There is no doubt that classic streamers and bucktails fish well. Nevertheless, if we apply the same care and dedication that we do with when tying dries and nymphs in its different stages, to imitate smaller fish perfec...
The perlidae are considered big nymphs (size 6-8) here in Quebec and are among the most important trout foods on some rivers. A big snack like this can sometimes be the only meal a brook trout trout will have in a period...
The olive midge pattern is one of the most effective fly patterns for the Clinch River year end and out. Olive midges are prevalent on the tail water of the Clinch and they comprise most of the midge hatches in the wint...
In January of 2005 I was surprised when I saw a young american angler at the Manzano pool in the Chimehuín River (Patagonia). Not only by the way in which he casted and mended the line, but also because he caught five r...
The hatches here in SW Virginia have looked a lot like dust on the water this Spring and the fish were feeding on things that I couldn't even see. So I've tied a pattern that was on the smallest hook available at the loc...
Tie the Mirage is very simple, just you have to be careful to use a feather with all the fibers intact otherwise you cannot get the a imitation with the body and the tails perfect. Because the CDC is a precious material,...
In 1994 it was published in the Italian Fly fishing magazine "Fly Line", a my articles where I proposed to bend upwards the stretch near eye of a hook shank right, to give the fly more balanced and stable in water.
Wrap...
The French fly tier Marc Petitjean has designed the system to get the body of a fly using a CDC hackle.
Not all of CDC hackles are suitable for the purpose, are usable only those that have the fibers that reach the tips...
Fly fishing is something much deeper than catching fish, and something similar happens with fly tying, where a passionate fly tyer can find amazing stories and knowledge that will be invaluable in the river.
The Tup's I...
Some years ago, I met the well-known fly tyer Jean Louis Teyssié in an event tying artificial flies.
I showed to Jean Louis some of my fly patterns and he showed me how to tie the tube bodies.
Teyssiè poured a little...
I began using Cul de Canard in the eighties, just when most
other Italian anglers similarly discovered its existence, but I
must admit that although I was appreciating its features, for
the first few years I did no...
My romance with tube flies began over 32 years ago. The construction of Kautapen lodge was being finished and I was lucky to guide the first groups of anglers together with Rolland Holmberg, a known Swedish guide with...
I’ve always been impressed by the European tiers because of the originality of their designs and wise use of natural and traditional materials, like deer hairs of all types. Francesco Palú’s flies guided me to explo...
CDC feathers have unique properties due to the characteristics of their structure. Properties that make them ideal for certain type of flies of streamlined and ethereal silhouettes, more similar to real insects, especial...
Designed to attract fish and not fishermen, Ed Surryn flies were innovative from the very moment of its appearance. They are built with balsa wood, a particularly suitable material for making bodies of terrestrial ins...
I think it is obvious that the tying process of the Mirage 2 proved a source of inspiration for other flies. The imitation of May fly that I called Mirage 3 is part of a series of artificial I developed inspired by the M...
The idea was to design a different fly for tarpon. I wanted the shape of the body and the way it pushed water to be related with the pressure waves generated by the fish tarpon prey on. I also wanted it to move naturall...
There are many different styles of fly tying English flies, one of the more distinct is the one used for flies used in the rapid and structured waters of the northern rivers.The way the hackle is tied, with long so...
Fishing for golden dorados with top water flies is definitely the ultimate adventure if you are looking for high levels of adrenaline. Of all the flies we have tried, not one matches the results one gets with the Titanic...
Foam is now available in variety of different forms and is here with us to stay replacing many materials such as the bodies of flies usually tied with dear hair as it is far more durable. Also with foam it is much easier...
I started experimenting with models that imitate minnows after several trips to the main golden dorado destinations, such as Goya, Esquina and La Paz, all in Argentina. During certain moments of the season, millions...
Many of you have probably experimented with the effectiveness of the flies with bodies made with quills, using for example peeled peacock quills in their natural or dyed color.
The attractive color of the peacock quill,...
Often, to create my fly patterns, I draw inspiration from classic flies and, on this occasion, I wish to propose the CDC version of a mythical fly: the Gary LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa. Gary LaFontaine, great fisherman and i...
We have a very very small species of creme colored mayfly and midge up here in Alaska, this could be a Sulpher type of Mayfly as well, tied these up to imitate the emerger stage of these. I have yet been able to do furth...
Traditional wet flies are coming back to the fly fishing. In the shadows of nymphs and emergers for a while, this kind of flies that served well for years is today studied again by the finest anglers that find unique sol...
