If I were asked by someone new to fly-tying who wanted to know what 5 imitative patterns to start out tying, I would suggest the dressings below.
Not only are all proven fish-takers but they imitate (or in the case of the Walker's Pheasant Tail are suggestive of) the most common food items which stillwater trout eat.
The patterns also benefit from only using a few cheap, easily obtainable materials. Many of these dressings share materials too.
The flies are listed roughly in order of difficulty & complexity.
I hope you try them if you are new to fly tying - they really do work!
Corixa
Hook:
10-12
Silk:
Brown or black 8/0 pre-waxed
Underbody:
Fine copper wire
Back & paddles:
Cock pheasant centre tail fibres
Rib:
Silver tinsel or wire
Body:
White or cream coloured floss or wool
-Start by taking the silk down to the bend in touching turns. Take the silk back up to about 2mm behind the eye & tie in the copper wire. You'll need about 9 or 10 inches of the stuff & don't skimp!
-Wind the copper wire down the shank in touching turns & then all the way back up to where you tied it in. Tie off well & take the silk again in touching turns over the wire back down to the bend.
-At the start of the bend tie in a bunch of about a dozen cock pheasant centre tail fibres shiny (bad) side up, so they extend out beyond the bend like a very long tail. They should be tied in so that the stub part extends all the way across the top of the shank to about 3mm behind the eye.
-Tie in the silver tinsel or wire at the bend.
-Take the silk back up the shank to just behind the eye, neatly trapping-down the ribbing material & the stubs of the pheasant fibre en route.
-At the start of the head tie in the wool or silk body material.
Wind this down the shank in touching turns to the bend, then back up. Tie in & trim off.
-Rib the body in even turns & tie & trim off the wire at the head.
-Bring the pheasant fibres over the top of the body & tie-in tightly at the head.
Select 4 fibres (2 on each side) which are tied down close to each other & bend these back toward the bend, to create the paddles.
-Once tied-in securely, trim the other fibres off at the head.
-Make a neat head, whip finish & varnish.
-Once the head is dry, coat the 4 pheasant tail paddles in a fair amount of varnish. A couple of thickish coats should do. Trim the paddles to about 5-7mm long & the fly is completed.
Stickfly
Hook:
10-12 longshank
Silk:
Brown or black 8/0 pre-waxed
Underbody:
Fine copper wire
Rib:
Fine copper wire
Body:
Peacock herl
Thorax:
White or cream coloured floss or wool
Legs:
Pale ginger or light brown cock hackle
-Take the silk down to the bend & back up to 3mm behind the eye.
-Here tie in a fair length of fine copper wire, about 9 inches or so which will for the underbody & also the ribbing material.
This pattern should be weighted, as caddis larvae always tend to be found slowly grubbing around on the bed of the lake. Using a long (12ft+) leader & a very slow retrieve also helps.
-Take the wire down to the start of the bend in touching turns (you can simply leave the wire dangling once done) followed by the silk.
-Tie in 3 peacock herls, 1 by the stub end (trim about an inch away from the base) & 2 by the good end. Now take the silk back to about 5mm behind the eye, to leave a space for the thorax as in the photo above.
-Add a drop of varnish to the top/bottom/side of the shank if you wish, then form a rope with the herls by twisting gently in one direction.
Wind a nice even body & tie off.
-Rib with the wire in nice even turns.
Take the silk to just behind the eye & tie in the wool or floss thorax material.
-Wind the wool down to where you tied in the herl & back up towards the eye in nice, even turns. Tie off well & trim neatly.
-At the head tie in a lightish brown cock hackle. The fibres should be quite short as in the photo.
Take just a couple of turns with hackle pliers & tie off & trim.
-Create a neat head, brushing back the hackle fibres as you tie them down.
Whip finish & varnish well.
Walker's Pheasant Tail Nymph
Hook:
10-12
Silk:
Brown pre-waxed 8/0
Rib:
Fine copper wire
Tail/Body/Wing Cases/Thorax/Legs:
Cock pheasant tail fibres
This is Dick Walker's version of this ubiquitous killer of trout.
The fly can of course also be weighted.
-Take the silk down to the bend & there tie in 8-10 pheasant tail fibres as a tail. These will also form the body, so don't trim them! The tail should extend about 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the shank beyond the bend. Also tie in the copper wire.
-Run the silk back towards the eye, a fraction over half-way up the shank.
