A fly box with assorted Atlantic salmon flies.

(1) A natural aquatic or terrestrial insect, especially one that is consumed by fish. See: Aquatic Insects; Caddisflies; Dobsonflies; Dragonflies and Damselflies; Mayflies; Midges; Stoneflies; Terrestrial Insects.'

(2) In a generic sense, a fly is a type of extremely lightweight lure, also known as an artificial fly (to distinguish it from a natural fly, which is rarely used by anglers), that is cast with a fly line and fly rod. Some flies are more imitative in appearance of natural insects than any other lure. Other flies are highly imitative of baitfish, crustaceans, and various small, natural, noninsect foods. Still others are more suggestive than imitative, meant as attractors rather than deceivers.

All of the objects considered “flies” by anglers have in common the fact that they are light enough to be presented with flycasting tackle (see) and too light to be effectively cast with other types of tackle without the addition of weight (and then not as effectively). Thus, whatever a fly is meant to represent, it is carried to its destination by the act of casting a fly line, which is connected to a leader (see), which is attached to the fly. This is the principle of fly fishing.

For the purpose of adhering to fishing regulations and for record keeping (world records are kept separately for fish caught by fly fishing), the definition of a fly and of fly fishing may be broader than the previous description. For example, some objects used with flycasting tackle are of such weight or design that they cannot be false cast but may actually be lobbed or stripped out with flycasting tackle. This may fit a very liberal definition of a fly, of fly fishing, or of casting, but it does not conform to the conventional and traditional perception of a fly as a lightweight object and of fly fishing as the use of a fly line in the repetitive casting and delivery of a lightweight object.

Types

A fly box with western-U.S. shad flies.

An extremely wide array of flies is employed in fly fishing for diverse species in all areas of freshwater and saltwater. Flies range from less than 1/8-inch long up to 10 inches long. Unlike many other lures, flies are entirely handmade, being tied on a single or double hook (seldom the latter) from a variety of natural and synthetic materials. They can generally be categorized as floating or sinking flies, and specifically typed as dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers, and bugs.

Floating flies sit on the surface of the water and are made with materials that are buoyant. They include dry flies and bugs, and imitate a host of foods, including natural insects, frogs, mice or lemmings, snakes, and other creatures. Floating flies can be fished in many ways, but overall they are less effective than sinking flies, especially in cool or cold water.

Sinking flies are fished below the surface and are made with materials that absorb water or are more dense than water. They include wet flies, nymphs, and streamers, and also imitate many foods, including natural insects, small fish, crustaceans, worms, eels, leeches, and fish eggs. Sinking flies are likewise fished in many ways but are more productive overall because gamefish feed more often below the surface.

As with any lure used to entice fish, a fly’s effectiveness depends on its overall appearance—size, shape, and color—plus its action. Since many flies are created to imitate specific food (especially insects), size and shape are nearly always important. Color is important in some cases and not in others, although it is seldom completely irrelevant and depends on the circumstances and species sought; it is more likely to be important in attractor flies than in imitative flies. Odor, which is an element for some lures, is often not a factor in fly usage, although the materials used for some flies can retain or absorb scents and may be imprinted with scent by the angler to help appeal to certain fish species. Using scent on a fly, however, prohibits any fish caught on it from receiving official world-record certification. Action is largely dependent upon the angler and the design of the fly. Flies do not have any action on their own and must be manipulated to move, although this movement is enhanced in some flies (such as those with feather, hair, or rubber legs).

Patterns

With the exception of bugs, the basic and standard fly has these components: a hook, which includes a point that may or may not be barbed, an eye that may be straight or turned up or down, and a shank that may be straight, curved, keeled, or humped; a head; a body, which is the main section along the shank of the hook and which may have ribs; and a tail. It may also have wings, hackle, a thorax, and sometimes legs.

The particular appearance of a fly—in essence the parts that make up its likeness, the way they are incorporated onto the fly hook, and the colors—not only characterize it by type, but also constitute a pattern, and make a given fly distinguishable from others. There are literally thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of patterns. This can be confusing and intimidating, and it is impossible for even the most astute fly angler to recognize all of them. The fact that many fly anglers tie flies (comparatively few users of nonfly lures make their own lures) in large part contributes to this proliferation of patterns. A beginning fly angler is best advised to seek counsel at a local fly tackle shop for the recommended fly patterns and sizes for a specific area at a given time.

