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Fly Patterns

Archives
The Gurgler
Jack Gartside first created his Gurgler in 1988. Although now incredibly popular for east coast striped bass and bluefish the Gurgler was actually an evolution of a beetle pattern. Jack Gartside has developed many successful patterns including the Sparrow Nymph, Floating Minnow and numerous soft hackle streamers.
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Talking Turkey
The white turkey offers an array of feathers including flats, biots and wing quills. In a world were natural oak or white tip turkey, partridge, grouse and other wild bird materials are not always available white turkey feathers and plumage do a more than capable job in relief.
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Horizontally Opposed-The Art of Balanced Flies
Hanging or suspending flies beneath a strike indicator is nothing new nowadays. The catatonic presentation technique is a staple in just about every stillwater fly fishers arsenal.
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Stillwater Droppers
So why would a fly fisher wish to turn a simple, efficient one fly system into multi fly potentially tippet consuming nightmare anyway? The reasons are numerous, providing advantages that work wonders for versatile stillwater fly anglers
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Czech Nymph's
Participants of the 1989 World Fly Fishing Championships were witness first hand to the short line nymphing skills, techniques and flies of Polish fly fisher Vladi Trzebunia. Vladi obliterated the competition, taking the individual gold medal by storm. Vladi’s performance was nothing short of spectacular as he garnered more points than the next three national teams combined!
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Alaskabou's
The pedigree of northwest steelhead fly fishers realizing advantage of the animated properties of marabou is impressive. Trey Combs, Bob Aid, John Farrar, Mike Kinney, Joe Butorac and George Cook to name a few were all seduced by the magic of marabou. Each of these renowned tiers manipulated marabou in their own way.
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Building a Better Bugger
One has to wonder if Pennsylvania fly fisher Russell Blessing knew what his merger between the chenille bodied marabou tailed Blossom fly and a Woolly Worm would become.
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Wet Flies
With a long standing history over 100 years old, pre dating dry flies, wet flies are still popular choices in many areas of the world today such as the British Isles.
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Deceiver Details
The Deceiver was conceived over 40 years ago by fly fishing icon Lefty Kreh for chasing Chesapeake Bay Striped Bass. This proven pattern offers a generic baitfish profile that adapts matches any forage, in both fresh and saltwater, from long slender needlefish to broad shiners.
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Pacifying Parachutes
Parachute patterns offer a relaxed proportional approach and the soft upright landing habits of a parachute offer fly fishers unparalleled stealth.
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Managing Marabou
Marabou is one of the most versatile and widely used fly tying materials available today. Lacking the barbule hooks common to most outer contour feathers soft mobile marabou fibres spring to life beneath the surface creating animated patterns few predatory fish can resist.
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Muddling Through-A hair spinning primer
There are a number of ungulate hairs suited to spun and clipped patterns but the best spinning hairs are coarse, spongy and soft.
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Woven Wonders
Fly tiers and fly fishers seem drawn to patterns with a “get up and walk” look to them. The kind of look where you know if the fly were to fly away it would be a fantastic pattern on the water.
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Spey Substitutes
With their long flowing hackle moving at the slightest current pulse or flicker few flies offer the grace, elegance and style of a Spey pattern.
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Epoxy Moxy
With the interest in salt water fly fishing growing worldwide the number of epoxy based patterns has jumped exponentially. Nearly all saltwater fish feature razor sharp teeth as standard equipment and an even nastier disposition.
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Adding the Magic Touch
A few of years ago innovative Swiss fly tyer Marc Petitjean introduced the world to a fantastic set of tools appropriately named the Magic Tool. The Magic Tool allows fly tyers to control materials such as thick stemmed grizzly marabou and CDC.
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Handling Humpies
With its universal appeal and superior floatation the Humpy is one pattern B.C. fly fishers should never visit a river or stream without.
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Soft Hackle Solutions
Soft hackles offer a broad appeal with an inherent ability to suggest a wide range of prey. With animated flowing hackles and often scruffy looks, soft hackles appeal to the most basic of predatory instincts.
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A Fly Tier's Obsession
We fly tiers are an obsessive bunch aren’t we? Who else would sit at a table for hours on end trying to design the perfect fly that catches fish all the time? How many flies are tied to try and achieve that goal?
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Plight of the Intruder
Most northwest steelhead patterns are steeped in history dictating specific materials, proportions and construction techniques. Enter the Intruder, the new kid on the block spurning history and forging its own creative path and personality.
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Line to Leader Connection
For the last few years, I have made use of The Shimazaki Leader Splicer Kit to make the leader to line connection. It is absolutely a "no knot" connection. Dave Whitlock has written a few articles about "no knot" connections using Zap a Gap or Crazy Glue.
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Tying and Fishing Chironomid Larva
In most of North America they known as midges, in the United Kingdom they are buzzers but in Western Canada we usually call them Chironomids. There are over 3,500 known species of chironomids. They are the number one item on the menu of trout in productive stillwaters.
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Fun with Foam
For stillwater applications foam is an ideal material for fly tyers to experiment with. Most would consider foam perfect for dry flies but by taking advantage of its buoyant properties beneath the surface affords another dimension.
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Using Water Temperature to Locate Stillwater Trout
Water temperature is one of the methods for the stillwater fly fisher to eliminate non productive water. No matter the species all fish have a preferred temperature range where they are most active.
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Fly Patterns for Stillwaters
Scouring the bins of many fly shops finding a selection of proven stillwater fly patterns often requires detective work. Fly-fishing has its roots firmly entrenched in rivers and streams so it stands to reason that fly bins reflect this trend. But every year sees more anglers seduced by the charms of lakes. One thing is certain fly fishers are on the prowl for productive stillwater patterns.
