … Continue reading Luis Meana Baeza Fly PM14GAFL mayfly
Probably the last big fly of the season. The October caddis can make a great end to the season, these huge caddis flies make a big slash and are eagerly taken by trout that are approaching the spawn. This pattern … Continue reading October Caddis dry fly
Another great pattern with a simple tool. If you enjoyed the detached body crane fly you’ll love this mayfly. Heres the full video on how to prepare the material and weld the body. Followed by the full tying sequence for … Continue reading Detached body mayfly dry fly
This cripple/stillborn caddis is a sure thing during a caddis hatch. The new Mustad Heritage Alpha Point R43AP # 10 is the perfect hook for this pattern with its 3XL shank and extra fine wire. Tie it in any size … Continue reading Cripple/stillborn caddis
One of the classic patterns. This Devaux style Coq de Leon Mayfly creates a very attractive footprint or silhouette and floats extremely well. I use this style of fly when fishing the larger mayfly hatches for Danica and Vulgate. With … Continue reading Devaux style CDL Mayfly
This is a great little technique for making very realistic Cranefly / Daddy long legs bodies. For just a few Euro you can get one of these simple extended body tools (link below) and with the material from just one … Continue reading Crane fly – Daddy long legs dry fly
This wonderful realistic pattern uses the stonefly body tool from MvE products in the Netherlands, and CDC from David Jedlicka in the Czech Republic. Although a very realistic looking fly it’s a very easy tie and will float all day … Continue reading Giant stonefly dry fly
A very interesting pattern that puts deer hair to good use for both the body and the wing post. Often used on a # 6 XL hook for the great Hex hatch, but tied on smaller sizes it works well … Continue reading Regan’s Mayfly Spinner
An extremely effective Hi-Viz, Hi floating mayfly dun. This little pattern has a few interesting techniques that help make this a deadly choice on the end of your line during mayfly time. CDC Mayfly Dun fly pattern Hook: Mustad R30 … Continue reading CDC Mayfly Dun dry fly
The Sasquatch was designed by George Leonard Herter in the late 1960’s and was said to be a entirely new type of dry fly! The Sasquatch floats like a cork and catches stream trout like no other fly. Named after … Continue reading Tying the Sasquatch dry fly
The 2022 German Fly Tying Championship In cooperation with EWF I have made a the step by step tying instructions for ‘Clarke’s Floating Stone’ the pattern for the 2022 German Fly Tying Competition. If I find time I will also … Continue reading Clarke’s Floating Stonefly
A very useful general purpose pattern, especially during prolific hatches, that you can easily match to the hatch by changing the colour combination of the moose mane body hairs. Mayfly Stillborn – Cripple pattern Hook: Mustad R30 # 14 Tying … Continue reading Mayfly Stillborn – Cripple
A simple detached body technique with a twist! Using two colours of Para Post and a couple of strands of Nano Crystal flash you can create unique segmented detached bodies with a little flash in them, that work well for … Continue reading Detached body technique
With a little preparation and practice of the special techniques, my all deer hair mayfly, can be tied in just a few minutes with a single dubbing loop. Resulting in a extremely buoyant pattern with a super dense deer hair … Continue reading Deer hair mayfly dun
