Podcast: Fly Tying Innovation with Flymen Fishing Co. How Does Innovation Happen‪?‬

Martin Bawden is the founder, CEO, and head product designer of Flymen Fishing Co.

Recently the "In The Seam" JP Ross Fly Rods Podcast invited Martin to be a guest on their show to tell his story, including living in four different countries and an inside look at how he came to create Flymen Fishing Co.

Through their conversation on the role of innovation in fly fishing you'll learn the backstories of several innovative Flymen products that have revolutionized fly design, such as the original Nymph-Head Bead, Fish-Skull Baitfish Head, the Fly Tester, the Articulated Fish-Spine, and the new Flymen Fly Tying Kits.

Martin Bawden, Flymen Fishing Co. CEO

A Realistic Crayfish Pattern for Targeting Bass, Trout, and Other Freshwater Fish

Everything You Need To Tie 8 Fish-Skull Crawdaddy Flies

The Guide’s Easy Go-to Suspending Fly for Targeting Predatory Fish in Saltwater and Freshwater

Everything You Need to Tie 6 Glass Minnow Flies

Designed to be quick and easy to whip up in your fly tying vise, the Glass Minnow Guide Fly is a lightweight, nearly weightless, imitation perfect for those fishing situations in which you need to suspend your fly in the water column to draw in the predatory fish you’re targeting.

This Fly Tying Kit contains everything you need to tie 6 Glass Minnow flies, including step-by-step tying instructions, to make it easy for you to get your hands on the various needed fly tying materials all in one place.

Included Colors

• Gray & Pink
• Chartreuse & Pink

Included Materials

• Fish-Skull® Fish-Masks
• Fish-Skull® Living Eyes
• Fish-Skull® Chocklett’s Body Tubing
• Kona® Universal Mid-Range Streamer (UMS) hooks
• Marabou
• Hareline® Senyo’s Laser Dub
• Not included: Thread, glue, fly tying tools

The Ultimate Go-To Trout and Bass Pattern With Irresistible Natural Movement

Learn to tie the Skulpin Bunny in today's fly tying tutorial video using the NEW Skulpin Bunny Fly Tying Kit.

This versatile fly has proven itself on rivers worldwide as a fish magnet. Designed to be fished on the river bottom, the Skulpin Bunny can be dead-drifted or slowly stripped to imitate a sculpin and swims in the hook-up position to avoid snagging.

The Skulpin Bunny swims hook up to avoid snagging on the bottom, shown here swimming in the NEW Fly Tester.

The Skulpin Bunny Fly Tying Kit contains everything you need to tie 6 Skulpin Bunny flies, including step-by-step tying instructions, to make it easy for you to get your hands on the various needed fly tying materials all in one place.

Fly Recipe

• Fish-Skull® Sculpin Helmet
• Fish-Skull® Living Eyes
• Kona® Trout Streamer 4XL (TS4) hook
• Hareline® Cross-Cut Rabbit Strips
• Hareline® Straight-Cut Rabbit Strips

The Essential Tool For Every Fly Tyer’s Table

Tie → Test → Fish

If you're a fly tyer, you've almost certainly experienced the incredibly frustrating feeling of carefully tying the perfect fly for your next time on the water only to find out on your first cast that your fly doesn't swim well at all.

That's exactly what led to the idea for the Fly Tester.

I spent an entire weekend tying up two dozen of the most beautiful looking streamer flies you can imagine, but when I went fishing the next day first fly I threw in the water swam upside down!

So frustrating!

I'd essentially wasted my entire weekend tying flies that simply didn’t work very well and obviously led to a less-than-ideal day on the water.

If you think about it, we as fly anglers are real optimists; we spend an incredible amount of time designing and tying a bunch of flies, then go straight to the river, throw them in, and hope they work!

I realized that we fly tyers didn’t have any method at the time to determine if the flies we design and tie are any good and in a lightbulb moment I came up with the idea for the first Fly Tester.

Nick Groves' Polarceiver Fly Will Smash Smallmouth Bass and More...

Nick Groves' Polarceiver combines two of my favorite materials, Peacock Herl and Polar Chenille, into an easy-to-tie articulated streamer. 

Utilizing a Fish-Skull Fish-Spine for increased swim action and a Fish-Skull Baitfish Head to help the fly get deep and add a realistic head profile, the Polarceiver has quickly made its way to the top of my list for smallmouth bass fishing!

Taking the Classic Deer Hair Diver to the Next Level

By integrating the new Fish-Skull Chocklett's Articulated Micro-Spine system into a well-established pattern, Braden Sherwood has designed a total winner – in fact, he won the recent Micro-Spine fly tying contest with this fly pattern.

The added movement and taper through the spines in this smaller diver pattern is fantastic.

A Good Caddis Pupa Should Be a Staple in Every Trout Angler’s Fly Box

I like Caddis Pupae that are easy to tie, have vibrant colors, and are super quick to drop to the bottom. Tradd Little's Neon Caddis covers all of these bases, and then some.

Tied with a Nymph-Head Evolution tungsten beadhead and the perfectly shaped Kona USP Scud/Pupa hook, this little Caddis Pupa will be all you need.

The Golden Nugget Is a Modern Medium-Size Baitfish Imitation

The Golden Nugget is easy to tie and highly effective on the water! Using the Fish-Skull Baitfish Head to help with swimming action, profile, and depth, this versatile streamer fly pattern can be fished for most freshwater and saltwater applications.

You can find Robin Phillips on Instagram: @robin.phillips.flies

Fly Recipe