Fly patterns are named for myriad reasons, most often for their creator, a specific place, and the object they imitate. Dozens of flies are among the most well-known patterns, but there are many specific patterns for various species of fish. The most patterns exist for trout species, because of the long prominence of trout as an angling quarry and the long history of fly fishing for trout; as long ago as 1676, Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler listed 65 fly patterns for trout. There are also a lot of patterns for Atlantic salmon. Patterns for Pacific salmon and steelhead are different than those for Atlantic salmon and trout. Saltwater patterns are entirely different than freshwater patterns.

The myriad of fly patterns is not unlike the existence of many specific nonfly lures for freshwater and saltwater fishing, and specifically for such species as bass, walleye, stripers, etc. Like those products, certain flies have crossover application. Small trout flies are equally effective on panfish, for example, and many saltwater streamers are also effective on northern pike and lake trout.

The huge proliferation of patterns, some of which are barely distinguishable from each other, would seem to suggest that a fly angler, especially one seeking trout in streams, needs hundreds of different patterns to be able to use the right fly that will catch fish at a given time. It is true that many fish, stream trout in particular, can at times be very selective about feeding and about what artificial flies they will take because of its resemblance to their currently preferred food; this makes matching the hatch, whether there is in fact a hatch or merely just a predominance of a certain food item, advantageous if not essential.

However, it is also true that fish take flies that merely suggest food rather than duplicate it, and there are many patterns that are close enough to food duplications to be effective. In truth, even the best flies that imitate specific insects are not clones of those insects. And in any case, the best fly cannot be effective if it is not properly presented and/or retrieved. Therefore, the best course of action is to focus on the type of fly that most closely represents the food that fish are feeding on, and to fish it properly.

Dry Flies

Dry Flies

Dry flies are relatively diminutive objects that float on the surface and represent aquatic or terrestrial insects found on the surface of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Most dry flies imitate specific insects, especially mayflies (see) and caddisflies (see), which is important, as is their size and profile. They are notable for stiff hackle (water-repellent bird feather wound around the hook) and tail feathers, and also for the use of deer hair, all of which are tied on a lightweight (light wire) hook to float the fly. Many dry flies also have wings, and there are also some that don’t have hackle. Depending on the pattern, the materials used, and the way they are tied, dry flies may ride very high on the surface or may rest low in the surface film; they may be bushy and high-profiled, or very sparsely hackled and more diminutive. They are tied on a wide range of hook sizes, with different waters and seasons affecting the appropriate size choice.

Since natural insects float on the water subject to surface current or to movement via a breeze, dry fly imitations must be light enough to do likewise, although they are restrained by attachment to a fine tippet (see), leader, and floating fly line, which may cause drag and may unnaturally move or restrain the fly. Like natural insects, dry flies are generally allowed to drift on the surface subject to whatever natural current or wind influences exist, but to avoid drag the presentation may require in-air or on-water line mending (see).

Less often, some deliberate movement of a dry fly by the angler may be appropriate. This would occur if the natural insect being imitated moved about, such as an adult depositing eggs, which is well imitated by dapping (see). As a means of attracting fish, gliding or skating a dry fly is a technique used for Atlantic salmon and occasionally trout, often with a long-hackled fly referred to as a skater.

In flowing water, dry flies are primarily fished by casting upstream and allowing the flies to float downstream in a natural manner. The line should not be cast directly over the fish, or over the area to be worked with a fly, in order to avoid spooking the fish; the best manner of presentation is to cast up- and across-stream, floating the fly down. Seldom are dry flies fished by casting directly downstream, because this limits the length of the drift owing to the line that can be dispatched and is almost certain to create drag.

Watch the fly as it floats on the surface so that you know when a fish takes it and so you can react quickly. When a fish rises to a dry fly, it may do so in a violent and splashy manner, which is obvious and exciting, or in a nearly imperceptible dimpling manner, which can be missed if you’re not paying attention. In either case, however, do not react with a violent hooksetting motion, which many new fly anglers do; this is likely to pull the fly away from the fish or to break it off if the fish has already hooked itself. Simply react with a moderate flick of the wrist to raise the tip of the rod (keeping the line pinched to the handle with your finger).