Sometimes I have asked myself where I find the ideas to make artificial flies and the answer is that I continue to draw inspiration from my patterns. This is because I have the belief that each pattern can be improved an...
For many years mayflies have been taken for hexs, but these are not related, they only have similar sizes in the adult stage. Chiloporter nymphs are skilled swimmers that live close to the shore in fast waters of stre...
I tied this 'little' fellow for some days ago, when i got my minds into pike fly fishing again. The streams and lakes are still frozen all over the country so I sat down by my vise and started tying like a crazy! This is...
About fifteen years ago, a friend of mine came home to order ten dozen of flies. I checked out the list of flies and realized he hadn’t ordered any Soft Hackle. I told him so and he just said, “I don’t like those, ...
The first time I saw a Murrough caddis fly emerge onto the water surface I prepared to defend myself! It was huge. One of the biggest flies I’ve seen on any British water. At over 1 ¼” they are the largest of our ca...
The Fat Albert is an interesting variant of the Chernobyl Ant with a bigger and bulkier body. It hits the water clearly calling trout´s attention. With some variations, we have used it successfully to catch golden do...
This is one of my favorite flies for fishing trout and grayling on the rivers of northern Italy and Austria. I started to tie this beetle in 2000 and over the years I kept improving it, changing its materials and shap...
In the eighties, the most used system to tie the wings of a CDC may fly spent was to overlay two bundles of fibers, the bases of one over the tips of the other, and then fix them, half of their length, in a horizontal p...
Originally created in New Zealand aiming to imítate a small freshwater shrimp, it has been one of the most popular flies in Argentina over the last four decades.The original pattern had 2 or 3 collars made o...
Flies made with tubes of different materials are getting more and more useful to me. These last long because we can change the hooks if they break or loosen, and we can use hooks for different kinds of water, like saltwa...
This page is lacking a very important subtype of flies: Atlantic salmon flies (traditional and tube-flies). They can't be listed under the name of "streamers". I am no creating any type of new fly on this post....
The way in which we tie CDC in this emerger –as seen in the picture that shows it in action- makes the abdomen have the correct posture when on the water. The air bubble that takes form below the CDC wing case preve...
George Francis Grant was without a doubt an accomplished artist at developing techniques to shape hackles using animal hair. His skill went beyond the ones of a regular tier. In his books, “Master Fly Weaver” and ...
This fly, credited to Art Flick from the early days of fly-fishing in the USA, is probably one of the simplest yet effective trout dry flies, both for rivers and lakes.Gray Fox, Cream, and Dun are some of the...
While I tie the Mirage, saw the possibility of obtaining, in a simple and fast manner, a version of it suitable both for fishing in fast water, both slow (with a little modification). This version of the Mirage is more r...
When I started using CDC, I realized that it was naturally be followed by every fly I make, another representing its evolution and that another, following a logical process as simple as to seem natural.
This process b...
The use of silicon to achieve a special effect and body in different flies is not a new thing, but we have not yet seen that many designs, even when we know it allows us to tie designs that are lightweight and capable...
Initially, I tie the extended body of this midge with the same criteria with which I tie the body of CDC Midge and imitation resulted both imitative, both effective in fishing.
Subsequently, to concede something more to...
Created in 1964 by Dan Nick Naranchi of Twin Bridges, Montana, this old design was named after one of the most famous rivers in the area, the Big Hole.
According to Joe Brooks, this fine fly looks something like a lo...
After creating the R Nimph, I thought that I could add to the group of emerging flies also the Cripple imitation. The Cripple imitates the nymphs emerging, having trouble to get rid of shuck, remain trapped in the surfac...
One of the most important food sources for trout in Patagonia is the Sammastacus or river lobster. It is one of the three kinds of crustaceans, together with the pancoras and scuds, that inhabit these waters and which ar...
Among tube flies, there is no doubt that the Sunray Shadow is one of the most popular and effective ones. My first contact with it was in the Kau tapen Lodge in Tierra del Fuego. They had begun their operation not long a...
Intruder-like flies have proven to be very effective with preying fish, especially with salmonids. From the original patterns tied with pheasant, heron, ostrich and other birds, many other variants which include syntheti...
Immediately after I had created the Mirage, I realized that I
had achieved something that went beyond the simple creation
of an artificial fly: I discovered that the CDC could be used in
a manner different from the co...
Simplicity is the key to most fishing. How much simpler can one get than to find an all-white fly, that is so easy to tie, that even I - a completely incompetent fly-tier - can tie one. But not only tie it, b...