Strictly speaking this is not a fly, something it has in common with many of the creations invented in recent years.
However it does have its place in the fly box.
The origins of this fly can be attributed to our American cousins. It was designed to imitate the salmon eggs which get dislodged from the redds when the salmon are spawning, and which are greedily devoured by waiting trout.
This is all a long way from our stocked stillwaters in the UK where it can be effective on its day for browns and rainbows. I have used them occasionally with some success on rivers.
This is a lure which is equally effective in rivers and stillwaters, particularly for rainbows.
The most popular colours are olive, black, orange and red. Can be tied on longshank 8s, 10s, and 12s. For rivers I prefer a size 8 wet fly hook.
Early season on stillwaters a size 8 L/S olive fished on an intermediate line is a good starter. On my recent trip to N.Z. I had about a dozen rainbows to 3lb. in a fast river all on olive and orange woolley buggers on size 12 L/S in a morning session.
There is little new on the tying of this fly which we have not covered on previous lessons.
Materials
Hook - L/S size 8, 10 or 12 - wet fly 8
Thread - To match body colour
Rib - Gold or Silver oval - Gold or Silver wire optional
Body - Black , Olive, Orange and Red Chanille
Tail - Marabou to match body
Tail Flash - Colour to match
Hackle - Henny cock, colour to match body ( long enough for 2 turns at head and 3 turns down the body )
This fly has its origins in fly fishing competitions. It is neither a nymph nor a lure but can be fished as either. Primarily a still water fly it can also be used on rivers and tied with a silver or holographic body. It bears more than a passing resemblance to a butcher , only with more mobility.
The early patterns were tied with a body of peacock herl with a wire rib. More recently you will see them tied with fine fritz or metallic bodies, usually silver. This is because of the fragility of peacock herl.
The materials are very basic
Hook - Heavy weight wet fly size 10 / 8
Tying thread - Black
Tail - Tag of Flour. Red wool / Floss
Body - Silver / Red wire
Wing - Black marabou
Wing flash ( optional ) - Red lurex
A good fly to have in your box, particularly if you do boat fishing. Regards Dave Cammiss and the Team.
This fly has been popular with reservoir and stillwater trout fisherman since the seventies. It is an imitation of the caddis grub in its shell. The caddis grub eventually matures to be a sedge which is also popular with the trout. This fly can be tied on all sizes down from long shank 10s. Smaller sizes can be good on rivers.
Back in the mists of time when I was a young lad we used to turn over the bigger stones on the local stream and collect the caddis grubs in their shells and use them for bait, but that is another story.
This is a relatively easy fly to tie. You will have used all the steps at some time on the previous lessons. The peacock herl is fragile and does need the ribbing. You can give the body 2 coats of varnish and it will make it more durable. The hackle can be any shade of brown or orange. I have used brown partridge hackle to good effect, particularly on the rivers.
Materials
Hook- Long shank 10/12/14.
Thread - Black or Brown. If you tie some flies unweighted use a different colour thread to the weighted.
Rib - Wire copper,red.green or black.
Tag - Fluorescent antron or wool. yellow, green / lime.
Body - 3-5 strands of peacock herl depending on the size of hook.
Hackle - Henny cock. brown, ginger, orange or brown partridge.
Underbody fine lead wire. If not available copper wire.
This fly has been around on UK stillwaters for about ten years now. It was not mentioned in the 1992 edition of Fly Patterns by Taff Price. I first heard about it when I was working as a warden at a local trout lake. Until that time I had been tying zonkers. The principle for tying is the same except that the thin strips of mink were used instead of rabbit. The mink is a finer fur and can be tied in smaller sizes than rabbit. The early patterns were often tied with a rib running through the fur on the same basis as the New Zealand Matuka series. Now everybody seems to be happy with the mink strip tied in at the head and tail only. I was reluctant to change, but was eventually able to convince myself that provided you wet the underside of the strip well, with saliva ( spit ), and stretched it tightly to the head and secured it with enough tight turns, it would be OK.
The benefits of mink are the colours available, white, silver and black/brown. The fur is very mobile and seems to shimmy with even the slowest retrieve. The colours of the the body in fritz or chenille are limited only by your imagination.
If you do decide to cut your own strips ( provided your grannie has let you have her mink coat ) there is a right and a wrong way to cut the pelt. You will need either a very sharp stanley knife or a scalpel with a fresh blade.
Place your pelt fur side down and mark the skin size in biro ( pen ) in strips about 4mm wide, head to tail. If you can get your Grannie to help get her to hold one end while you run the blade of the scalpel, preferably with one sweep, down the length of the pelt. Do not lie it on the bench you will damage the fur! Once you have got the first strip done the rest are much easier.
As a lure I would give it top marks. I rarely use lures but at the weekend I did try one I had tied for the video and was rewarded with a 4lb. rainbow.
Materials
Hook long shank 6 / 8 /10
Body fritz chenille any color
Tail / Wing mink strip - white / silver / dark brown
The Soldier Palmer is an old pattern which still finds favour as a bob fly by boat anglers. There are three flies of a similar vein which are tied in basically the same way, the others are Grenadier and Zulu. If you can tie one you can tie them all. There is a more recent variant which is popular and that is the Bibio. All are worth a place in your box.
Today we will start with the Soldier Palmer which has a palmered hackle. This means that the hackle is tied in at the head and wound down the body as far as the tail. It is secured by the gold wire rib. This makes the fly durable.
Soldier Palmer Materials
Hook sizes 10….12 wet fly or long shank
Red tying thread
Medium gold wire
A long brown cock hackle
Red wool or antron for body and tail
Tools are simple. Vice, bobbin holder, scissors. Hackle pliers and grannies hat pin.
