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

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

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

Pocket Water Can Be Some of the Most Exhilarating Waters to Fish

What makes a pocket water fishery are the boulders that block the general flow of the river, forming hydro-breaks where fish lie in wait in the darkness, ready to dart at a moment's notice for food.

As a trout guide, I can’t see myself guiding or fishing anywhere else during the peak season but on my home river in the Adirondacks, the West Branch of the Ausable. Here are some tactics I've picked up from guiding and fishing these waters that may help you next time you're on the water.

Fly fishing small streams for wild trout is without question my favorite piscatorial endeavor.

Aside from the lack of crowds, the gorgeous surroundings, and the all-too-eager trout, small streams offer endless learning opportunities. The lessons garnered from creeks, streams, and brooks can be applied to all aspects of trout fishing.

The following are a few of the tactics I have learned from my experience on smaller waters that I fish frequently both on my own and when guiding clients as well.

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 a trout guide I like to think that there are no mistakes in fly fishing, rather there are learning opportunities — lots and lots of learning opportunities.

With each client I try to place an emphasis on proving yourself wrong, and by that I mean, take some rule/tactic/method and try to disprove it. After all, how many times have you done what was considered to be wrong and yet still caught a fish?

Habits on the other hand, are another story. Unlike mistakes, habits — especially a certain few — can be detrimental to catching trout. I'm going to address three of the worst habits I see on the water and how you can go about improving your habits to catch more trout.

Varying your technique and presentation to match the fishing conditions at hand is key to consistently catching fish.

The dictionary defines the phrase, “One trick pony” as “a person or thing with only one special feature, talent, or area of expertise."

I see fly anglers all the time who are one trick ponies — for example, only fishing with dry flies or dry and dropper rigs no matter what the stream conditions are. Even guys who nymph fish can get caught up in only euro nymphing or only indicator nymphing.

We've all been guilty, myself included, of sticking to a favorite technique or fly for too long when it’s not producing.

One of the Most Fun Parts of Fly Fishing Is Designing and Tying Flies.

As a fly tying instructor, I often have clients who have designed and tied a new pattern, but there is some flaw in the design (e.g. the wrong hook, articulated when it is not needed, too big, or too small) or material selection.

These are integral parts of fly design. The large cunning fish you'll be targeting know how their food choices move and will shy away from flies that do not move naturally.

Forget the Squirmy. Forget the egg flies. The Mop Fly is the most sinful fly of all time.

I swear to fish the hatch and the whole hatch.

To most fly anglers, fishing the hatch means fishing dries, spinners, or maybe emerger patterns to actively feeding trout.

For more years than I can remember, I've spent time sitting on the bank waiting for the “hatch” to happen.

Then about 15 years ago it hit me when a guide client asked me, “what were the bugs doing before they hatched?"

Bam! Light went on.

Why I hadn’t thought of this myself? Continue reading

This fly is effective on pressured fish who need a little more reason to eat — especially in slow moving water when pressured fish have a long time to look at flies before they commit to eating. 

Just as The Sexy Walt’s and The Frenchie are simply tied patterns, so are these quill-bodied bugs.

One of the hallmarks of these simple flies is that there’s not a lot of junk on them to keep the fly from cutting through the water on its descent to the bottom. All that extra junk on flies can also spook fish hooked too many times for their own comfort. Continue reading

If you’re an egg-slinger and don’t have a box full of Jeff Blood’s Blood Dot Eggs, you might want to rethink your inventory. 

This egg style is the single best I’ve encountered.

This fly is especially productive from October through January and March through May – or whenever the fish in your neck of the woods are spawning and eggs make up a substantial portion of the edible biomass in the water. Continue reading

It doesn't matter what happens in the fashion industry – when it comes to fly fishing, there's no new black.

We've all heard it!

"Orange is the new black," or "purple is the new black," or even that olive would be the new black.

Don't get me wrong – I know there are a lot of colors that are really effective in different types of flies. I love throwing white deceivers to snappers and other saltwater species, and big olive flies to pike, not to mention fishing a banana-colored zonker for salmon or a big gray articulated streamer for trout.

There are so many colors that are important when it comes to flies and fly tying, but none more important than black. Continue reading

The Sexy Walt's is especially useful on highly pressured fish in slow to moderately fast-moving water.

Here’s the deal with this fly, I think. My dad has this theory – no matter how much you’ve had to eat, when you go to the bar and they pass out the peanuts, you’re going to have a handful of peanuts.

Fish are the same way. Over time, especially after a season (short or long) of pressure, fish start rethinking their meal choices. But give them a peanut, and they’ll eat. There’s no other reason midges work!

This is a peanut fly, and fish eat it up. 

There’s nothing to scare fish away – no crazy rubber legs, no funky dubbing… Just simple. Continue reading

by John Zimmerman
I don’t know if the story about this fly is true or not, but this is how I first heard it and have heard it several times since. 

A young French kid was kicking butt and taking names at a world championship event a number of years ago. 

Not wanting to be "that guy,” no one asked him what was affixed to the end of his tippet during the event, but everyone wanted to see his fly box upon the event’s conclusion. 

Expecting immaculately-tied, realistic patterns, most were shocked to see a fly box full of simply-tied bugs that were essentially bare-bones pheasant tails.

Continue reading