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 [...]

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 [...]

These are a couple of shots that I had posted over at FlyTalk, but I thought they’d be of interest here, too. Basically a trout’s eye view of a real hopper, along with a furled variation of the Bow Legged Hopper pattern (original, non-furled recipe below). You can see the edge of the fish’s window in [...]

After the Braided Butt Damsel post, I got a couple of questions about fishing damselfly adult patterns wet. Using the BB Damsel pattern shown, with a yarn parachute post (versus foam), the fly can be fished “damp” easily (just fish “sans floatante“). If you need to get the fly deeper, or are fishing a pattern [...]

If you’re not into fly tying the above title could give you pause, but if you are into the “vice of the vise,” then here’s a post for you. This has already been up over on GB’s blog, but I figure why not post it here, as well? This is from GB’s 1991 book, Designing [...]

I forgot to mention that I made a couple of small contributions (emphasis on the “small” part) to this project: a fly pattern (the Cross Dresser) and a short techniques piece. Authors Rick Takahashi and Jerry Hubka put some serious effort into this book (with tyers from all over the world contributing), and the finished product [...]

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 [...]

As with the previous beetle post, this is a snip from the July ’09 E-List mailing. I promised the E-List that I would add some info here on the blog (on fly tying, specifically). The tying part is coming up next. Actually, this is post 5 of 6 (each terrestrial subject has two parts). One [...]

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 with the previous ant post, this is a snip from the July ’09 E-List mailing. I promised the E-List that I would add some info here on the blog (on fly tying, specifically). The tying part is coming up next. Actually, this is post 3 of 6 (each terrestrial subject will have two parts). [...]

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 [...]

This is a snip from the last (July ’09) E-List mailing. I promised the E-List that I would add some info here on the blog (on fly tying, specifically). That part is coming up next. Actually, this is post 1 of 6 (each terrestrial subject will have two parts). Posts on beetles and grasshoppers are [...]