The ZuluMaterials
Hook sizes 10….12
Black tying thread
Medium silver wire
A long black cock hackle
Black antron for the body
Red wool for the tail
Tools as above.
I am confident that you will find this lesson an easy one.
Let me know how you get on.
P.S. Thanks again for all your comments and I’m very pleased to hear you are all making good progress.
Today we will be explaining how to tie wet flies and spider patterns, the old standard, partridge and orange popular in the north country and the Greenwells Glory, which is more universal, and has also stood the test of time. You will find them both easy to tie and well worth a place in the box of river fishers.
The Partridge and Orange has only two materials, the hackle and the tying silk. The hackle is from the back of the old english grey partridge. The ideal hackles do not have distinct brown bar across the top but those with a lesser bold bar are acceptable and you will find that most commercially sold packs have a mixture. If you want the best go out and shoot your own. Only joking. There is another similar grey hackle on the partridge plumage which is well worth using and can be used for the partridge and yellow.
The older school of fly tyers always laboured that hackles on spider patterns had to be very sparse. To do this you strip the fibres off one side of the hackle before you tie it in. To do this correctly lie the hackle on top of the hook with curved side of the feather uppermost, grasp all the fibres on the side away from you and peel them gently off to the stem. Tie in the hackle as shown on the video clip and wind round the hook 2-3 turns and tie off at the head.
You will find some tyers who recommend tying the hackle in by the point. By all means try this once you have got the hang of doing the basics, but beware, the points of partridge hackles are very fragile. You can (and I often do) actually tie the hackle in whole and give it 2 turns and tie off.
The brown partridge can also be used for the march brown spider, the partridge and yellow and damsel nymphs.
The Greenwells Glory has only three materials, the hackle, the tying silk and the fine gold braid or wire for the rib. The hackle is from a hen cape. You can either buy a full cape or buy a packet of hackles. The disadvantage of a cape is the relatively small number of hackle of a size but it does give you a better selection of sizes but they are usually more expensive. If you want to tie a dry pattern you will have to use a cock cape, it has stiffer fibres and floats better but the dressing is the same. The book states that the tying silk should be primrose and well waxed, (use beeswax), because it transforms the colour to light olive.
Hooks wet fly sizes 12 / 14 / 16.
Once you have mastered these two all you need are the various hackles to open up a new world of spider patterns.
Hope you enjoy the lessons. Beware it has been said that fly tying can become addictive.
This was originally an American pattern which became popular in the UK in the early 1990’s for reservoirs and stillwaters. It has now become a very popular fly which features in most fly boxes.
The American original was dressed as an imitation of the larva of the stonefly in the rivers in the Montana region and was dressed on long shank hooks sizes 6…10.
Over the years in the UK the pattern has been slightly modified and whilst called a nymph it is usually fished as a lure. The thorax is tied with chenille in fluorescent yellow, green or red and the most popular size is a long shank 10. I modify my version slightly. I tie in a bunch of black cock hackle fibres for the tail and for the wing case I use Sparton ‘new body czech’ which is more durable and adds a little sparkle. You can also use black nylon wool which is not as fragile as chenille which our American cousins favour.
I think you will find this one quite easy to tie and it will be a good addition to your fly box.
This series of video clips is down to the enthusiasm of my younger son Jonathan. He not only does the camera work but he keeps me focussed on my commentaries and does all the work on the web site. I have the easy part tying the flies.
We will endeavour to comply with your requests but please accept that I have had no experience with salt water flies. I am in my seventies and this old dog is not too keen to learn new tricks. However just remember whatever you tie the principles are the same only the materials are different.
Materials
Hook long shank 6 / 8 /10
Tail black cock hackle fibres
Body black chenille
Thorax flourescent chenille - green / orange / red
Welcome to lesson 5. Today we will be showing you the Cats Whisker, a fairly modern lure for stillwaters.
Do not be put off by this fly’s flashy appearance. It is relatively easy to tie and can be very effective. It was always the first choice of my fishing colleague Ken until I managed to convert him to nymphing. He still sneaks one on when the going gets tough.
The original version was tied with the head from bead chain from the plug in the sink. I prefer to use a gold or siver metal bead and I dont think it matters which you use.
The popular colour chenille for the body is fluorescent green but orange and red are good alternatives. You will find the Marabou used for the tail and wing strange to use at first. Just remember to wet the base of the fibres and form a shuttlecock as shown.
You will find the fibres get everywhere, if you dont have a den you may have bother with the wife!
Today we are going to tie the pheasant tail nymph. This fly can be traced back to Frank Sawyer, river keeper on the Itchen many moons ago. The fly has gone through many derivations since its original form as a size 14 tied with cock pheasant tail fibres and fine copper wire used for trout and grayling.
Its use for stillwater fishing started in the seventies and I recall tying PTNs.(Pheasant Tail Nymph) on long shank hooks as big as 6. The most popular size settled down to a long shank 10 which is what we will show you today.
If you can acquire these tail feathers from shooting friends, or you have to buy them from tackle shops, try to get the centre tail feathers. These have longer fibres and make for easier tying.
The one tied today has a green thorax but I suggest you try orange, red, brown or olive as alternatives. Once you have got the hang of it try downsizing to Long shank 12. If you fish the river try standard wet fly hooks sizes 12 and 14.
Thank you all for your continued support of our site. Our aim is to raise awareness of the pleasure of tying your own flies.
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ALL VIDEOS - BEGINNERS, Beginners Lesson 13 | 
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Posted by David Cammiss
