fly tying

Charley Cravens Fly Tying Goldmine

A little while ago I did a review of John Barr’s book “Barr Flies”, and a damn good book it is too.

A big part of the success of the book is down to the great fly-tying tutorials with excellent photos provided by Charley Craven. So I was rapt to find Charley’s web site.

This site is based around Charley’s great looking shop, but the real bit of excitement for me was the treasure trove of fly patterns, with the same great photos used in John Barr’s book. The flies are shown in full detail through the tying stages. Of course you can also get supplies to build the flies from the shop.

If you tie flies it has to be a go-to site.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying

Barr Flies

John Barr, creator of the Copper John nymph and many other flies has put pen to paper, or probably more correctly, keyboard to hard disk, and produced a book. ‘Barr Flies’ is quite simply a wonderful book that should grace the bookshelves of all fly-tyers. barrflies

John outlines clearly and succinctly the process and thinking that lead to the creation of several of his very successful fly patterns, and gives a very clear outline of how he fishes them. This is presented without the flowery, pseudo mysticism that pervades too many American fly-fishing books.

On top of the good clear writing, are truly excellent tutorials on tying John Barr’s flies, written and photographed by Charlie Craven, no slouch as a fly-tyer and fly fisherman himself. In my view these tutorials and photographs have set a new bench-mark in fly-tying instruction. Clear, concise and informative.

The only niggle I have is that the few drawings in the book, presumably drawn by John Barr because they are not attributed, are awful – stick to designing flies John! Fortunately this does not detract too much from the overall impact of this fine book.

If you are into fly-tying get this book.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying

Fugly Foam Floating Flies.

Sexy Loops have just put up an article of mine on foam flies. I am a convert. Using these flies is much more fun than being grown up.

Just a Quick Content Warning: Anyone of a purist dry-fly persuasion or of a delicate disposition should proceed under caution.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing flies, fly tying

Booby Fly Variants


I promised some time ago to put up a photo of Booby fly variants on the Booby fly article, and finally I found my round-to-it, and it is up there, and as a special bonus it is here as well.

Top is a Rabbit Booby, next a Mink Booby.
The third from the top is a Sparkle Booby, good daytime fly and on moonlit nights.
The Viva Variant Booby is good at night and during the day – yes I know the rule, dark flies for the dark bright flies for the light – rules are for the obedience of fools, merely guides for the wise.
The Little Black Number is good at night and in the day – read the rule above.
The bottom fly, a Blob Booby works well at night and daytime too.

There are tying and fishing instructions for all variants in the original article.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing flies, fly tying

Bead Flies and Adding Weight

I have had quite a few questions about adding extra weight to bead flies.

The short answer is that it is really not possible to add lead, or similar, to bead nymphs. But of course a gold or tungsten bead or two can be used when assembling the fly.

But when considering how much weight to use for a bead nymph, think on this:

  • Glass bead nymphs are relatively heavy, and in my experience heavier than similar lead weighted nymphs.
  • Because there is little or no fur or feather, little or no floatation from trapped air is possible.
  • The nymphs tend to be slimmer than ‘fur’ nymphs, and sink faster.

I think this ability to sink faster is one of the keys to the success of bead flies. They are ‘fishing’ longer than standard fur and feather nymphs.

Another question that hits my email is whether bead flies will take brown trout. This I think is based on the thought and fact that rainbows tend to take more colourful flies than browns. The bead flies I make for browns use dark coloured beads, often all black.

The bead fly article that raises all these questions is here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying

The Mystery of the Ratty Fly

“It’s an ages-old question: Do trout sometimes prefer a beat-up pattern?”
The excellent MidCurrent blog features an excellent (of course) article by Paul Schullery on the old question of whether ratty, beat-up flies catch more fish than neat’n’tidy offerings.

I’m a believer. I have written a couple of articles on this theme, Rufazgutz, and Imitation or Approximation.

If you buy store-bought flies, have a read of these articles and then take to your flies with something rough like a piece of hacksaw blade or a piece of Velcro. Picking out some fur with a pin or needle will help too. And as the article says if your fly gets a bit ratty, but is still catching fish, for goodness sake keep using it.

Commercially tied flies are tied to meet the demands of the first rule of fishing tackle retailing; ‘First Catch Your Fisherman’. I should know – I owned a tackle shop for ten years.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing flies, fly tying

Does Fly or Lure Colour Matter

This article on the Midcurrent site is an excellent insight into the way fish see colours, and how this information can be used to refine flies and lures, and select lures and flies for varying fishing conditions.

While the article was primarily aimed at saltwater flies, it offers much to learn for all kinds of fishing.

There is one telling comment in the article – “Selecting a fly based on contrast, rather than on specific colors, is often the key to enticing a fish to strike.” (Someday they might learn how to spell colour ?

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing tips, fly tying, salt water how-to and tips

Bead Fly Update

A short article I wrote on my site in 1998 had been near the top of site visit numbers ever since. But the information contained in the article needed updating, and some additional explanation.

So finally I have found my round-to-it and updated the article and included some photos of this dead-easy fly to tie, well actually not really tie, more like assemble.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying