Fly Tyers, Thread Your Bobbins!

We've seen more and more photos on social media of amazing Articulated Micro-Spine flies tied by fly tyers like you.

The flies we've seen are just the tip of the iceberg, so we're holding a fly tying contest on Instagram to help you show off your patterns to the world and give you the chance to win grand prizes. We appreciate the contributions of Fly Fish Food, Redington, Flood Tide Co., Loon Outdoors, The Fly Fishing Show, Kona Fishing Products, and Hareline Dubbin to make this fly tying contest great for everyone who enters!

The Mohawk Sculpin, Created by Cheech Pierce of Fly Fish Food, Is a Super Fun and Easy Sculpin Pattern To Tie

With its wide profile and short stature, the silhouette of the Mohawk Sculpin is a perfect match to the real thing and is sure to trigger predatory attacks.

The extra-heavy Fish-Skull Sculpin Helmet helps the Mohawk Sculpin drop like a rock to the bottom and this sculpin fly pattern even has a little extra "bling" from the new Hareline Magnum Bling Rabbit Strips.

Learn to tie Cheech's Mohawk Sculpin today!

Fly Recipe

The Micro Feather Game Changer is a snack-size articulated fly pattern that lands softly to avoid spooking fish, but still pushes enough water to get a predator's attention.

Imagine a fly that perfectly imitates a baitfish in your local waters, not only in profile but by swimming like a real fish and provoking the predatory instinct within your target fish... but you can still cast it with a 4wt to 6wt fly rod.

The Micro Feather Game Changer is fly a pattern developed by Blane Chocklett. This version is scaled down to about 3", and is a fantastic pattern for smaller water or picky fish.

The new Fish-Skull Chocklett's Articulated Micro-Spines open up a whole new world of possibilities for tying scaled-down Game Changer style flies.

The Flymen Big Game Needlefish Puts a Next-Generation Spin on a Staple Barracuda Fly

This fly will move Barracuda in Belize, Pike in Canada, and sizing it up or down it will catch musky, smallmouth, and trout in your local fishery as well.

Fish-Skull Body Tubing creates the elongated body of a Needlefish, and a Big Game Articulated Shank adds extra swimming action to attract your target species. Super fun tie!

The Perdigon Has Taken the Euro-Style Fishing World by Storm. 

This simple yet very fishy fly has everything that fast-water fly anglers are looking for... An endless choice of colors, instant sinkability, and 1000% bulletproof.

Fish the Heavy Metal Perdigon on its own, under a dry fly, or with a team of other nymphs – just fish it!

Fly Recipe

Paul Brown's Disco Deceiver is a big flashy streamer with TONS of swimming action.

For targeting everything from pike to brown trout in endless color combinations, the Disco Deceiver is a ton of fun to fish and tie. Combining Fish-Skull Articulated Fish-Spines in the middle of the fly's body gives it two extra break points for movement and a Fish-Skull Baitfish Head helps get this fly to the strike zone quickly.

The original Copper John is a staple in most fly boxes — the Heavy Metal Rubber Leg Copper John is a next-generation take on this classic fly pattern.

Using the Nymph-Head Heavy Metal tungsten beads that are 15% heavier than standard tungsten beads of the same size and come in a wide array of colors, the possibilities for this pattern are endless. You can fish it in a variety of ways, from fishing it as an anchor fly in a Euro setup to a regular attractor under an indicator, fish this fly DEEP — trust me, it will get there.

Fly Recipe

This Nymph Is a Great Little Caddis Pupa – With Some Added Flair

Hot spots on nymphs are a great way to not only get the attention of the fish you're targeting, but in certain fishing circumstances they can help you track your fly easier by sight. Most hot spots are made with dubbing that is a different color than the body of the fly, but this fly sets itself apart by using brightly colored deer hair tied on top of the hook as the hot spot.

This technique helps the fly stay upright in the water while the fly gets deep in the water column from the weight of the Nymph-Head Evolution tungsten beadhead.

Recipe

• Hook: Kona Universal Scud/Shrimp/Pupa (USP) hook, size #12
• Head: Nymph-Head Evolution Mayfly Swimmer & Burrower tungsten beadhead, olive, size large
• Rib: Ultra Wire
• Shell Back: Kiley's Exo Skin
• Body: Ice Dub
• Hot Spot: Deer Hair

Why do I love tying and fishing big streamers?

The other day I was watching an episode of "The Office" and in it Michael Scott said, "What is better: a medium amount of good pizza or all you can eat of pretty good pizza?"

As weird as it sounds, that got me thinking about fly fishing and the reason why I fish and tie big streamers. With big streamers, you may not always catch fish, but the fish you do catch and the memories will be epic.

Growing up in Southern California I was always fishing for largemouth bass. Before I stated fly fishing, I was throwing big lures, plugs, swimbaits, etc. for bass with my baitcasting rod. Throwing an 8-inch lure was a common thing for me as well as at time throwing a big 12-inch plus rainbow trout plastic swimbait. So when I started tying flies I always thought why not tie big flies like the lures I was used to throwing. To me this made sense, but at that time a lot of people looked at me strangely. 

