There was a time when Marabou Muddlers were the flies to catch big trout. I still remember some strikes at the bend of the Chimehuin River’s La Boca (river inlet) in Patagonia with some black Marabou Muddlers almost at...
In our visit to the Zambezi River searching for tiger fish the most effective flies were Clouser Minnow-like streamers. In the Lower Zambezi, in Zambia, where we fished, there are many fishing eagles that watch the ri...
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...
Since Frank Sawyer gave the Pheasant Tail the shape of a nymph, the simple design with feathers from the tail of a pheasant and fine copper wire has not stopped catching trout around the world.
The variants for the eter...
I remember a day on the river deveron when a size ten grhe nymph made short work of 11 brown trout. It was the first time I had been river fishing seriously and was an unforgettable day. For those of you who have never c...
Competition nymphs are simple to tie and deadly effective on the river. As a fishing guide one must trust in simple flies, flies we can tie in enough numbers to replenish the exhaust boxes well in the middle of the ni...
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...
This attractive streamer takes its name from a French count that lived close to Villa la Angostura in Patagonia, Argentina. For decades, he was a regular fisherman at the Correntoso river´s outlet into Lake Nahuel Huapi...
The Zonker Variation is a particular streamer that was created by Dan Byford from Steamboat Springs in the 80s. It has resisted time with only some slight modifications in its original style and design. We have used it f...
About twenty years ago, I traveled with a friend to Junín de los Andes in the month of January and had some great fishing moments, but one of them really stuck in my mind. We got to the Aluminé river late and decided t...
Bombers and their relatives, Buck Bugs, are flies from New Brunswick, born in the famous Miramichi River. These deer hair flies have then found a place in remote distant waters such as those in cold Russia, Pacific steel...
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 first tube flies came around the year 1945 in Scotland. They were tied on turkey wing feather quills that were later replaced by plastic tubes, the ones used for medical surgery. The possibility of tying the mater...
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...
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...
When beginning to fly fish, one wonders if a big fish might be caught using such small fly…Created by George Griffith, one of the founders of Trout Unlimited, this pattern imitates midges, midge emergers, m...
Some tiers choose not to use synthetic materials because they cannot obtain the same results as with the naturals. For example, the way deer-hair muddler heads push through water make it incredibly effective when fish...
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....
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, ...
Rubber legged flies have always been very popular in Patagonia. Bitch Creek and Rubber Legs patterns were used a lot during the 70´s as well as the Leoni´s Barbarous and Montana flies with antennae and rubber tails....
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...
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...
Gray Ghost is a great name for a fly. A name that may bring back memories of salmon and brook trout to many fishermen, and also of the green waters of the Curruhué River or the blue ones of the Traful in the distant ...
This famous fly was designed to imitate large dark stonefly nymphs of North America. It was first tied by Lew Oatman of New York. The stonefly nymph essentially lives in fast flowing freestone rivers. This style of nymph...
This pattern was created by Scott Sanchez. In Scott Sanchez words: “The idea for the Double Bunny came to me almost 20 years ago while on a fishing trip to Belize. John Hanlon and I were trying to catch som...
Frank Sawyer must have never imagined that this simple nymph, perfected in the River Avon, would become a classic that is included in every angler’s fly box. Sawyer wanted a nymph that made an attractive sound when rea...
Most fishermen usually associate fly fishing to small artificial lures. This is true if you focus on trout species, fish that feed on nymphs and adult insects or even on smaller fish. Few anglers dare to experiment with ...
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...
I´m not so fond of foam flies because they generally don’t look so good, but these hoppers are really fun, and look great when we paint them with different colors. The mold shapes to cut the body parts help make a nat...
All kinds of ants are spread throughout the whole world due to their adaptation skills. This is why fly-fishermen have to take into account that ants are a part of the fish´s diet. We can see this because ca...
I created this fly pattern in the nineties and made known in an article that was published in the Italian Fly Fishing Magazine “Fly Line” the month of January 1998. Then, I inserted it in my first book about CDC “M...
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...
Scuds are crustaceans and are very important for fly fishermen because they can be found in many areas, not only in lakes. They are constantly active in hours of dim light or cloudy days, they represent an important sour...
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 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...
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...
I never liked that much the Matukas made with hen feathers, maybe because these feathers wrinkle in the boxes and lose its shape a bit, something that is terrible for a perfectionist person. Still, once at Patagonia, ...
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...
The Prince is a nymph that has a very important place in the fly fishing world and rightfully so, because its effectiveness is indisputable. Originating in the thirties, it was first known as the Forked Tail Nymph and wa...
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...
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...
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...
Articulated flies are no novelty, they have been with us since a long time. Even before Richard Waddington started to use an articulated hook fly in English rivers in the 50’s, there already were old books on diverse f...
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...
Shuri Shumakov was a key character on reviving the popularity of tube flies. His short patterns, with cone heads, soon lead the way to countless variants, combining plastic tubes with metallic pieces to achieve highly...
There is no doubt the Jungle Ghost resembles Lefty Kreh’s Deceivers from the 60’s. Since those times, that style went around the globe and infinite variants and combinations of this fly appeared everywhere.A mo...
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...
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...
This is a traditional Czech Nymph with some minor changes in its thorax, which worked very well during the last season.
In sizes 8 to 16 and with the right moves it is very effective in fast waters, especially in the be...
I always considered the tying Paraloop incomplete because, even if it highlight the entire body of imitation and provide it an awful lot rooster’s fibers support, cannot provide it vertical wings, key feature of the ...
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