Flies for a Beginner
I am trying to get my grandson interested in fly tying. I have gotten him the basic equipment and now am wondering what flies I should teach him to tie?
I would like to teach him five flies that represent most of the basic skills one needs to continue on with tying?
What suggestions would you have? He has a basic amount of material but I can give him anything extra needed from my stuff.
thanks,
Northwoods
San juan worms and foam beetles.
Can't go wrong there!
Here are three for starters.
1. Glass bead caddis larvae.
Head - a green glass bead
Body - wrap a tapered body of green thread or floss.
2. The marabou leech.
Body - tie on clumps of marabou from the bend of the hook on up to just behind the eye.
3. Midge cluster.
Tie on a rooster hackle (I like the effect especially with grizzly hackle but any kind will do) at the bend and palmer up to the head. Beginners get a kick out of how the feather is transformed into hackle.
Ed
All of the above are effective on a wide variety of fish.
PS I agree with panfisha on the foam beetle
Last edited by Extremely Low Budget FF; 12-02-2008 at 09:24 PM. Reason: addition
" Fishermen, hunters, wood choppers, and others,
spending their lives in the fields and woods,
in a peculiar sense a part of Nature themselves,
are often in a more favorable mood for observing her,
in the intervals of their pursuits,
than philosophers or poets even,
who approach her with expectation."
Henry David Thoreau
Those shown above are good choices. I would also recommend woolly bugger and all its variations to a beginning fly tier.
Rick Z's boa yarn leeches are also easy to tie and excellent bluegill-catchers!
If its techniques you wish to teach, probably a parachute fly of some sort would be good, as would something like a hex nymph...and a muddler minnow.
Last edited by FishnDave; 12-02-2008 at 09:26 PM.
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
i would also reccomend elk hair caddis, woolly buggers, and an adams or parachute adams. these patterns are all a little bit harder to tie than san juan worms and foam beetles though.
Flies that teach palmering, woolly bugger, crackleback, etc.
But First, I would look at the flytying pages on FAOL, that is where I started.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/
I'm with Dave on this. A wooly bugger is a staple and if he can tie one it will help him understand many other flies. By the way how old is your son?
Sean
Last edited by Lake Erie High Ball; 12-02-2008 at 09:37 PM. Reason: ops
Thanks Old Man GO IRISH!
I would recommend the files I started out with, Al Campbell's Too Easy series. If you go to features, and then click on Al Campbell, you'll see several Too Easy flies listed in the 2004 articles. They are as stated...Too Easy... and they catch fish, so it is definitely a good starting point.
Also maybe a SHWAPF?
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
What does he fish for?????
If it was me I would start him on flies for something easy to catch locally, that way he can experience the thrill of catching on what he tied right away.
The Buggers can catch anything so that is one of the first flies I would start any tier on.
If he is like my kids he will start tying with a couple you show him then be off and running with out much help.
Eric
"Complexity is easy; Simplicity is difficult."
Georgy Shragin
Designer of ppsh41 sub machine gun
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