Fly tying | Page 20

Sometimes, we take the little things for granted. As a long-time (but hardly accomplished) fly tier, I've incorporated a few of the basic tying tactics into just about every fly I produce at the vise. Video of How to do a Pinch WrapAs you'll see above in this great little Orvis video, Tim Flagler demonstrates…

The venerable Hendrickson, the fly tied to imitate the famous hatch that's well under way on rivers in the East, is more than just a match-the-hatch pattern. Here in the West, we use the Hendrickson as an attractor mayfly pattern starting in spring and early summer, because it does a serviceable job imitating one of…

Tying small-ish mayfly patterns might be one of the most common fly-tying applications, but it doesn't mean it's super easy. Like any tying activity, it takes practice, particularly for the more detailed aspects of your average mayfly pattern, including the hackle fibers use for the tail. Video of How to Make Mixed Hackle Fiber TailAbove,…

Proof that really good fly tiers are also real innovators, Tim Flagler, in the short video below, demonstrates yet another way to tie a parachute-style dry fly. The method he demonstrates below seemed pretty dubious to me, but Flagler swears by it. Video of Parachute Hackle Method - "UV to the Post"Parachute-style dry flies are…

Heavy nymphs that get down are ideal this time of year, as rivers start to pick up steam from upstream snowmelt. They may not be cloudy or dirty with full runoff yet, but water levels in the spring are on the rise, and we anglers need flies to anchor two-nymph rigs that get down and…

We've showed several of Tim Flagler's videos over the last few weeks on tying in parachute posts—there are several methods that he has demonstrated to make this somewhat complicated method a little bit easier. Now, it's just up to you to find the method that works best for you. For me, I'm a fan of…

Dave McKenna is a fly tier after my own heart—he travels a lot for work, so rather than diving into a fly shop to buy local patterns every time he hits a new river, he's come up with a host of flies that seem to work generally everywhere. It's a great notion, that of having…