mustad hooks
A truly quick and easy pattern to tie with a couple of nifty techniques, that create a wonderful translucency when wet. Tie them in any colour combination of abdomen and fur hackle desired, to fish as a traditional wet or … Continue reading Rabbit under fur wet fly
Named after the famous East Tennessee River, the Tellico’s origins are as foggy as what it is designed to imitate! Some say a mayfly nymph where others are sure that its a caddis larva… But the colours are similar to … Continue reading Tellico Nymph
An extremely quick and easy pattern, that pushes all the buttons for those Autumn fry feeding rainbows and browns, on still waters. Suspender Minky pattern Hook: Mustad R73 # 8-10Tying thread: Sheer 14/0 WhiteSuspender: 7mm Booby eyeEyes: Light weight Dumbbell … Continue reading Suspender Minky
Currently one of the most popular caddis patterns, that has a couple of interesting techniques. Holy Grail Caddis pattern Hook: Mustad C49S # 12-16Bead: 2.8 mm tungsten slottedTying thread: Sheer 14/0 BrownRib: UTC Mirage OpalBody: Hares ear dubbingWing case: Pheasant … Continue reading Holy Grail Caddis
An extremely buoyant caddis pattern with a special CDC parachute hackle technique, that ticks all the boxes. Tied in a little larger sizes it doubles as a great stonefly and with legs makes an exceptional hopper! CDC para-weld caddis pattern … Continue reading CDC para-weld caddis
One of the iconic American fancy wet flies. Tied on a # 10 Mustad R70 wet fly hook. Although many find these classic wets challenging to tie, with a little practice and patience, they soon become natural… Royal Coachman wet … Continue reading Royal Coachman wet fly
One of the classic generic nymphs. Although originally designed to imitate a cased caddis fly, the Zug Bug has proven its effectiveness over many decades. Well worth tying up a few in # 10-16. Zug Bug pattern recipe Hook: Mustad … Continue reading Zug Bug
As the name suggests, the gravy train midge will give great rewards for little effort. A quick and simple all year round midge that works in most midge fishing situations. Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed! Gravy Train … Continue reading Gravy Train Midge
A little variant of the LaFontaine classic. An absolute must have pattern if you are fishing still water caddis fly hatches. Here I demonstrate a good technique for getting the Antron shuck in place. Deep sparkle pupa variant pattern recipe … Continue reading Deep sparkle pupa variant
Continuing the quick flies to tie,the PDQ (pretty damn quick) caddis will not only float all day long, but it also takes under 4 minutes to tie! This very simple technique, uses a single natural CDC hackle and a small … Continue reading PDQ Caddis
This Pale Morning Comparadun demonstrates a little different technique for the regular comparadun wing. This technique results in a slimmer abdomen and greater buoyancy. It’s also an extremely effective pattern for a Heptagenia sulphurea dun. PMD fly pattern recipe Hook: … Continue reading Pmd fly
A new series of videos for those that are new to fly tying, to accompany my new book, ‘fly tying for beginners’ out later this year. Here I am showing techniques that may look challenging, but are totally achievable with … Continue reading Fly tying for beginners – Hair wing Dun
A new series of videos for those that are new to fly tying, to accompany my new book, ‘fly tying for beginners’ out later this year. Here I am showing techniques that may look challenging, but are totally achievable with … Continue reading Fly Tying for beginner’s UV Zonker
A new series of videos for those that are new to fly tying, to accompany my new book, ‘fly tying for beginners’ out later this year. Here I am showing techniques that may look challenging, but are totally achievable with … Continue reading Fly tying for beginner’s Hares ear nymph
Although an extremely simple tie, the Zebra midge is an essential pattern to have in your box all year round. Tie it in all hook sizes from a 12 to a 20 and in any colour you fancy, be it … Continue reading Zebra midge
A quick and simple, semi realistic pattern to imitate the Mysis shrimp. Ranging from 0.5 to 25 mm long with a slender transparent body. Inspite its small size the Mysis is a very important food item in both lakes and … Continue reading Mysis shrimp fly
Currently one of the most used tied and nymphs, especially in competition circles. An extremely easy tie for an extremely effective pattern for Euro nymphing. Change the hook size, body and collar colour and even tie it on a jig … Continue reading Frenchie Fly
WD 40 fly one of the simplest but most effective mayfly midge larva that you can have in your box. An absolute must for early season fishing! Tie it in sizes from 16 – 22 and in the most popular … Continue reading WD 40 fly
A lovely little CDC ant pattern, that is tied with only one CDC puff and a few turns of hackle. A quick and easy pattern for the most important terrestrial, no matter where you live, that will float all day … Continue reading Cdc ant fly pattern
Gee! I never thought that it would be this difficult!! This has been going around fly tyers on YouTube, and I thought that it might be a bit of fun, tying a Black Pennell, with a blindfold on! I not … Continue reading Blindfold challenge Black Pennell
