I find the foam flies are pretty easy and especially if you get the cutters to cut the shape. Here is one I tied and just put a little Krystal chenille on before folding it over and finishing it. The best part is you get to try a few different things, cutting and tying foam, using Krystal chenille and a little dubbing too.
Skip
6wt8wt;
Just IMHO, I have had the gift of beginer tying lessons, and I agree with earlier post. Go through the Al Campbell series here on FAOL. You will learn so much about tying, and you will hone your skills. Proportions !!!
Wolly Bugger
My first fly was a wooly bugger. My second was an Al Campbell shwapf. All of Al’s flies are easy to tie and all effective.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Hi 6wt8wt,
If you are looking to tie a fly that is fairly easy to tie as a way to learn more about fly tying and to get some good flies, then I would recommend the pheasant tail.
San Juan Worms, woolly worms, and woolly buggers will not be a lot of challenge after you have tied a few. After you master them go on to a pheasant tail or gold ribbed hare’s ear.
These patterns will teach you thread control and also help you learn several basic skills which are needed in all fly tying. If you learn to do a good job on either, and preferably both, of these flies you will be well on your way to becoming a good fly tier.
If you go to these flies next, start out with a #10 or #12, then after mastering the fly at the big size, go to the next smaller size. It is easier to learn on the bigger sizes. One of the skills is actually learning to tie smaller sizes, so working down in sizes one size at a time is very good practice at fly tying. Also, you end up with a set of very useful flies.
The first pattern I started on in a serious way was the pheasant tail. I am currently tying pheasant tails for a trip, so you probably will not get away from tying them.
Regards,
Gandolf
Ant Fly; http://www.kenyanflies.com/Product_img/ANT2.JPG
Doug
My vote is for a leech pattern.
Put a black or clear glass bead on a hook.
Then tie either a marabou leech or a mohair leech behind it.
I have caught trout, bass, bluegills and pickerel on theese leeches.
I feel that a wooly bugger is not easy for a beginner.
Another favorite is to wind a lenght of hackle along the shank of a hook. This is suggestive of a midge cluster. It is fun to tie and it catches fish.
Ed
Good evening,
I would second the PT, pheasant tail and for all the same reasons of learing to construct a fly.
Kind regards,
UB
PS, I still build and use the PT after about 48years of this silly trying to trick a fish with a feather business.
Yeah, I have a suggestion. Study the topics under the home page of this site and you’ll have about all you ned to begin tying.
Seriously, it’s where I began. Here and buying a couple of Skip Morris’ books on beginning tying the nymphs, the dry fly etc. Google his name, wonderful books.
You need to search this forum for many, many posted flies…and more importantly, the techniques. Compare them to Morris’ methods and find out for yourself which you prefer. Once you have the methods down many patterns become available to you.
Dig in. You won’t be able to stop.
Thanks! I will get some of those books. The leech pattern looks easy. I’ll have to try that today.
I am not a fan of Dave Cammis as given above (although you experience may vary). I find video is a great medium to learn from and imo the best I have seen, if you can understand the scots accent, is Davie Mcphail, there is some very good vids on youtube which give some different tying techniques that I found to be insperational.
The Cress Bug (Shenk’s);http://www.coldspringanglers.com/online_catalog/flies/66-nymphs-images/g-66-1516_shenks_cress_bug.gif (Image)
Flash Back Cress Bug; http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.danica.com/flytier/rross/flash_back_cress_bug_top.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.danica.com/flytier/rross/flash_back_cress_bug.htm&h=398&w=600&sz=77&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=CXKW5g2RdVTmUM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCress%2BBug%2BFly%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG (Image)
Woolybugger;http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/henhackle/palmer.jpg (Image)
Doug
The Charlotte Spider. It’s just 2 pom-poms and a pair of legs.
Next on the list is the Gorilla Fly.
Last: Pretty much, any foam bug.
Good ole woolybugger
for learning to tie, wooly bugger is a great one because you will be able to catch fish on it right away to add some confidence in your tying. hares ear and pheasant tail are good suggestions to get a feel for tying nymphs. I started out tying really big flies ( size 2) and working my way down to the smaller stuff.
