Stonefly nymph imitations are very effective in fast water rivers with big rocks on the bottom. The impressionistic ones with soft materials that move attractively underwater with the slightest currents are especially...
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...
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...
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...
Most big browns from Patagonia owe their size to a rich diet based on a type of crayfish called pancora. There are big quantities of them in some rivers, this is why we must make good imitations if we want to catch these...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 classic Patagonia rivers such as the Aluminé and Chimehuín one can no longer see in the afternoon so many adult stoneflies like there were a decade ago, but their imitations still produce violent surface strikes,...
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 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...
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...
This fly is called the Dolly Llama. It's an articulated rabbit fur streamer. These flies are great for steelhead and fishing the rivers of alaska. It may seem a little complicated but it really isn't. &...
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...
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 ...
Due to its great underwater movement, the leech-like flies are unbeatable when we go for big fish. If well designed, these are not heavy to cast and don’t tangle, something key when we are casting at our maximum ski...
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...
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 ...
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...
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 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 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...
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...
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...
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...
Originally, bucktails were streamers whose wings were made with white-tail deer hair. Today, bucktails are those streamers whose wings are made with different hairs, and not only deer tail.The first elegant fli...
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...
Tying artificial nymph gills is usually a problem. This is why I bring you this simple way to do it, a technique I saw some time ago and applied to many of my nymphs. It’s ideal for small nymphs, to achieve clear an...
This sculpin model presented in the International Tackle Dealer Show of 2012 in Reno, Nevada, is really interesting when it comes to fishing for trout, golden dorado, wolf fish and other fish.I have tied them in ma...
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...
Flies with a given action used to be more common but seem to be forgotten today, yet they can be very effective.For many years, miniature versions of bass lures were very popular, flies with helixes a...
The original Woolly Worm pattern is said to have originated in the Ozarks as a bass fly. Its real popularity, however, came when Don Martinez, a West Yellowstone, Montana fly tier, commercialized the pattern in the 1950s...
Originally from New Zealand, the Matuka is still one of the most popular streamers in Patagonia. Not only used by fly fishermen that go after the big rainbows in november (early season) but also by those that chase the h...
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 Popsicle was created by George Cook in the 80’s. It belongs to a group of patterns he created called the Alaskabou Series. Among this group are the Volcano and the Blue Moon. These are flies that have been designed...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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’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...