Tag: flies

This week's Tying Tuesday features yet another Sparkle Dun, but this one is a "Neversink" edition, which I think could come in handy. You'll also learn to tie a new nymph from Slovakia, and get a primer on fly tying thread. The Sparkle Dun is probably my favorite fly, ever. This thing flat-out produces when trout are at their pickiest during mayfly hatches...

This week's Tying Tuesday has a bit of variety to it. We start off with a standard trout fly before moving on to a simple foam beetle that'll work for trout or bass. Then, we finish with a fun variant on the classic Deceiver. Getting us started this week is a tutorial on the Yong Special from AvidMax. This is the glass-bead variant of a popular pattern...

Years ago, back when I still lived in Utah, I spent a lot of time on the Lower Provo River. In the summer, it's crowded with anglers and recreational tubers alike. The flows are high, and the fish have a reputation for ignoring hatches and eating nymphs more than the average trout. Come winter, the flows drop, the crowds thin, and most folks who brave the...

Here's a great video from Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions in which he teaches you to tie a midge-larva imitation that looks more complicated than it really is. The secret is an ingenious method of creating a dubbing loop and adding a different color to each leg of the loop. Using a dubbing whirl to spin the two colors together creates a cool mottled...

This week's Tying Tuesday focuses on two smaller mayfly patterns (although one can be tied in larger sizes) and ends with a great how-to video about using wire in your flies. I know it's still January, but it feels good to be tying mayflies and dreaming of the first hatches, even if they don't start for another few months. Our first fly this week is a...

Question: I'm still tying on Mustad & Son 94842 hooks (upturned eyes) that I bought in the 1970s. I don't see upturned-eye hooks in catalogs anymore. Is there any real difference in hooking ability between up-eye, down-eye, and straight-eye hooks? ~ Carl via email Answer: Fish hooks might seem simple at first glance—just a bent piece of wire with a...

I'm definitely dreaming of warmer weather, and in this week's Tying Tuesday you'll be treated to a nice little mayfly pattern, perfect for tossing during early spring hatches. Then, you'll learn about a midge (which, admittedly, you could use right now), and that's followed up by an interesting shrimp pattern for anyone looking to chase permit and bonefish...

I have a love/hate relationship with fly tying. I enjoy the satisfaction of catching fish on flies I made myself, but I'm a decidedly average tier. It can take me an hour or more to tie up enough flies to last me a day (although that probably says more about my propensity to lose flies than it does my tying ability). Either way, I'm always intrigued with...

Tying Tuesday is back and ready for some more trout-focused goodness! A theme throughout the flies I selected for this week's post is the confidence anglers have in them. Tim Cammisa swears by the X-Caddis, the folks at Mainely Flies love the Squiggle, and Higa's SOS is the definition of a confidence fly. It's an interesting concept to think about, in that...

The first Tying Tuesday of 2025 features a few lessons on critical tying skills, along with a time-tested pattern and an interesting Euro nymph. It's been too cold to fish in my neck of the woods, and I know I'll be spinning up a few of these flies this week while I wait for warmer weather. The first pattern this week is from Davie McPhail, one of the most...