The glo bug, sucker spawn or san juan worms.
6wt8wt
You’ve gotten a lot of great suggestions for easy to tie flies.
What are you going to be fishing for? All of those suggested would be good for trout and panfish, but if you’re fishing for other stuff there might be a different list…except for the bugger.
As others have said Al Campbell’s series is great here on FAOL. It’s very well thought out and there is also a lot of useful info on hooks, materials and tools. His series starts out with easy stuff, and builds on those with techniques you’ve learned to tie more complex ones.
In addition to following Al’s “fly tying course” try to find a local fly shop, and see if they offer fly tying classes. If not, they will know who does (local Trout Unlimited or Federation of Fly Fishers chapters, local fly clubs etc.) The guys and gals at the shop will also be a resource for questions and quick demos as well as help you pick out the materials you need for patterns. Buying what you need for each pattern you tie as you go is probably better than buying everything all at once. Try to avoid the temptation of tying one of everything, and tie 6 or so of a pattern before moving on to the next. Vary hook sizes and colors if you want, but it’s a good way to get the pattern down, and the last ones will look better than the first. But they’ll all catch fish.
If that’s not practical because there are no shops where you live, or if classes won’t start until winter because everybody is fishing, there are some great online resources like Hook and Hackle (one of the sponsors of FAOL) that have great prices and are knowledgeable about materials, so if you tell them what you’re tying, they’ll make sure you get the right stuff. And assuming you’ll be chasing trout, there are some great books to get you started like:
Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple by Skip Morris about $13 (this book is sort of the ‘bible’ for tyer’s starting ouy, Spiral bound so it lay on the desk) and
The Benchside Introduction to Fly Tying by Ted Leeson and Jim Scollmeyer about $25 (It’s a relatively new book with an innovative layout that let’s you look at the pattern on the top half and flip through the bottom half for techniques to tie wings tails, dub bodies etc, Don’t confuse it with the Tyer’s Benchside Reference by the same guys. It’s a great book too for down the road, but not for beginners and it’s more $)
You might be able to get them through the library, or poke around online for the best prices. Like Al’s series, they build on patterns to introduce different techniques and styles of flies that can easily be varied in color, size and materials to “match the hatch” or to experiment with your own creations. And of course the examples they use are great patterns by themselves.
For example if you can work your way through a basic wooly bugger, you should be able to add weight and bead heads to fish different depths. And you’ll also have the chops to tie other stuff with a few additional material like this one for trout and bass (and smaller sizes for perch, crappie etc.):
Black Marabou Streamer:
Hook: same ones you used for buggers
Thread: Black 6/0
Body: Black chenille same as bugger or gold or silver metallic cactus chenille
Wing: Black marabou same as bugger
Flash: a few strands of pearlescent Krystal flash (optional)
Topping: a few strands of peacock herl over the marabou is optional but looks good.
Variations:
White Marabou Streamer
white thread/white chenille or pearl or silver cactus chenille body/white marabou/pearl flash/herl topping
Yellow Marabou Streamer
white or yellow thread/white chenille, or gold metallic cactus chenille body/yellow marabou/pearl flash/herl topping.
If you can tie a bugger, you can also tie all the other stuff listed in the thread.
good luck,
peregrines
Greg
That would be the Brassie Worm. Copper wire wrapped around a hook. Size #12 to as big as you like. You can experiment with colors and plastic coated wires. If you want to get fancy add a bead, metal, glass or plastic. If you want a midge nymph pattern just tie a #16 or smaller hook and add peacock herl behind the eye of the hook. Next to that you are probably looking at throwing bare hooks. You can get hooks in silver, gold red and green.
Greg
Wooley buggers aren’t THAT easy folks. They aren’t hard but…
-Hook
-thread
-lead weight(in the right place and amount)
-marabou(in the right amount and length)
-chenile
-hackle…and getting it correct!
-advancing the thread between items
It’s easy once you know how but it isn’t an easy first fly.
I would say it is a great LEARNING fly because it teaches you many techniques in one fly but it is not an easy first fly to tie.
Worms are MUCH easier!!