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In the original manuscript of JR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, a Beadhead Flashback Pheasant Tail is the coveted "Precious" and is the One Fly to Rule Them All!The dominance of the pheasant tail nymph in all of its many forms comes from three things:It can match more mayfly, stonefly, and damsel species than any [...]

The question was first voiced several hundred years ago when the grandfather of fly fishing pulled the first roughly-tied fly from the jaws of his primitive vice and mused, “Now what is this fly supposed to imitate and when should I fish it?” Echoing across the centuries, this same question can still be heard [...]

Excuse me! Hold on just a second. I couldn't help but notice you coming out of that fly shop with that plastic dish stuffed with flies, and that nice big glass of Kool-Aid. From the look of the red stains on the front of your Simms shirt and the glassy look in your [...]

"A fly by any other name would fish as sweet." These words were penned by playwright and middling rod manufacturer, William Shakespeare, in a play about the forlorn love between the son of a fly fisherman and the daughter of a worm dunker. While this melancholy tale clearly illustrates the heartbreaking consequences of [...]

I kept the True Flies installment of the Fly Selection 101 articles until last because these patterns are near and dear to my geeky, invertebrate-loving heart! Not to be confused with the broader invertebrate order Diptera that also goes by the moniker "True Flies" and includes midges, mosquitoes, crane flies and black flies, we are [...]

 Like a high-stepping line of Las Vegas showgirls or the cast of Baywatch, the family of flies called Attractors rely more on flash and embellishment than attempting to represent any true invertebrate species. Making up roughly 20% of dry patterns and 30% of wet patterns, flies from this family are dressed in tinsel, copper, mirrored Mylar, [...]

A perennial complaint that I have heard from customers over the years is their inability to remember the names of their flies, what invertebrates they represent, and when to use each. We have all at one time or another visited the local fly shop to pick up "must have patterns" only to add them [...]