GB is busy tying the 39274957287456 flies he’s going to include in the upcoming Long Flies book (actually, I think it’s only 80 or so, but they have to be right), so I figured that a post on tying with GB was in order. One of the most memorable things about the frequent outings that my father [...]

For those interested, there’s a nice triple-play of fly tying by GB over at his blog. While the bit-by-bit recipes are focused on the Hendrickson, the core fly designs are applicable across a rather large spectrum of the mayfly world. Get them here: Red-Brown Nymph – Parachute Floating Nymph – Yarn Wing Dun (with a [...]

For you tyers out there in the FF&W readership, GB just ran a series of bobbin posts over at his blog. Mostly stuff he either already has, or some new goodies from the show circuit this last winter (that’s a new goodie from Marc Petitjean shown above). If you dig bobbins (they are sort of like like the [...]

Continuing the FF&W Art Archive series with another image from the book, Designing Trout Flies. This one is from page 45. The collection of numbers correspond to colored pencils that I used for the “presentation” edition of the book. That edition was quite a beauty: handmade wood boxes (with burled panels), leather covers, all of the [...]

See that soft-hackle? Tie one just like that, but add a trailing shuck. Fish it dead-drift in the film (don’t be afraid of floatant if necessary). I did a quick tying piece for my friends over at “Field & Stream” magazine’s TieTalk (the tying alter ego of the FlyTalk blog). The subject is a trailing-shuck soft-hackle [...]

For those of you who have a copy of the book, Designing Trout Flies, you’ll likely recognize this illustration (see page 25). What’s a bit different is the collection of numbers (corresponding to pencils) and colors. The notes were part of my artistic preparation for working on the “presentation” edition of the book. That edition [...]

So, I got an email asking about snail patterns. Told Bruno (he would be the one who emailed) that I’d get something up here for him. Figured that today was as good a day as any. Before I got started, I decided to check out GB’s blog, just to see how his posts from the [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Christmas Spey. The last fly of the 2010 DF52 season. This was purely an artist’s choice, do-what-you-please drawing, with no set pattern to follow. Felt like I needed to keep it loose and have some fun, so I took some inspiration from my Jack O’ Lantern Spey. That was what I needed [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Gray Ghost. Overworked this one nearly to an untimely death. Decided that the only way to do something interesting was to scan it and hit it with a Photoshop filter. A cheap way out, I know, but I felt that I had to do something with it, so that’s what I did. At [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Winter’s Hope. Attended a dinner party last night, and it unexpectedly ran well into the early part of today, so I ended up with a Friday morning DF 52 drawing. More info later. In the meantime, go see Jeff’s Winter’s Hope here.

Drawing Flies 52 Bright Fox. Liking Jeff’s choice of wet fly this week. Based this drawing directly on the pattern shown over at “Hatches” (which is a nice tying mag, by the way). The whole process went so much better than last week’s debacle. Jeff and I have been talking wet flies a fair amount [...]

Top: Original drawing (not so great). Bottom: Enhanced version (a brighter not-so-great). Oh well. Drawing Flies 52 Turkey Spey. Seems like an appropriate fly given the U.S. holiday today. Drew this one dressed heavily for dark, cold water (no gravy, though). Frankly, my approach didn’t work out right, I feel, and I’m not happy with [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Blue Butt Caddis. A tribute to Tom Helgeson. As many FF&W readers likely know, Tom died recently after a battle with cancer. He was a driving influence in the fly-fishing scene in the entire Great Lakes region (and in much more than that). Tom was a family friend, and I presented and [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Durham Ranger. Thought that this came out OK, kinda the sketchy-cool that I was aiming for. Then I clicked over to look at Jeff’s rendition…so much for my little chicken-scratchings. Jeff just killed it. Chewy strokes of color, lots of depth and shine, pillows of softness in the background—and no paint. Almost [...]