My first flys

[skeet3t 0]

Outdoor Life magazine ran an article many years ago about the best 12 flies for the USA. I've tried to find it but to no avail. I do remember these: pheasant tail, Muddler minnow, Adams, black woolly bugger. That's all I can remember.

[SilverCreek 0]

23 minutes ago, skeet3t said:

Outdoor Life magazine ran an article many years ago about the best 12 flies for the USA. I've tried to find it but to no avail. I do remember these: pheasant tail, Muddler minnow, Adams, black woolly bugger. That's all I can remember.

I would add Elk Hair Caddis, fur ant, grasshopper, gold ribbed hare's ear nymph, Prince Nymph, Griffiths gnat, zebra midge, and Klinkhammer emerger to round out the "deadly dozen" flies for the USA

[skeet3t 0]

SilverCreek, good list. That was loooong ago and i couldn't remember what was included in the list. You might have hit the jackpot. Buy a lottery ticket.

[SilverCreek 0]

I think my list needs a spinner so a Baker's dozen would add a rusty spinner. Actually a parachute Adams can function as a spinner by cutting off the post and coloring the fly with a marker pen. I carry a set of pantone/art markers with me. It has saved my day on occasion.

 

Here's one of my hoppers before and after being marked to "match the hatch." 

 

 

[fshng2 0]

A search for Outdoor Life did not find what you mentioned Skeet3t.

However, their 12 best terrestrial flies did come up and I thought I’d share.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gone-fishin/2014/06/fly-fishing-12-best-extra-terrestrials-flies-trout/

[Philly 0]

In another time and another board/list when I first started fly fishing and fly tying, I learned a lot about fly fishing and fly tying from Silver Creek.  That said, one trick I learned about marabou when using it for a tail, not sure where I picked it, is to pinch and remove the center portion of the feather with the shorter barbules.  This an example of what a marabou tail on a woolly bugger should look like.  

This one's a bit bushier, on a bass size bugger.

If your target is bluegills, then you need to think about some top water flies.  They're a lot more fun to fish.  You can tie various ones from craft foam, marabou, hackle, chenille (regular or sparkle).  This is the first pan fish popper I learned to tie.  The guy who showed it to me called it a "fun foam popper"  All you need is a hook, marabou, some hackle and a circle of craft foam for the head.  This one is tied on a size 6 hook.  Going against the grain, most of my pan fish flies are tied on size 6 hooks, a few on size 8.

Keep on tying.

 

[David 82nd 0]

Off to a good start,dont give up just keep going , the more you do it the more your imagination will open ,Big thing is enjoy it and relax its fun ,there are some awesome guys here that can show you just the smallest thing and how you look at a fly   The addiction is Real ,its fun and great to relax .....keep going 

[Charlie1947 0]

On 11/2/2021 at 2:24 PM, chugbug27 said:

Orvis has a really good series of short beginner videos on everything you'll need...

https://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/video-lessons/the-basics-of-fly-fishing/chapter-one-the-basics-of-fly-fishing

https://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/fly-tying-videos

 

These are great! When I started I learned a lot about fly fishing and tying at a website called Fly Anglers On Lone. One thing about this sport you will always be learning!

[Charlie1947 0]

On 11/2/2021 at 2:24 PM, chugbug27 said:

Orvis has a really good series of short beginner videos on everything you'll need...

https://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/video-lessons/the-basics-of-fly-fishing/chapter-one-the-basics-of-fly-fishing

https://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/fly-tying-videos

 

These are great! When I started I learned a lot about fly fishing and tying at a website called Fly Anglers On Lone. One thing about this sport you will always be learning!