Drawing Flies 52 Brassie (gold beadhead). I grew up fishing Brassies, and they were a staple midge pattern for me in spring creeks all over the Rocky Mountain West. The flies I fished as a kid (well, the flies I still often fish) were/are simpler than this. They use the same skinny wire body, but [...]

At last, the final few drawings for Fishing the Film should be done today. I have been inserting the drawings into layout as I go (and doing captions at the same time), so that means that the book should be ready to go to the printers within a week or so. That pleases me to [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Leadwing Coachman. This pattern caught my father his first trout back in the day (when GB was 11). A lot happened after that! Actually the Leadwing Coachman features prominently in the first story in the upcoming Fishing the Film book, and is the second illustration in Chapter One. I drew several Leadwings [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Loop Wing Dun. One of my all-time favorite patterns for spring creek trout (or any trout looking for small mayflies, actually). This fly has done the trick all over the world for me, and it is a permanent resident of my boxes. Notes: It may be 11pm, but at least I wasn’t [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Chironomid (giant lake midge, in this case). Notes: Five minutes after 11 (pm). Asleep on the couch. Kel wakes me up with “Hey, did you do your fly for today?” So, here it is (at 11:31pm). Update: Went with what I know by heart—a big lake chironomid pupa. Got it done and [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Damsel Adult (in red, white and blue for the American Fourth of July holiday). I have been fortunate enough to have fished some of the most spectacular damselfly waters in the world. Seen hatches so thick that I can’t really describe the action, but a few epic emergences were enough to get [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Irresistible. Caught some plump brookies and gleaming little cutts on this fly. Tech info: Pentalic paper with pencil, pen and watercolor. The drawing went so smoothly that I was done with a few minutes of reserve time on the clock. I forced myself to do a faint pencil underdrawing first, which helped [...]

Some FF&W readers may know that my “back-in-the-day” history involves a five-year stint working in the film and TV industry in L.A. Met a lot of amazingly creative and brilliant people in that time, and got work with a more than a few fellow fly-fishers on-set, as well. In that vein, MidCurrent just posted a cool [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Gartside Sparrow. A little piece for an fondly remembered friend who also gave me the best tour of Boston that I could ever have hoped for (this one’s for you, Jack). Tech info: Pentalic paper with pencil, pen and watercolor. I wanted a fly that reminded me of Jack Gartside. Not just [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Crayfish (or Crawfish, however you prefer). More specifically, this pattern is the Fleeing Crayfish/Upside-Down Leech. This fly can really do the job on smallies (and big browns). Tech info: Strathmore paper with charcoal, Pigma pen and watercolor. Went for the same general technique as last week, but wanted to add some more [...]

With “big mayflies” of various kinds now hatching in many parts of the northern hemisphere, I thought that I’d toss up a drake illustration that I did in the last century. Was originally a pen-and-ink piece, but this sample was subsequently hand-colored (pencil with liquid blender). I think a related fly-tying piece may be in order [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Sofa Pillow. The big salmonflies are out and about in some places, so this fly seemed appropriate. Tech info: Strathmore paper with charcoal, Pigma pen and watercolor. Like the Doc Oatman, I used all 30 minutes here. I had to do an underdrawing/painting first, then rinse/wipe it, and then do the pen [...]