Which 3 flies to teach a beginner?

[purolohi kalastaja 0]

What three flies would you chose to teach to a beginner? I'm looking for a streamer, a dry, and a nymph.

 

 

-PK

[rockworm 0]

The first fly I would teach would be a caddis larvae: Just a dubbed body with a wire rib and a peacock thorax. (Then in future lessons I would introduce different styles of tails, legs, wing cases, etc.)

 

The second fly style I would teach would be a wet spider to introduce the student to the hackle collar.

 

I guess the first dry fly I would teach would be a variant: split tails, dubbed body, cock hackle collar. (Then in future lessons introduce different winging styles: upright quill wings, rolled-wings, hairwings...)

 

For streamers, I'd probably start with a simple bucktail. (Then later move on to flies with marabou wings, then hackle wings, etc...)

 

 

[letumgo 0]

How about a Moldy Plum Soft Hackle (skip nymph style)?

 

 

[Old Hat 0]

#8 Woolly Bugger

#12 Standard Hackle (No Wing) Adams

#14 BH Hare's Ear Nymph

 

These cover a large array of methods and will catch fish for the beginner anywhere. I'm sure you'll get all kinds of answers. The only basic technique not covered here is tying in hair. Which would be covered by a bucktail streamer like a Mickey Finn.

 

When teaching kids to tie I start off with the 3 I listed then usually follow with an Elk hair caddis, bucktail streamer then a simple soft hackle and make them concentrate on thread control.

 

Ray...I like it.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I agree with old hat except I usually teach the adams with wings

[CoachBob 0]

Wooly bugger/worm, soft hackle, foam beetle.

[iso18 0]

like oldhat said.

Woolybugger first.Tie up a few till u get your fingers accustomed to tying.

then,only then ,move to a hare's ear.Again tie a few up.

And then any standard upright classic wing divided dry fly.

It's important to do them in this order,you will become more efficient with each fly.

I recommend getting ,"the Orvis guide to beginners fly tying"book.

shane

also the beginner should, if possible, surround himself with other tiers,if not,get videos

[tequilatrout 0]

Mickey Finn

Foam Ant or Hard Body Ant

Bead Head Brassie

 

[DHise 0]

woolly bugger

Mickey Finn

bead head pheasant tail

[flyline64 0]

This raises a question I've had for a long time.

 

Why do beginners tying classes always teach "standard" hackling with rooster hackle (what we sometimes call catskill sytle) when fewer anglers actually use these flies anymore?

 

I realize you are teaching techniques, not filling a fly box, but why teach a method that has largely fallen into disuse. (In the beginners class I took, we spent a fair amount of time on this, but I can't remember the last time a fished a "catskill" style dry or saw a friend use one.)

 

In my opinion, wet fly hackling and parachute hackling are more important to teach these days.

[iso18 0]

64.This spring during an iso hatch,i used a cdc emerger and enede up catching something like 15 fish,My 11 year old son was using a standard hackle divided wing hendrickson i tied,he did almost as well as me.Go figure.sometimes the trout r picky and you have to use no hackles,parachutes,emergers, #24's,and sometime its completely opposite.I guess thats what keeps us tying and guessing and dreaming.I know I have never attended a class,Taught myself by reading books.And progressed from there.You do bring up a good point though.

I think its easier to learn,at least for me,by getting accustommed to the whole aspect of tying working your way from easy to medium easy and then to infinity.Heck i've been tying for 12 years now and learn something new all the time.I guess the most important thing is the desire to learn and tie

my .02 cents

shane

p.s. to this day,I have never, in person saw another person tie a fly.Once i got the internet and started watching videos on people tying,the written word became a more useful tool.

[kodiaksalmon 0]

I'd say a wooly bugger first, then a Clouser for streamers.

 

Then a humpy for a dry. The humpy is really almost more of a style of tying now. You can tie them huge for summer steelhead, with or without wings, hair wing, different colors, moose hair, deer hair, elk hair, dog hair, whatever. It's a dry that allows alot of wiggle room, and still have it "right."

 

Nymphs....I've never tied a nymph. Heck, I haven't tied a dry in probably five years....and those were humpies.

[Dezod 0]

I think that the patterns old hat described are the ones I would pick

 

Bugger, Adams, Hare's ear

 

based on the variety of techniques employed, however I would do the parachue style adams in place of the more traditional and I would also teach the hares ear using a dubbing loop. I think you are teaching a beginner techniques to catch fish, not patterns to catch fish.

 

C

[Fred H. 0]

For the region of the country you live in , I would tend to agree with old hat. It often adds to the experience if the tyer can take his flies to the water and catch a fish on them. If you were holding the class on one of the coasts or an area with no trout streams the answer would be different. When I teach a class the students leave with flies that will produce fish in that area. I no longer teach a fly pattern for the sake of learning a technique .

[CoachBob 0]

I am keying on the term "beginner" here -- ten thumbs.

Dubbing is hard for beginners, though many of us forget that. Yes, something that looks like a hairball your cat choked up may catch fish, but dubbing done right is actually an advanced skill.

Working with hair is hard for beginners, so, sorry, no humpys.

Making a dry fly hackle anything is not a beginner's skill.

The same goes for any fly under size 12.

Teaching kids to tie teaches the teacher what beginners find possible. Adult beginners are often worse because they assume stuff, and always assume wrong.

Clousers are very good for beginners and I should have mentioned them.