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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
Tufty fly

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
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.
English not being my first language, I would have called the colour of the hackle purple, but the pattern said mauve. Mauve? I've never heard of that colour before, 

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.
A traditional palmered wet fly in greyish colors - with a secret and rare smoke colored body. See how to tie it and why Flemming prefers them in small sizes.

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
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.
It's actually quite close in style to some of the first Muddler Minnows tied by Don Gapen back in the 30's.

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!
Once again, black is good!
Once again, rubber legs are good!
Once again a tube fly from Nils Jorgensen.
This little tube fly is so easy to tie that you can easily fill a box in no time.

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.
The pattern is more a tying principle than a specific pattern.

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!?]...
Well, maybe sometimes...
Follow Pete Grays easy crab tie using mesh, rubber legs, glue and sand.

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.
The fly has many neat details and is a great upgrade from those quickly tied flies. It makes your fly box look great and keeps you away from the TV.

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.
Selling flies through the Internet is a growing business. There is a vast number of private and commercial suppliers of flies and a large range of prices and qualities.

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


Maybe you found the tandem worm too tandemnised and would be better of with a one-hook-only fly.Then the fly The Wiggling Jigging Worm shown beneath is a good alternative.

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?
The Deep Diving Shrimp is such a fly. Oliver Edward's allround Gammarus imitation works equally well everywhere you find this very widespread animal.

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.
But, sometimes it seems too small for the big sea trout, which come close to the South Swedish shore from January to March.

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?!
You must be kidding me!
The list is close to being an insult and it is almost ridiculous to tell you how to create this fly in more than a sentence. This little saltwater fly is soooo simple.

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.

This fly was since modified a bit, and is now the Epoxy Miracle.

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!
Read the story and find the patterns here.

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.
The material is rabbit fur in tufts, tied in on top and under the hook shank.

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...?
This fly is one of the many that I seem to crank out at random. Most of them end up as garbage and never even find their way into my fly boxes, but this one had something. Just a little something.

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.
Muddlers move a lot of water and form a good profile. Almost any type of muddler can be used for this fishing although dark and black patterns seem best.

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.
By Ismo Saastamoinen

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
Four flees

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.
By Bas Verschoor

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.
Says Charlie: "The prince nymph has been with us for a long time! I've simply added flashabou because I found it enhances attraction and because I find it slightly easier to tie than white goose biots. Plus it eliminates the gold braid too. It just simplifies the pattern"

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.
One of the flies he tied was his version of Edmund Drury’s famous salmonfly, the General Practitioner. Tied after its original recipe it’s something of a task to make; but Poul has found out a simpler, but just as effective pattern.

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

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