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Flymen Blog

Fly Tying Tutorial: Robin Phillips' Golden Nugget

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

Flymen Sili-Leg Intruder: Fly Tying Tutorial

Want to Tie a Tough-As-Nails Steelhead Pattern?

The Flymen Sili-Leg Intruder is a completely synthetic Steelhead Intruder tied on the Fish-Skull Senyo's Articulated Shank for Steelhead and Salmon Flies. 

Intruder-style flies are designed to trigger aggressive strikes from steelhead by "intruding" on their territory and provoking an attack.

The movement of the bulletproof sili-leg skirt coupled with the the Kona Big Game Hunter stinger hook gives you an incredibly durable and deadly Intruder pattern.

Fly Tying Tutorial: Flymen Fish-Skull Craw

Add This Craw Pattern to Your Fly Arsenal

The Flymen Fish-Skull Craw is a realistic, yet easy to tie crawfish pattern. The Fish-Skull Shrimp & Cray tail sends this fly straight to the bottom with an enticing swimming motion. The Flymen Fish-Skull Craw dominates warm and coldwater species!

Learn to tie the Flymen Fish-Skull Craw today!

Fly Recipe

Cheech's Mohawk Sculpin: Fly Tying Tutorial

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

Micro Feather Game Changer – Fly Tying Tutorial

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.

Fly Tying Tutorial: Flymen Big Game Needlefish

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!

Fly Tying Tutorial: The Nymph-Head Heavy Metal Perdigon

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

  • Hook: Kona Barbless Jig Hook (BJH), size #10 used in video (sizes can range from #10 - #16)
  • Head: Nymph-Head Heavy Metal tungsten bead, size 4.0 mm (5/32") used in video (adjust size to match hook)
  • Tail: CDL, Mallard, or any barred feathers.
  • Rib: UTC Ultra-Wire
  • Body: Flashabou
  • Hot-Spot: Orange Thread
  • Wing Case: Loon UV Fly Finish BLACK
  • Body Coating: Coat the whole fly in Loon UV Thin

Fly Tying Tutorial: Fish-Skull Disco Deceiver

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.

Fly Tying Tutorial: Heavy Metal Rubber Leg Copper John

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

  • Hook: Kona Wet Fly Nymph size #10
  • Bead: Nymph-Head Heavy Metal tungsten bead size 5/32"
  • Wire: .025 Lead Wire
  • Tail: Sili-Legs
  • Body: Ultra Wire
  • Wing Case: UV Chewee Skin
  • Over Case: Flashabou
  • Thorax: Ice Dub 
  • Legs: Sili-Legs
  • Wing Case Gas Bubble: Loon UV Resin Thick

Fly Tying Video: The Deer Hair Hot Spot Caddis

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

Fly Tying Tutorial: The Double Barrel Japeto Frog

 

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

You can follow Ken Capsey on Instagram @pike_picker.

Faux Bucktail Flatwing Fly Tying Tutorial

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

Fly Tying Tutorial: Fish-Skull Sparkle Craw

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

Fly Tying Tutorial: Chase Howard's Extended Body Drake

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

Front

Fly Tying Tutorial: Matt Meahan's Steelhead Shank Intruder



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

Fly Tying Tutorial: Brita Fordice's Body Tubing Baitfish

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

Fly Fishing for Big Pike in the Mountains of Northern Sweden

3 years ago, we visited a remote mountain location in Northern Sweden for the first time to target pike on the fly.

The plan was to make a really cool pike film with meter-long fish slamming mice and lemming patterns on the surface. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the water was already too warm by that time and most of the fish had moved out of the shallow coves.

So, fast forward and we decided to try again later on during the first week of the open season. During spring I had developed a pattern based on the new Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper heads that was more of a subsurface pattern with 2 hooks, a Fish-Skull Articulated Shank, and a big Dragon Tail at the end. I wanted a pattern that would work well both when fished roly poly as well as with strong pulls.

The helicopter brought us out the Tjuonajokk fishing camp, located way above the Arctic Circle.

The plan this time was to drive with the river boats through the rapids upstream to a big cove were the pike had spawned a few weeks before and were still hanging around waiting for whitefish and grayling to come in and feed in these shallow areas.

We took turns poling the boat forward and with only one of us fishing at a time so our cameraman could catch every single take in slow motion. How did it turn out? See for yourself.

Fly Tying Tutorial: Oskar Gester's Devo Diver

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.

Fly Tying: Brian Wise's Wiggle Stone

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

Fly Tying Video: Giovanni De Pace's Squid



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

  • Hook: Kona Xtra Strong Stinger (XSS) 1/0
  • Laser Dub (to help spread the materials)
  • Underbody: Senyo's Aqua Veil Chenille
  • Body: Ostrich Herl 
  • Body: Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail
  • Body: Polar Flash
  • Tentacles: Loco Legs
  • Body: Rhea Feathers
  • Tentacles: Saddle Hackle
  • Head: Fish-Skull Fish-Mask, #7
  • Eyes: Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes, 7 mm
  • Loon Thick
  • Loon Phosphorescent Powder
  • Mantle: Fish-Skull Chocklett's Body Tubing, 1/4"
  • Fins: X-Select Marabou

Fly Tying Video: The Shrimp & Cray Tail Faux Shrimp



Learn to tie this next-generation shrimp fly pattern

Best fished on either floating or intermediate lines targeting redfish, bonefish, snook, permit, and the occasional tarpon, the Shrimp & Cray Tail Faux Shrimp leans more toward medium water as it gets deep fast thanks to the Fish-Skull Shrimp & Cray Tail. When sight fishing, lead the fish and once the fish turns, make short strips until you come tight.

Fly Tying: The Howitzer Game Changer

Learn to tie this topwater Game Changer variation. This Game Changer variation tied by Brian Wise features a Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper head with Dragon Eyes for added fish-attracting commotion and a Fish-Skull Frantic Tail for frisky tail action. Game Changer style flies get their movement from the Fish-Skull Articulated...

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Fly Tying: Double Barrel Phelps Frog

Michael Phelps may have 23 gold medals, but the Phelps Frog is all about bronze... Bronzebacks that is! This leggy frog fly with serious swimming action is an absolute bass magnet. Learn to tie it today.  Fly Recipe Rear Hook Hook: Fusion Drop Shot, size #1 Body Filler: Chocklett's Game Changer Chenille Legs: Fish-Skull...

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