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 [...]

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 [...]

This is mostly a re-post of what I sent over my friends at FlyTalk last week, but I will be making some updates to what’s here, so check back again in a few days. A little intro: There are several ways to go about making bendable bodies, but this technique allows the tying of fairly [...]

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 [...]

The Hair-Wing Drake as seen outside, and at the edge of, the fish’s window. I promised a tying piece that related to the “big mayfly” illustration in a previous post, so here it is: the Hair-Wing Drake. This particular pattern goes back a few decades, and has its roots in the Comparadun and various extended-body [...]

Want some meat to toss around during run-off? Try a big, juicy Strip Leech. If you’re a tier, Check out the recent “TieTalk” post I wrote up for my friends at “Field & Stream” magazine’s FlyTalk blog. The Strip Leech pattern shown is one of GB’s, and goes back to the days of bell-bottoms (I’ve [...]

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 [...]