Dry flies may become waterlogged after long use and especially after catching fish. When they start losing their buoyancy, some air drying by repetitive false casting, if conditions permit, may temporarily restore floating characteristics, but more likely the fly will need floatant, or dressing, to help it repel water. Silicone and paraffin dressings can be applied to a dry fly to help it float. Some anglers prefer sprays and liquid dips because they keep the hands from getting wet and sticky, but they don’t last as long as pastes. If the fly has absorbed a lot of moisture, press it with a cloth to remove the moisture and clean it; then apply dressing to it.

As noted, the patterns and sizes of dry flies vary greatly, and it takes experience to make a selection at any given time and place. A well-rounded dry fly collection should have a representative assortment of fly types. The following patterns are among those that widely work well: Adams, Blue Dun, Brown Bivisible, Dark Cahill, Gray Wulff, Green Drake, Hendrickson, Humpy, Irresistible, Light Cahill, Muddler Minnow (dressed to float), Quill Gordon, some type of hopper, and brown and gray midges.

Wet Flies

Parts of a (Wet) Fly

Wet Flies

Wet flies are very much like dries, although they sink upon entering the water. They primarily represent subsurface forms of aquatic insects that are naturally found in freshwater environs when they are swimming, laying eggs, emerging to head toward the surface, or merely spent and drifting; to a lesser extent, they may also represent a drowned terrestrial insect or small fish.

Wet flies have the following characteristics: the wings are tied to lie backward from the head; the body (often tinsel or chenille) is dense to help sink the fly; there may or may not be a tail; and a lesser amount of hackle at the head, also tied back, is present than on most dry flies. Unlike dries, the hackle on wet flies is soft, being derived from soft and water-absorbing bird feathers.

Wet flies are tied on a narrower range of hook sizes (mostly No. 6 to 18) than dry flies, and the hooks are heavier than those for dries to help with sinking. Often a bit of fine lead wire is wrapped on the shank under the body to also help the fly sink, or over the body as ribbing, which has both an appearance and sinking value. Wet flies may be imitative in appearance, or they may be brightly dressed attractors that don’t bear close resemblance to natural insects.

Wet flies are unaffected by wind or surface current, but obviously they move with subsurface current; the connecting leader and fly line are affected by current on and below the surface, which may cause drag and unnaturally move or restrain what should be a free-drifting fly. Like natural insects, wet flies are generally allowed to drift in the water subject to whatever natural current exists, but to avoid drag the presentation may require line mending.

In flowing water, wet flies are primarily used by an angler who is above the fish’s position, with the angler casting across-stream or across and downstream and allowing the fly to drift down to the (suspected) position of the fish. In this manner the line, leader, and angler are upstream of the fish. They may be retrieved across the flow as well as drifted naturally, and are often employed in tandem, with a second fly as a dropper or with several wet flies (this is usually close to the surface). Depending on the circumstances, especially water depth, a wet fly may be fished with a floating line (fly just under the surface), a sink-tip line (fly at middepths), or a full-sinking line (fly at greater depths).

In ponds or lakes, a wet fly is generally used with a sink-tip or full-sink line and is fished with a stripping retrieve of the fly line, the speed of which varies according to whatever the fly is supposed to imitate. Wet flies that are attractors are generally fished at a quick pace.

The strike of a fish on a wet fly is typically felt rather than seen. The reaction by the angler should be to quickly pull on the fly line in the line-gathering hand, removing any slack, then pinch the line to the handle with the rod-holding hand, and flick the wrist upward to raise the rod tip.

There are many patterns of wet flies to employ. Sparsely tied and drab-colored wets are often preferred for trout fishing, but gaudy patterns have a good following in fishing for bass, panfish, salmon, steelhead, and brook trout. A wet fly collection should have a representative assortment of fly types. The following are widely known and popular patterns: Black Gnat, Blue Dun, Brown Hackle, Coachman, Dark Cahill, Hare’s Ear, Ginger Quill, Gray Hackle, Light Cahill, March Brown, Parmachene Belle, Quill Gordon, and Royal Coachman. Numbers 10 to 16 are most common, with No. 12 being an all-around favorite.

Nymphs

Nymphs

Nymphs are also sinking flies, often more diminutive than wet flies and tied more precisely with wing cases and thorax to represent the larval stage of aquatic insects, including mayfly (see), caddisfly (see), and stonefly (see) nymphs. They are also tied to represent such noninsect foods as leeches, scuds, snails, worms, and the like. This covers a lot of food forms; thus, many artificial nymphs are nearly exact imitations of naturals, either the bottom-dwelling larval and pupal stages or the surface-emerging form, and many are more suggestive than imitative.

