This is related to the Low-Rider Emerging Nymph post, but it also works fine as a stand-alone tying techniques piece. The “3/4 Parachute” name refers more to the end result and less to the actual process, but it still makes sense once you see the technique. The core idea is to create a lightly-dressed parachute [...]

FF&W reader, Satoshi, recently asked me about my favorite 10 wet and dry flies (following this article at MidCurrent). I thought about it for a while, and decided that I would do a “top 10″ here, but do it a bit differently. I wanted to provide patterns, but also concepts on which the patterns are [...]

It’s getting into fly-tying season in the farther reaches of the North Hemisphere, so here’s a little QuickTime video of an alternative tie-off knot for those FF&W readers who are lurking near a vise (vice?). [ Javascript required to view QuickTime movie, please turn it on and refresh this page ] This is the tying [...]

I promised the E-List (and all FF&W readers) that I would up the educational ante with more streamer posts. Well, GB took the lead with a post of his own. It’s specifically focused on tying the Collared Leech, a simple, but really effective fly (variations have caught all manner of fish, including tarpon). Go tie!

The Upside-Down Leech is the fly up above, but down at the bottom. The educational content in the latest E-List mailing was focused on streamer techniques, specifically “subtle streamers.” One of the flies mentioned was the Upside-Down Leech, which promptly elicited an e-mail asking, “What’s an Upside-Down Leech?” I also promised the E-List that I [...]

After the beetle fishing/tying posts, I had a few e-mail exchanges with several FF&W readers, including Satoshi, who was fishing in the Yellowstone area last month. From what Satoshi reported, fishing was tough, but the indicator beetle he chose to use made following the drift easy. The Tiger Beetle (Satoshi’s personal tie shown above), is [...]

Yeah, it’s October and I’m still finishing up the terrestrial series. I’ve been working hard on another project lately, so I’ve slipped behind here at FF&W over the last couple of weeks. None-the-less, here is the promised hopper tying piece (an older, but still good, pattern). As with the previous beetle post, rather than trying [...]

Took me long enough, but here is the “terrestrial time” beetle-tying post. As with the previous ant post, rather than try to re-type all the info, I have done the digital equivalent of a tying scrapbook. The images below are scanned (and then Photoshopped) straight out of GB’s 1991 book, Designing Trout Flies (there is no [...]

As promised yesterday, here are the instructions for tying the Para-Ant (an old pattern of my father’s, which I still tie, carry and fish with regularly). Rather than try to re-type all the info, and then do a layout with individual drawings, I have done the digital equivalent of a tying scrapbook for you. The [...]

For those FF&W readers who tie, here is a little (147KB), freebie PDF download for you, the Designing Trout Flies Feather Guide. Based on my father’s Designing Trout Flies book from way back in 1991, the Guide is basically a short-course reference for feather ID and color matching. The Guide has lurked around various dark corners [...]

A fly in-the-hand and a fly on-the-water may be two different things (at least to the fish). Below are a few shots showing a real Hexagenia mayfly dun just outside the edge of the fish’s window (photo taken via a slant tank), and the insect just inside the fish’s window (the brown area outside the window is [...]

After last year’s interview that I did with “Hatches” magazine,” I’ve had a few questions about the hackling technique shown on the highlighted flies. So, here’s a post covering the core technique—Diffusion Hackling—used to produce the leggy results. Actually, this post is a version of a couple of similar articles that I wrote back in [...]