If you enjoy tying and fishing big streamers, the following are some things I'd recommend you keep in mind.

Ultimate Frog Popper tied with a Surface Seducer Double Barrel popper & slider body, Dragon Eyes, and a size 1/0 Kona Big Game Carnivore hook.

It is first light. You are sitting quietly and motionless in an aluminum canoe in the middle of a 10-acre pond full of lily pads trying not to make a sound.

You have spent the last 30 minutes of darkness listening to the insects and frogs begin to quiet down as the sun begins to rise. Thick fog permeates the still air and the water is still as glass.

Every 15 seconds you can hear a bass blow up on an unsuspecting victim. It is summertime now and frogs and tadpoles are one of the most readily available food sources in the lake... Too bad all you have in your box are Clousers, chenille worms, and crawdads. OOPS!

This frog imitation fishes super well... and looks like it will hop out of your fly box on its own.

Ken Capsey's Japeto Frog is easily one of the most fun flies I have ever tied!

The target species for the Japeto Frog is bass (smallmouth, largemouth, spotted), but pike, musky, and even snakeheads are targetable with this fly as well.

When fishing the Japeto Frog, cast to lily pads, moss, grass, weeds, or any structure close to the bank. Typically, fishing a frog pattern is noticeably faster than other topwater patterns, but observe and let the fish tell you the speed you should be moving with.

Fly Recipe

• Rear Legs: Fish-Skull Articulated Fish-Spines and Foam
• Feet: Sili-Legs
• Hook: Kona Big Popper Hook, 2/0
• Body: Craft Foam
• Head: Surface Seducer Double Barrel Popper & Slider Body, large, green chartreuse
• Eyes: Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes, Tropic, 6mm
• Front Legs: Sili-Legs

You can follow Ken Capsey on Instagram @pike_picker.

What makes fly fishing the Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota area special is this is the wild native range of warm water species.

When most people think about fly fishing Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, they think of trout. When you think of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, you think of warm water species.

We have some of the best smallmouth bass and muskie fishing in the world. It's all right here, as well as arguably the best carp fishing when it comes to pursuing them in the Great Lakes. 

The upper Midwest is such a rad area for fly fishing and there's a very small group of outfitters that are providing guided trips at an elite level. We offer single day and multi-day trips, and if you've never done a multi-day guided fly fishing trip, I'd definitely recommend one to the Midwest. It allows you as an angler to get into a groove, especially if you're a busy person that generally doesn't have a lot of time to fish. 

The Faux Bucktail Flatwing updates an old-school pattern with new-school materials. 

Replacing bucktail with Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail, adding a mixture of synthetic flash in different textures and colors, and topping it all off with a Fish-Mask brings the Flatwing into the 21st century.

Learn to tie this next-generation fly pattern today!

Fly Recipe

• Hook: Kona Xtra Strong Stinger (XSS), size 1/0
• Tail: Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail
• Tail: Saddle Hackle
• Body: Flat Braid
• Bottom: Faux Bucktail
• Wing 1: Faux Bucktail
• Wing 2: Ice Wing Fiber
• Wing 3: Ripple Ice Fiber
• Lateral Line: Dry Fly Hackle
• Wing 4: Ice Wing Fiber
• Wing (main): Peacock Herl
• Head: Fish-Skull Fish Mask
• Eyes: Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes

Everyone Can Use a Few Good Crawfish Patterns in Their Fly Box

The thing with crawfish fly patterns is you tend to lose them in the rocks faster than you can tie some of the intricate flies that imitate these bottom-dwellers. The Fish-Skull CrawBody on the Sparkle Craw makes tying a crawfish imitation foolproof and fast.

But what is a Crawfish pattern if it doesn't get to the bottom? The Fish-Skull Shrimp & Cray Tail gets the Sparkle Craw to the bottom in no time.

Fly Recipe

Learn To Tie Chase Howard’s Extended Body Drake, a Nymph With Movement That Is Out of This World

Dead drifting this fly into a swing works flawlessly as the Nymph-Head Evolution tungsten beadhead will get the fly deep quick, and as the fly swings, the Wiggle-Tail Shank offers tons of extra movement.

The weight of the bead isn't a compromise for realism as the Evolution Mayfly Swimmer & Burrower tungsten beadhead is molded after the common mayfly swimmer and burrower head profile – oval, elongated, and gracefully curved at the front but flattened at the back near the thorax with prominent, egg-shaped eyes.

We hope you enjoy tying and fishing this fly!

Fly Recipe

Rear

• Rear Shank: Nymph-Head Wiggle-Tail Shank
• Tail: Pheasant Tail 
• Wing Case: Pheasant Tail
• Body: Rabbit/Synthetic Dubbing Blend

Front

Intruder Style Flies Are Designed to Provoke Aggressive Strikes From Steelhead.

As the name suggests, the idea is to "intrude" on the steelhead's territory and trigger the "fight" response of fight or flight.