Natural nymphs, which are the immature stage of aquatic insects, have a long life in the water and are a major, if not the foremost, insect food source for stream-dwelling fish, especially trout. Thus, assorted nymph flies or nymphlike flies are an essential part of the freshwater angler’s repertoire. They are generally dull or drab in color, and many have a thorax, which is material tied to form a **** at the shoulders to represent the undeveloped wings of cased larva.

The body is made from many materials, often fur, and many patterns have soft, sparse, leglike hackles under the head or neck. The materials used help determine whether a nymph sinks or swims (a few are meant to be fished low in the surface film to imitate an emerger) and how quickly it sinks. Various weights are incorporated into nymph patterns to affect sink rate, including wire that is wound onto the shank before the body material is applied, and lead or metal head beads.

Nymph flies run a wide gamut in dressing, from very sparse on the smallest nymphs to bushy and thick-bodied large patterns. They are tied on a wide range of hook sizes, with different waters and seasons affecting the appropriate size choice. Although a common size for nymphs would be in the No. 6 to 10 range, they run to both extremes, and extremely small nymphs (No. 22 and 24) may be used on heavily pressured, shallow small streams. Nymph size is often important in successful fishing, especially on trout streams, and especially when fish are feeding selectively.

All types of fly lines are used to fish nymphs, and choice depends on type of nymph, current flow, depth, and length of drift. Small nymphs, for example, are often fished on a floating line in small shallow waters, using a tiny split shot a short distance ahead of the fly to get it down quickly for what is usually a short drift. As a rule, floating and slow-sinking lines are used in all shallow waters, sink-tip lines in intermediate depths in streams, and full-sinking lines with a fast sink rate in all deep waters.

In moving waters, a nymph is cast upstream or up and across stream with a floating line, with the fly sinking and drifting down with the current for a relatively short drift, or it is cast slightly up and across stream with a sink-tip or full-sink fly line to maintain contact with the nymph either when drifting it downstream or when swimming it. A strike indicator, which may be as simple as a swatch of deer hair, or a colorful adhesive patch, is often used on the leader to help show leader movement when a fly has been taken by a fish in moving water, so the angler can react quickly to a strike.

Often, and especially in small streams, nymph-fishing anglers hold the rod tip high to help maintain a desirable fly drift and keep more of the fly line off the water to minimize drag. In ponds or lakes, a nymph is generally used with a sink-tip or full-sink line, allowed to sink to a desired level, and fished with a generally slow stripping retrieve of the fly line.

As with other fly types, there are many nymph patterns. A nymph collection should have a representative assortment, and the following are widely known and popular patterns: Caddis Nymph, Dark Olive, Ginger Quill, Gray Nymph, Hare’s Ear Nymph, Leadwing Coachman, Light Cahill, March Brown, Mayfly Nymph, Montana Nymph, Quill Gordon, Stonefly Nymph, and Zug Bug.

Streamers

Streamer Flies

As a group, streamers are primarily meant to represent specific or generic baitfish as well as such assorted prey as leeches, worms, eels, etc. They are popular in freshwater, especially in large rivers and in lakes and ponds, and are the foremost type of fly used in saltwater. Although streamers catch trout, they are not a large part of the stream trout angler’s repertoire, but they are a factor in stillwater trout fishing. For presentations to large predatory fish, including pike, muskies, lake trout, striped bass, and many saltwater species, especially pelagic species, streamers are the main offering when using flycasting tackle. This somewhat catchall category is sometimes subcategorized as streamers and bucktails.

Bucktails (also known as hairwings) feature hair or other fur, whereas streamers primarily feature feathers. However, other materials, like Mylar, are also used, and some streamers feature a very creative use of both natural and synthetic materials. Obviously streamers incorporate a lot of designs. They are characteristically all tied on long-shanked hooks, however, and are nearly always fished below the surface, although some may be treated with floatant on occasion to fish on the surface and look like struggling surface prey.

Since these flies cover a wide variety of possible forage, many are not exact imitations of specific prey and are dressed rather colorfully as attractors. Many are suggestive in appearance, and a lesser number are strictly imitative. Some are dressed on two hooks in tandem (which are often used for trolling), and many, especially those for big fish and saltwater use, are tied on larger hooks than those used for the most commonly dry flies, wet flies, or nymphs.

