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 [...]

FF&W reader and fly tyer, Leng, recently sent me an email and asked about the Cross-Dresser fly design that I had in the Modern Midges book project. Specifically, Leng wanted to know about the wing and other aspects of the fly, since the photo in the book is from only one angle and there are [...]

Yeah, this post is recycled (and it’s a permanent page, too), but with the 3/4 Parachute method being posted recently, I thought it might be worth sticking this up again since the techniques are related. Used as complementary approaches, the 3/4 Parachute and the Diffusion allow a fly designer to go from a size 28 [...]

This is related to the Low-Rider Emerging Nymph post, but it also works fine as a stand-alone tying techniques piece. The “3/4 Parachute” name refers more to the end result and less to the actual process, but it still makes sense once you see the technique.
The core idea is to create a lightly-dressed parachute hackle [...]

FF&W reader, Satoshi, recently asked me about my favorite 10 wet and dry flies (following this article at MidCurrent). I thought about it for a while, and decided that I would do a “top 10″ here, but do it a bit differently. I wanted to provide patterns, but also concepts on which the patterns are [...]

It’s getting into fly-tying season in the farther reaches of the North Hemisphere, so here’s a little QuickTime video of an alternative tie-off knot for those FF&W readers who are lurking near a vise (vice?).

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This is the tying knot I [...]

I promised the E-List (and all FF&W readers) that I would up the educational ante with more streamer posts. Well, GB took the lead with a post of his own. It’s specifically focused on tying the Collared Leech, a simple, but really effective fly (variations have caught all manner of fish, including tarpon). Go tie!

The Upside-Down Leech is the fly up above, but down at the bottom.
The educational content in the latest E-List mailing was focused on streamer techniques, specifically “subtle streamers.” One of the flies mentioned was the Upside-Down Leech, which promptly elicited an e-mail asking, “What’s an Upside-Down Leech?” I also promised the E-List that I would [...]

After the beetle fishing/tying posts, I had a few e-mail exchanges with several FF&W readers, including Satoshi, who was fishing in the Yellowstone area last month. From what Satoshi reported, fishing was tough, but the indicator beetle he chose to use made following the drift easy.

The Tiger Beetle (Satoshi’s personal tie shown above), is a [...]

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 to [...]

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 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 [...]