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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
At the moment there is not a lot different variations of the tarpon fly, which could possibly be due to the fact that Tarpon are not plentiful in many places. Therefore anglers prefer to use proven flies then test new pa...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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, ...
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...
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...
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...
Once I stumbled over this flypattern, I immediately fell in love. Not only is it fun to tie and looks amazing in the water, the fish really love to hit it. But I hate to loose a fly, which took some time to tie, to a stu...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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 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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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, ...
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...
I love this fly! Use for trout, panfish, and bass. I first start by using a 10 2x streamer hook and brown 6/0 thread. Weight can be added. I weight mine. Use a piece of chenille about 4 inches. Leave about 1 inc to the 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...