Streamers are fished on all line types in a manner that is similar to some aspects of wet fly and nymph fishing; choice is dependent on the type of water and depth to be fished, the circumstances, etc. Sink-tip lines are especially useful for streamers that are fished at moderate depths; full-sink lines are used for deep-water work; and floating lines are used for shallow fishing, where flies are weighted enough to get them beneath the surface a short distance.

These flies are only occasionally fished on a dead, natural drift (and usually when cast directly upstream in a river), and they have to be manipulated with the fly line and/or rod tip, usually by stripping in fly line to swim the fly. The speed of retrieval varies with the behavior of individual species; some require a slow pull-pause movement, whereas for others (often many saltwater fish) the streamer cannot be stripped too fast.

In current, a streamer is normally cast across the current and fished downstream in a combination of drifting and twitching until it reaches the full downstream extension of line, and then it is strip-retrieved back to the angler. It is sideways to the current when moving downstream, which may suggest an imperiled fish or other food; when it darts upstream, it may simulate the action of mobile prey. In open water situations, it is dispatched a full casting distance away or near a breaking fish, allowed to sink to the desired level, and then erratically strip-retrieved.

The size of the streamer and its silhouette are most important, because there are many patterns (and many unnamed creations) available. A collection of representative streamers for various fishing would include the following: Black Ghost, Black-Nosed Dace, Clouser Minnow, Deceiver, Gray Ghost, Mickey Finn, Nine-Three, Silver Doctor, White-and-Red, and Yellow-and-Red, plus assorted colors of Marabous (black, white, yellow), Muddler Minnows (especially brown), and Marabou Muddlers. Woolly Worms, Woolly *******, and Zonkers (which are considered streamers by some people but not by others) are great flies that belong in this assortment, and there are many others that are equally effective in specific waters, especially items tied for saltwater use.

Bugs

Bugs

It is arguable whether the lures known as fly fishing bugs are in fact flies or a separate category of fly fishing lure. They are included here for simplicity in the sense that all items that are cast with flycasting tackle are generically called flies (although many do not imitate insects and are not fished like them). This is just one of many aspects of sportfishing that is rife with confusing and sometimes misleading terminology.

In any event, bugs include poppers and so-called bass bugs, and are also known as topwater bugs; they look nothing like other artificial flies or like natural insects. They are made from cork, balsa, cedar, deer hair or buoyant hair from other animals, and some synthetic materials, and are tied on a variety of hook sizes, with larger ones for bigger fish being created on single No. 6 to 2/0 hooks, and smaller ones (for panfish) being tied on appropriately sized hooks.

The range of natural foods that these items imitate includes frogs, rodents, and baitfish that would be found actively swimming or struggling to survive on the surface in freshwater, and primarily struggling or active surface baitfish in saltwater. Bugs are fished on the surface, probably 90 percent of the time with a floating fly line, although a sink-tip line may be employed with some diving and swimming bugs to help pull them briefly under the surface during retrieval.

Poppers are hard- or solid-bodied items made from cork, balsa, or cedar. They usually have some hackle or bucktail at the back of the lure to camouflage the hook or provide extra movement in the water, and they are fished in a popping or chugging manner, being jerked to surge forward and make a commotion that attracts fish through both noise and movement. The way a popper sits in the water, as well as the contoured design of its head or face, governs the action and degree of commotion that it makes, and there are many styles. Small versions, usually worked slowly, are preferred for panfish; larger ones, fished at various speeds, are intended for largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, striped bass, and other saltwater fish.

Bass bugs have a hair body that is creatively tied and shaped or trimmed into a host of forms, the most familiar ones being mice- and froglike. Some incorporate a loop of monofilament line as a weedguard, and all are fished slowly. Because they are soft-bodied lures, bass bugs are less likely to be quickly rejected by striking fish.

Other Flies

There are other “flies” used in fly fishing that don’t quite fit into categorical peg holes. These include many steelhead and salmon flies, some of which are quasi-streamers; most egg flies, which are simple and bright imitations of fish eggs and are made from yarn; foam-bodied spiders; Mylar-bodied fish imitations; and others. Innovative fly tyers have produced many fish-catching flies that defy categorization.

Fly Tying

One of the benefits of tying flies is the ability to match food and create flies as necessary when you’re out in the field.

Materials and tools used in fly tying.