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Getting the Skinny on Chironomids
Whenever I feature a chironomid pupa pattern on lookers often ask how I manage to keep my patterns so slender. I firmly believe developing a skinny pattern discipline is one of the keys to successful chironomid fishing. A feat that can be harder than it seems. <br>
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Dropper Basics
Many provinces, states and other jurisdictions around the world allow fly fishers to use more than one fly on a dropper system. Droppers provide the fly fisher with a number of benefits including quickly determining the pattern of choice, using attractor style patterns to draw fish to a more imitative offering and determining feeding depth.
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Finding Walter
In 1981, the movie ‘On Golden Pond’ found one of it’s main characters, Norman Thayer, bragging about an illusive lunker trout in the lake that his New England country home looked out upon. That big Rainbow always seemed to elude the old man but Norman’s grandson Billy Ray finally caught that big fish before the summer was up.
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Indicator Management
From time to time I hear of instances where fly fishers loose their Quick Release indicators during a strike as a result of leader breakage and the subsequent loss of the indicator peg.
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The Popsicle Minnow
It was during a late night insomnia driven web search I stumbled across an interesting pattern created by American fly tyer Fox Statler.
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Discovering Dubbing Loops
A source of frustration to some, dubbing loops offer numerous benefits. Dubbing loops create durable patterns capable of withstanding a solid chewing from numerous fish.
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Tying and Fishing Fire Breathing Dragons
It was as though a great battle had taken place. Vacant homes of cased caddis were strewn about the bottom of my 30-gallon aquarium. Severed scuds lay scattered amongst the carnage. Nothing moved.
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Reading the Rise
Few events get fly fishers excited as the rise or roll of a fish, especially when it is in casting range. This excitement often becomes a disadvantage as fly fisher’s may choose the wrong presentation technique.
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Pre Turnover Positioning
Pre turnover conditions make selecting the right area critical to success. Trout are often localized in specific areas. In early spring focus upon shallow dark bottomed areas that are less than 10 feet deep.
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Pre Season Primer
As the season wanes and winter slips her icy grip around the lakes of the south central interior it is these memories that help ease the pain of another passing season.
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An Epoxy Substitute-The Tied Down Minnow
The reality of any fly pattern material or component is that it is not always roses. Regarding epoxy some find it one messy material to play with. To get things just right epoxy must be mixed properly to ensure proper drying and with a minimum of air bubbles.
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It's All In The Hands!
Despite the surplus of fly patterns available today the key to catching stillwater trout on a consistent basis is a result of the animation the fly fisher imparts to the pattern
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Hitchhikers Guide to Chironomids Part II
The mere mention of chironomids leaves many questioning the rationale of such an offering. After all, the thought of tossing a tiny stick of a pattern into the vast expanse of a lake borders on the insane.
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Going deep? Then take it slow!
To be successful imitating the myriad of stillwater food sources retrieves must be slow and varied. As a result a wiser choice would be utilizing a slow sinking intermediate or Stillwater line.
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Organizing Your Materials-Part 2
In this second article in his series on Organizing Materials Craig Jordan details the system he uses to keep his many hooks in order.
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Hitchhikers Guide to Chironomids Part 1
Chironomids are arguably the most important food source for stillwater trout and char throughout the open water season. As with all food sources success for the fly fisher depends upon an intimate knowledge of their life cycle.
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Confidence, clear and simple!
It’s not presentation, pattern or luck that makes a good fly fisher. Granted all of these characteristics and more is a definite asset. Angler confidence is the one key that brings it all together.
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Organizing Your Materials-Part 1
Are your fly tying hook boxes a mess? Do you have a hard time getting organized for trips or travel? Do you buy hooks and tying materials only to find out that you already have it?
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Rough Wind
We hope that there is just enough of a breeze to ripple the surface. Under this cover foraging trout feel comfortable enough to cruise into the shallows. There are those days however that our helpful breeze turns into a full blown gale.
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Adult Cranefly
Mention the word terrestrials and most fly fishers recall memories of grasshoppers, beetles and ants. Crane flies or Daddy Long Legs to some are another worthwhile terrestrial for the fly box.
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Long Leader Basics
Floating lines are a pleasure to cast and are perhaps the most versatile of all presentation tools. In stillwaters anglers can cover a variety of depths simply by varying the overall length of their leader.
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Dazzle Caddis Emerger
As summer strolls its way into mid June through July, anglers can expect to hit the exciting caddis (sedge) emergence. Imitating the pupa stage during a hatch can be very effective if you have an idea of the zone where the fish are feeding, but many fly anglers especially enjoy fishing patterns imitating the moth-like winged adults
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Dubbing Loops-Part 1
Dubbing is the spinning of fur, synthetics or other materials with or onto tying thread. With strategic use of a dubbing loop fly tiers can create a wide variety of features on any fly pattern.
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Fly Lines for Pacific Salmon
Every autumn millions of migrating salmon return to mate, spawn and die. Near my home we are fortunate to have many opportunities for all five species of Pacific Salmon.
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CDC Booby
Fly Craft Angling.com member Richard Duiker hails from Lemmer Holland and supplies us with his favorite Booby, the CDC Booby.
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The Pond Monkey
The Pond Monkey is an innovative pattern created by fellow stillwater addict Paul Fox. Paul hails from Oregon and considers the many lakes in the eastern region of the state as his stillwater playground.
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It’s All About Depth
Over the years much has been documented about selective and opportunistic behavior. Most fly fishers consider this discussion to be focused upon trout when they feed. Selective and opportunistic behavior also pertains to where trout hold in a lake.
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