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Slate Drakes – aka “Isonychias”
Fall fishing is a time of year when aquatic insect activity is minimal compared to the spring hatches. Therefore any hatch activity at all is usually met with anticipation and eagerness by the trout....
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Cheney Bass Fly and A. N. Cheney’s Hardy Reel
A couple months ago I received an e-mail message from a potential customer. He had been searching online for information about fly patterns connected to Albert Nelson Cheney. This is the same A. N....
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Christmas Wet Flies
Last year, a good friend of mine who is a fly tier and lives in Fergus, Ontario, sent me a Christmas card with two original classic style wet fly patterns in it, themed to the holiday season in...
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Cracker Bass Fly
My lack of presence here on my blog over the last couple months was previously explained in a couple recent posts. Since deer season ended on December 14th I have been home, but I was especially busy;...
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Martinis and Thread Wraps
I’m sitting here tying some classic Fanwing Royal Coachman drys, just started on some #8 hooks; all two dozen hooks #8, #10,#12, have the wings already mounted, so the hard part is done! This thought...
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Emerging March Brown Soft-Hackle – Flymph
My friend Bill in Maryland sent me this photo of a March Brown Soft-hackle / Flymph that he recently tied all in the style of and following the recipe of Vernon L. “Pete” Hidy. Bill is an excellent...
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Parmacheene Belle – Antique Replica
Some of my readers have heard me say that I don’t have a “favorite” classic wet pattern, which is true; it’s so hard to pick only one from the hundreds of possibilities. But considering I first tied...
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Partridge and Hare’s Ear Soft-Hackle
My friend Bill Shuck in Maryland just sent me another photo and recipe of his latest fly tying efforts. It is a Pete Hidy style rendition of the Partridge and Hare’s Ear Soft-hackle wet fly / flymph....
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Classic Fly Tier Turns to Salt
That would be me, not turning to salt, but tying some saltwater flies, specifically a palolo worm pattern for tarpon in the Florida Keys. Going back twenty years, and off and on since then, I have tied...
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Black Prince
The Black Prince wet fly is an old pattern. It is shown on the Lake Flies in Favorite Flies and Their Histories, 1892, by Mary Orvis Marbury. It is also in Trout, 1938, by Ray Bergman. It was a popular...
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Gem – A New and Unknown Carrie Stevens Pattern
Two different people sent me this photo over the weekend of an unknown (as far as I know), carded Carrie Stevens bucktail pattern. Obviously, it is her card, her handwriting, and her fly. And very...
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Rangeley Lake Flies
Earlier this fall, I tied an order for a customer going to Upper Dam in the Rangeley Region of Maine to fish for brook trout and land-locked salmon. He told me to select the patterns, so I thought it...
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Comando Streamer – Percy Tackle Company
My friend, Alec Stansell, in Massachusetts, sent me this picture of a streamer pattern that was previously unknown to me. It’s an original carded fly from the Percy Tackle Company, formerly of...
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Tomah Joe
Last weekend at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey, a friend came by and gave me some barred wood duck flank feathers. On Saturday afternoon, I tied this fly for him, a Tomah Joe, dressed...
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Bastian’s Floating Caddis / Mayfly Emerger
I had announced this on my facebook page last week, but I also wanted to post something here. I am pleased to announce that the Orvis Company has picked up for the third year, my original pattern,...
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Just Fishing
It has been a long, long time since I posted anything here. Well, I’ve been busy. There were the scattered posts I made, the most recent but still old ones, referring to my drumming in a Classic Rock...
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