Inside Look: The NEW Fly Tester
Dec 11, 2020
Written by Martin Bawden
Filed under fly fishing, Fly Tester, fly tying, Inside look
Discussion 4 comments

Inside Look: The NEW Fly Tester

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.

Inside Look: Designing the Surface Seducer Howitzer
Jun 28, 2017
Written by Martin Bawden
Filed under fly tying, Inside look, popper fishing
Discussion 25 comments

Inside Look: Designing the Surface Seducer Howitzer

One of the most exciting areas in fly design is the development of next-generation topwater flies to enable the modern fly fishing angler to successfully target and land a growing variety of freshwater and saltwater gamefish across the globe.

To support this trend, in 2016 we announced our intention to create a full range of modern innovative foam fly tying materials under the new...

Inside Look: Designing Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail.
Mar 09, 2017
Written by Martin Bawden
Filed under fly fishing, fly fishing tips, fly tying, Inside look
Discussion 2 comments

Inside Look: Designing Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail.

Taking synthetic fly tying fibers to the next level.

We're excited to introduce our newest fly tying material, Fish-Skull® Faux Bucktail™, which is the first synthetic fiber tapered to a point like real animal fur for use in fly tying and lure making.

Inside look: Designing the Fish-Skull Shrimp & Cray Tail.
May 10, 2016
Written by Martin Bawden
Filed under bonefish, carp, fly tying, freshwater, Inside look, permit, redfish, saltwater, smallmouth bass, speckled trout, streamer fishing, striped bass
Discussion 4 comments

Inside look: Designing the Fish-Skull Shrimp & Cray Tail.

Sight fishing for bonefish, permit, or redfish is one of my favorite things in life.

It combines many of the visual pleasures of fly fishing with some of the toughest technical challenges, creating a scenario in which so much needs to come together perfectly to be successful.

Travelling to a beautiful tropical location and searching for an almost invisible, elusive quarry among endless sand flats, palm trees, mangroves and crystal clear water is incredibly relaxing.

Then add the heightened sense of anticipation, the sudden jolt and adrenaline rush as you first sight the fish – heart pounding, panic setting in, and of course the pressure! Pressure from your guide, your buddy, and yourself to put together the perfect cast at the perfect time to deliver your fly to the perfect spot in the hope (or prayer) that you'll be rewarded.

So much fun!

The idea for the Fish-Skull® Shrimp & Cray Tail™ first came to me during one of these trips to the Bahamas in late 2014. Out on a flats boat in the middle of nowhere, but somewhere between my fourth bonefish and third Kalik of the day, the idea formed to create an alternative to the established fly tying method of using bead chain eyes or small dumbbells to weight shrimp or small crayfish patterns. Continue reading

Inside look: The Pop-N-Fly with Captain Gary Dubiel.
Feb 04, 2016
Written by Gary Dubiel
Filed under fly fishing, fly tying, Inside look, popper fishing, redfish, speckled trout, streamer fishing, video
Discussion 4 comments

Inside look: The Pop-N-Fly with Captain Gary Dubiel.

by Gary Dubiel
This may seem like an odd way to start off talking about fly fishing, but let’s chat about one of the most popular and easy ways to fish inshore saltwater, the popping cork.

You’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do with anything?!”

Maybe more than you think.