Detached bodied daddy long legs a very simple detached body technique for a good daddy long legs that will float all day long. It can also be applied to all manner of extended bodies. Detached bodied daddy long legs pattern … Continue reading Detached bodied daddy long legs
Black Pheasant tail nymph A little, effective variant of the classic that you can fish in both still and running water all year round. A couple of nice techniques here to take further on other patterns. Black pheasant tail nymph … Continue reading Black pheasant tail nymph
Probably Jack Gartside’s best known pattern from the early seventies. Originally designed by Jack as a soft hackle muddler minnow but over the years has proved to be an excellent all round sub surface pattern. Gartside’s Sparrow nymph pattern recipe … Continue reading Gartside’s Sparrow nymph
One of my favourite patterns for when the fish won’t have anything bright and prefer something more buggy and natural looking. Hares ear muddler streamer pattern recipe Hook: Sprite barbless streamer S2200 # 8 Tying thread: Dyneema 55 or GSP … Continue reading Hares ear muddler streamer
A wonderful little pattern that, as the name suggests, is a composition of several better known patterns. This is a simple tie that will cover most dry fly situations when grayling fishing. Hook: Partridge_Sprite S2401 # 14 Tying thread: Sheer … Continue reading How to tie the Heinz – 57 grayling dry fly
The holidays are quickly approaching us, and maybe some last minute gifts are still needed!There is still time to order ‘The Feather Benders Fly Tying Techniques’ The ideal gift for the fly tyer. Here are a couple of video reviews of the … Continue reading Ideal gift for a fly tying Christmas
For me this is one of the very best emerger patterns that can be used for both midges and mayflies. Named after the famous 3 dollar bridge on the Maddison river this little pattern is quick to tie and a … Continue reading Three dollar dip fly
Black deer hair flies have been used for decades here in Scandinavia for night fishing in salt water for sea run browns, heres one of my favorites, the marabou muddler. Marabou muddler pattern Hook: Mustad S74 Salt water streamer # … Continue reading How to tie a black marabou muddler
This variant of the semi realistic Solomon caddis pupa is a relative easy tie and has a few nice techniques to take further on other patterns. Solomon caddis pupa variant pattern recipe Hook: Ahrex FW560 # 12 Tying thread: Sheer … Continue reading Solomon caddis pupa variant
One of the lesser known but still effective old grayling and trout patterns, with a couple of nice body techniques with peacock herl. Hook: Mustad R50U # 12 Tying thread: Sheer 14/0 Black Tail: Goose or duck quill slips dyed … Continue reading Bristow’s Bug dry fly
This is my take on one of the all time classic soft hackle patterns that in recent years has experienced a comeback. Partridge and Orange wet fly pattern recipe Hook: Partridge_Spider # 14 Tying thread: Cobweb 6/0 Orange Hackle: Brown … Continue reading Partridge and Orange wet fly
A little jig with a couple of nice techniques for breathing gills and a shell back. Bottom crawler jig nymph pattern recipe Hook: Barbless jig # 12 Bead: 4mm silver slotted Tungsten Tying thread: Sheer 14/0 Olive Tag: Red Floss … Continue reading Bottom crawler jig nymph
An extremely quick and effective winter pattern for searching pocket water. Try it in smaller sizes with a green or yellow body. Red hot chilli pupa pattern recipe Hook: Mustad C49S # 10 Bead: Slotted Tungsten silver 2.8 mm Tying … Continue reading Red hot chilli pupa
Being the most prolific terrestrial on just about every river and still water, this extremely simple but effective parachute ant will not only float high and dry, but tick all the boxes for ant feeding trout no matter where you … Continue reading Parachute ant fly
A very beautiful little pattern that is my take on the strawman cased caddis larva pattern. All you need is natural deer hair, a single grey partridge hackle and a little patience, to create this spun deer hair bodied caddis … Continue reading Strawman fly
One of John Goddard’s lesser known but extremely effective patterns. The original JG emerger used a brown and grizzle hackle mixed for the parachute here I use only a brown dyed grizzle along with a special technique for splitting the … Continue reading John Goddard emerger variant
A little pheasant tail water boatman/Corixa that is super quick to tie and can be fished effectively both wet or dry. Tied only with pheasant tail and moose mane hair. Corixa – water boatman fly pattern recipe Hook: Mustad R … Continue reading Corixa – water boatman fly
The smallest of the up-winged may flies. Although ideally matched on a # 20-26 hook it is possible to get away with a # 18. A couple of interesting techniques here for the tails and wing. Just change the colour … Continue reading Ceanis / Trico spinner dry fly
A quick and easy Hares ear soft hackle / wet fly that will work just about anywhere. Fish it up-stream as an emerger / semi dry, let it drift down stream and as it passes you give it a pull … Continue reading Hares ear soft hackle wet fly
The Best Fly tying Books You Should Read Over the past, 35 + years, that I have been tying flies, there are a few books that have become top reference books for me, some, that I return to on probably … Continue reading 10 Fly Tying Books my recommendation