-Wrap the untwisted fibres 4 or 5 times around the shank & tie off & trim neatly.
-Rib in the opposite direction with the copper wire. Tie this in & trim or break off.
-Select another bunch of about 15-20 fibres & align the tips. Tie these in on top of the shank with the tips pointing back toward the tail. The tips should reach to about half way along the tail from where they are tied in.
-Tie in yet another bunch of about 6 fibres to use to create the thorax.
-Run the silk to about 2mm behind the eye & then wrap the 6 thorax fibres neatly around the shank. Tie these off at the head & trim neatly.
-Pull the wing case fibres tightly forward, over the thorax & tie in with 3 turns at the start of the head.
The tips which are now pointing out beyond the eye need to be divided into 2 bunches & pulled back again toward the tail to create the legs. Manipulate them & at the same time, wind a few turns of silk to hold in place.
-Create a neat head, whip finish & varnish.
Leaded Shrimp
Hook:
10-12
Silk:
Olive or brown
Underbody:
Adhesive lead foil
Rib/legs:
Long cree, brown or ginger cock hackle wound palmer-wise, clipped off on the back and the sides
Body:
Olive dubbing (preferably seal's fur or sub) with a little orange mixed in.
-Wind the silk on & take down to the bend in close turns. Take back up to just behind the eye.
-Cut about a 7cm strip about 2mm wide of the adhesive lead foil.
Bind the 1st layer down tightly with silk just behind the eye & manipulate carefully so it lies flat atop the shank whilst binding down.
When you get to just before the bend, take about 5 repeated turns of silk on the spot & wobble the loose length of lead. It should break off leaving a nice, smoothly tapered end. Bind down over the end just in case. You should be at the start of the bend now.
-Take the silk back to the eye & repeat the process another 4 times, each time starting a fraction further back from the eye & using strips about 1 mm shorter than the previous strip.
What you want is a nice mini lead pyramid on top of the hook!
-Once the 5 layers are on, run a dab of superglue or head cement along both sides. Leave to dry for a couple of minutes.
-Tie in a long-fibred cock hackle of your choice at the bend. Anything with a natural look to it such as brown, grey, olive would be fine. The one in the photo is a Cree hackle.
-Dub the body material onto the silk & wind a nice even body up to the start of the head.
-Wind the cock hackle over the body tightly with a hackle plier. About 5 or 6 turns is plenty.
-Tie in well, make a neat head, whip finish & varnish.
-Trim the hackle fibres close as you can to the body, just leaving the ones underneath & a little to each underside, as shown above.
-Trim the underneath fibres flush with just past the hook point.
-Finally, soak the back with plenty of layers of varnish, or alternatively use a couple of layers of epoxy resin.
Black Buzzer
This dressing has been listed elsewhere on the forum, but if I were to suggest a pattern for the novice tier who is interested in fishing imitative flies, then this would be right at the top of the list.
Hook:
12-16
Silk:
Black
Breathing filaments:
White cock hackle fibres
Body:
Dyed black goose shoulder feather fibres
Rib:
Red UTC ultra wire or fine copper wire or silver tinsel
Thorax:
Peacock herl
-Fix the hook in the vice so that the eye is pointing down. This stops the silk slipping at the bend & makes tying-in the hackle fibres/rib/body a lot easier.
-Take the silk from the eye to about half-way around the bend in touching turns.
-Pinch off about 20 or so white cock hackle fibres & tie these in, followed by about 4 inches of the UTC wire.
-Also tie in a strip of about 10 or so dyed black goose feather fibres.
-Next, re-position the hook in the vice and take the silk 3/4 the way back towards the eye, trapping down the rib/body/tail filament fibres neatly en route.
-Now wind an even, slim body with the goose fibres, remembering not to twist them together.
Tie these down & trim at the start of the thoracic area.
-Rib the body neatly, going in the opposite direction to that which you wound the body fibres with nice even turns.
-Tie the ribbing wire off well and then tie in 3 peacock herls, followed by another 20-odd white cock hackle fibres, this time with the tips pointing out over the eye of the hook.
Tie down well, trim-up & take the silk just in front of the hackle fibres to the eye.
-Form a rope with the herls by gently twisting together, and then wind a neat thorax with the final turn finishing in front of the head breathing filaments.
Tie in & carefully trim the herls.
-Create a neat head, whip finish & varnish.
Once dry, trim the breathing filaments at head & tail to about 3mm in length.
5 essential imitative stillwater patterns for beginners
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