From a definitive standpoint, fly tying is the hand manufacture of an artificial fly by winding thread around a hook and attaching assorted materials to the hook with the thread. The attachments are known as dressing, which traditionally meant bird feathers, animal hairs, and metallic tinsel, but which today includes a wide range of natural and synthetic materials.

Although all types of flies for all kinds of fly fishing activities are available commercially, many anglers tie their own flies and consider this an important component of their total fly fishing involvement. They derive a lot of pleasure from catching fish on flies that they create, and they view tying as an interesting and challenging hobby that has direct tangible benefits to their angling. They can stockpile flies in the off-season or in other spare time, make creations or variations on standard patterns that are not otherwise readily available, and even tie flies at the fishing site if they need a size or pattern that they do not have. In the long run, fly tying can have an economic benefit; most of the cost of buying commercially tied flies is due to hand labor, so, in terms of materials, homemade flies can cost very little per fly.

Even a beginning fly tyer can produce flies that will catch fish, although, like many other activities, this hobby can be taken to very involved levels and does require knowledge of proper technique. Reaching an advanced level of fly craftsmanship, especially the ability to create specialty flies with some synthetic materials, takes most people years of development. There is good reason for fly tying to be considered an art form, and for the most exquisite flies to be works of art.

Fly tying is one element of sportfishing in which visual and hands-on instruction is immensely valuable, and a beginning fly tyer should receive guidance, if not instruction, from an experienced tyer to get a proper start. Many groups or individuals hold fly tying classes during winter months, and participating in these is probably the best way to get started in this hobby. You will learn to tie patterns that will have local relevance, so that you can successfully use what you create. Getting guidance from experienced tyers will also help you develop an understanding of what materials to use, how to assess the quality of materials, and how to work with the materials to dress the fly; not the least of your knowledge will be a greater understanding of aquatic and terrestrial insects and other natural fish foods.

There are many books, and some videos, available that teach fly tying, and these are also valuable sources. Fly tying instruction books should have step-by-step illustrations and clear photos that demonstrate every element of the tying process. They should also have good color photos of fly patterns. A good video may be even better for illustrating tying steps and the final look of the fly, although when you’re learning to tie by following video instruction, it is annoying to have to keep rewinding a VCR to watch the tying steps (whereas a book is laid out in front of you). Since it takes a lot of photos and space to show the fly tying process for each of the various types of flies, and since that could not be adequately addressed in this book, you should check other information sources for a full and illustrated discourse on the techniques of fly tying.

However, a few general points about fly tying should be noted. It will cost less than a few hundred dollars to get well outfitted with the basic materials for fly tying. From a hardware standpoint, you’ll need a vise for firmly holding the fly, hackle pliers for grasping the fine feather ends, sharp needle-point scissors for cutting and trimming, a bobbin to hold the spool of thread, a whip finishing tool for terminating the thread wraps, a single-edge razor blade for cutting and trimming, and a dubbing needle (bodkin) for separating materials and other tasks. Tying thread and head cement will round out the items that will be used time after time. After that, the basic components include the proper style and size of hook and the various components that will be used to dress the fly.

The vise is the most important tool and is more than just a clamp. A good vise should have a wide range of jaw adjustment, because it needs to firmly hold the hook at its bend without deforming it yet still accept a range of hook thicknesses as appropriate for the size of flies being tied; interchangeable vise jaws may be necessary in order to hold both the thinnest and the thickest hooks. There are, incidentally, folding models that are meant for travel and for use along the stream, as well as portable fly tying kits.

A bright lamp, preferably one that swivels to different positions, will be important for use at the fly tying location, and some people will benefit greatly from a magnifying glass on a stand or one that is attached to a band that rests on the head and slips over the eyes.

If you are getting started in fly tying on your own, begin by tying a few streamer patterns, even if it’s unlikely that you’ll have much need for them. Streamers are easiest to tie, and working on them will help you acquire the fundamentals.

See: Fly Fishing; Flycasting Tackle; Lure.

Irresistible

Humpy

Adams

Light Cahill

Wing

Head

Hook eye

Hackle

Body

Hook

Tail

Rib

Hare’s Ear

Parmachene Belle

Black Gnat

Royal Coachman

Zug Bug

Brown Mayfly

March Brown

Ginger Quill

Mickey Finn

Gray Ghost

Muddler Minnow

Deceiver

Popping Bug

Darting Bug

Mouse

Hair Bug