I would stay away from certain flies for beginners, starting with either the Adams or Parachute Adams. I just think that two hackles are much too difficult to deal with when you are struggling with one. They used to always start beginners with the Adams and I never understood it.
These days a lot of classes start with the Wooly Bugger and guess that’s OK. I might start even more simply than that, maybe just a fly with palmered hackle like the old bivisibles or the British Soldier Palmer. Someone said Griffith’s Gnat, even better. Then the Bugger, once you could wind hackle.
Everyone forgets that a real beginner has trouble winding thread around the hook reliably. I just don’t think you can throw too much at someone right away. Some of the flies mentioned incorporate too many skills in one fly. I like Al Campbell’s approach in his beginner series. He starts with a nymph that is basically pheasant tail wound around a hook (not the real Pheasant Tail Nymph that’s more complicated) . I myself was thinking of an old English dry fly I used to fish that had a tail made of some pheasant tail fibers, the butts wound around the hook, and a brown hackle collar at the front. It was called the Pheasant Tail curiously enough, and is, I think, a good beginner fly. I caught a fish on it too.
Sit down with someone who has never tied a fly in their life, and you’ll see what I’m getting at. Once they get some basics though, the sky’s the limit.
Good points. I started with pheasant tails, then gold ribbed hare’s ears. I tied a bunch of each and quite a few other nymphs before ever trying a dry.
For dries, I think the elk hair caddis, is a good starter dry. Easy to tie, a good floater, and an effective fly. Like you, I think that the parachute adams and the adams are both not very good choices for a beginner.
I would stay away from certain flies for beginners, starting with either the Adams or Parachute Adams. I just think that two hackles are much too difficult to deal with when you are struggling with one. They used to always start beginners with the Adams and I never understood it.
Good point, though I must confess that I only tie in the grizzly on my para-adams. It’s a good deal of an increase in the time per fly, and the pain in the rear factor to use 2, and the fish couldn’t care less…at least…the ones I fish for.
I am going to dissagree with almost everyone here and go back to my origional answer. Learn to tie the flies you fish the most. The problem I see with leartning “simpler” patterns is that many people never progress to other patterns. I have talked to tyers who have been tying a lot for over a year who still think that an adams is too complicated for them. It may require learning more techniques quickly but it is still just a matter of applying some standard methods with maybe a unique twist here and there to tie just about any trout fly. Raiderhunter , what are the five flies you fish the most? If you list them we may be able to suggest an order to learn them in to let you master the fewest new techiques at a time When you have mastered them you should be confident you can tie any fly, not just very simple ones.
Two dries, a streamer, and two nymphs. Well rounded and fishable for trout anywhere you go. There are many variations on these patterns as well so these 5 will turn into 50 easy enough.
one of Al Campbell’s flys is the SWAPF BEETLE it can be fished dry or wet and is a fine fish catcher, it is my go to fly for almost any fresh water fishery , the pattern can be found in AL Campbell’s fly patterns here…
slicfoot
not to toss water on a good thread but, IMO the question should be: what top 5 tying techniques should a beginner learn. Learning to tye by pattern is OK to a point, but not a good way to learn how to tye. If you have the basic’s down you can pretty much tye any pattern…
As a newbie, I tend to agree with this line of thinking. I want to know techniques, more than specific flies.
I, for the most part, have been following Al Campbell’s tutorial. I really like the way he progressively presents the techniques. There are some things, though, that could use some better descriptions.
I have also been attending local seminars that are showing different pan fish patterns. I have learned more general information from reading Al’s tutorial, however, there have been several concepts that have been presented in a much clearer manner by talking to an experienced tier (or two).
To further dissect the idea of learning different techniques…
Something else that seems to be useful is comparing the same fly pattern from different sources. In the case of my latest pattern to tie, the pheasant tail, I have have found several modifications to the same pattern. There are obvious modification like the flashback pattern and bead head patterns, but there are also what seem to be tier specific differences in the structure of the pettern.
For example, Al Campbells’s PT nymph pattern uses different fibers for the tail and body. The Orvis pattern (from The Orvis Fly Tying Guide by Tom Rosenbauer) that I am also using uses the same fibers for the tail and body.
Looking at this as a student, I can’t help but wonder if there is some strategic reason for this difference. If you look at both flies, there is little or no visible difference (at least to the eyes of this man).
Thes 5 flies will catch anything that swims in freshwater, anywhere, and teach you the basic techniques for different types of flies so you can apply them to more complicated patterns later on.