Meahan's Intruder is an approachable pattern for all fly tyers. So many Intruder fly patterns call for some exotic material, but with everyday materials Meahan's Intruder is a good fly for beginning steelhead tyers, but also a quick, good-looking fly for veterans as well.

The small rear loop on the Fish-Skull Senyo's Articulated Shank makes it easy to attach the rear Kona Big Game Hunter hook and allows the shank to be held straight in any vise, avoiding the need to tie the fly at strange angles. Not to mention, the splash of color added from the Senyo's Articulated Shank and the different variations available give you nearly endless color combination options for this fly.

Fly Tying Recipe

Hook Section

Shank Section

The Body Tubing Baitfish Is a Great All-around Baitfish Pattern

This fly can be sized up to chase peacock bass in the Amazon, or sized down to target small-stream smallmouth — any fish that eats baitfish will eat this fly!

The extended portion of the Body Tubing Baitfish has 2 main benefits for fly performance:

1. Keeping the flash well behind the hook point makes it impossible for the flash to "foul" around the hook like is so common with flash tails.
2. The Body Tubing acts as a rudder, giving the fly great movement in cross-current situations.

Fly Recipe

• Hook: Kona Big Game Hunter hook, size 2/0
• Tail: Flashabou
• Tail Extender: Fish-Skull Body Tubing
• Underbody: UV Polar Chenille
• Body: Craft Fur
• Underwing: Bucktail
• Wing: Craft Fur & Ripple Ice Fiber
• Eyes: Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes
• Head Sealer: UV Resin

The Devo Diver Is a "Best of Both Worlds" Sculpin Fly.

Most sculpin flies that we see are designed to do one thing — get deep in the water column.

While these flies certainly are useful in many fishing situations, a lot of flies tied in this style of fly do not have much swimming action. The Devo Diver, with its multiple articulation points of the Articulated Fish-Spine, is a fly that will get deep but also have lifelike movement in the water.

Imitations of craneflies are very popular in Europe and not without reason, they are great, buggy fishing flies!

Even though it’s not that often you encounter a real “hatch” of these insects, they tend to be present during most of the summer and trout will take them if they crash land.

I tie these flies in 3 sizes and fish them quite often, not just to imitate craneflies, but more to show fish something that looks very tempting when they are opportunistic (which they are most of the time).

Learn to tie this next-generation stonefly.

Being known as a pretty major streamer lover, I often get lumped into the crowd that only ties big, gnarly streamers. But I'm also a fly fishing guide, and not everyone enjoys throwing streamers on 8-weight rods with sinking line all day, so nymphing is a huge part of my guiding.

The Wiggle Stone is my standard when nymphing deep in a stream where stoneflies live. As with any Stonefly pattern, the most important question is "How quick does it get to the bottom" and with the Nymph-Head Evolution Stonefly tungsten beadhead, this pattern goes straight to the bottom and into the strike zone.

Fly Recipe

• Hook: Kona Nymph Streamer 2XL (NS2), size #6
• Antennae: Sili-Legs
• Bead Head: Nymph-Head Evolution Stonefly tungsten beadhead, brown, size large
• Underbody: .025 Lead Wire
• Tail: Sili-Legs
• Ribbing: Mono Thread
• Case: U.V. Chewee Skin
• Wax: Loon High Tack Swax
• Body: Wiggle Dubbing (in a dubbing loop)

As streamer fly fishing has risen in popularity, streamer designs have taken off like never before.

If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of designs out there. One thing I've noticed about the plethora of new streamer patterns is that many of them (other than a few highly specialized designs) are designed basically around one thing: catching trout in fast-moving water.

So when I grabbed a handful of cleverly crafted baitfish patterns and headed out to my local warm-water bass lake, I found them highly lacking in some important qualities. They didn’t catch very many fish. I quickly realized that something designed for moving water didn’t automatically fit the bill when things became more static.

My answer was to just develop my own streamer patterns and fish away, but if you don't tie your own or have countless hours to experiment and design your own stuff, I realized that the already established cold-water patterns can be just as effective for warm-water species — they just need some adjustment in rigging and common sense when it comes to fishing techniques.

Here are some tricks I’ve used to adapt some commercial fly patterns to be as effective on your local warm-water lake as they are in the famous rivers they were intended for.

Learn to Tie This Next-Generation Squid Fly Pattern

Giovanni mostly targets dorado with his Squid fly pattern, but says that most small- to medium-size pelagic fish are going to gravitate toward this fly. He recommends fishing it on an intermediate line.

I discovered this fly pattern on the Flymen Fishing Co. Instagram feed while looking to see what fly tyers all over the world have done to use Flymen fly tying materials in creative ways. One of the first (and coolest) flies I saw was Giovanni De Pace's (@giannidepace) Squid. This is a slightly modified Flymen version of Giovanni's Squid, I think you'll like it!

Fly Recipe

Learn To Tie This Incredibly Realistic Yet Easy-to-Tie Hopper Pattern

This popper fly pattern comes from the creative mind of custom fly tyer Adam Harman. Using the Double Barrel popper body on a hopper pattern makes perfect sense – maximum floatation, keel, and water disturbance on the pop! It just works.