This is what is online from Orvis…no see Matuka’s where they are supposed to be:
http://www.orvis.com/zonker-matuka-flies
PT/TB
But…where are the original Matukas that they sell???
http://www.bigyflyco.com/matuka-detail.htm
Never dealt with them but they do offer matukas In different sizes and colors for a low price. Don’t know what they charge for shipping though. Jim
Byron, Some of the sponsors here on FAOL are on line fly shops or full fledged fly fishing stores that also sell flies. I checked a few of their catalogs and they do have custom tied matukas. Jim
Thanks Jim…find it odd that we can’t find them in the Orvis fly catalog.
I don’t find it odd at all. Orvis is a business, and sells only what people have been programmed to want – not necessarily what catches fish.
In 1999 or thereabouts, I was shocked to notice that there was not a single wet fly in the Orvis catalog. At that point, I hadn’t fished a wet (not counting nymphs, of course) in twenty-five years or more, but was saddened that we were in danger of losing a major part of angling heritage. I wondered if it were true that the flies that had been catching fish for the last couple of millennia were that much more ineffective than modern flies, and decided to find out: for the next year I would fish nothing but wets. To my complete surprise, that year I caught over twice as many trout as I ever had the year before (400+ vs about 200). Hmm, maybe Orvis is wrong. The next year, I expanded my trial to fish only flies that were in existence before I was born (1952). Same results. The lack of wet flies in Orvis had completely changed my approach to fishing.
This thread has probably induced me to tie some Matuakas this winter.
Redietz,
Sort of my original point about not finding Matukas in any of the shops around Yellowstone.
And yet, about 20-30 years ago, that pattern was very popular in that “microcosm”. Yet, it also would appear that The Matuka doesn’t show up in Orvis’ fly pattern catalog…they’re more of a “macrocosim”…
In the fly fishing appendix to the Compleat Angler, Sir Charles Cotton warned against buying flies as opposed to tying them; the London merchants sold flies that were overdressed to attract fisherman, not fish.
Not much has changed in 350 years in that respect.
Many moons ago (around 1976), I was fishing on the East Walker River, when this older gentleman came up behind me and asked if he could work the water just below me. He was probably in his late 70’s at this point in his life and using a bamboo rod with a brace of wet flies. I backed out of the water so I could watch him do his thing. To say I was blown away would be an understatement. He was just masterful and his last fish was a Brookie over 5lbs. Didn’t even know that there were Brookies in that river, having never caught one there. Then he told me about the hatchery truck that had broken down some years before and that the crew had dumped their load into the river about two miles downstream …He’s the guy who invented this little item:
https://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=HJ863
Later, I spent a lot of time going to school on him at his little shop in Montrose, CA, before he passed. He is the person that got me started using wet flies and today, I am convinced that their effectiveness is in their inherent ability to mimic emergers and cripples. I commend anyone who puts the time and effort into learning this dying art…
PT/TB
Cabelas carries them.
Also, remember that Orvis stocks only what is wanted locally to a large extent. Here in south Jersey, the tying and flies on hand are different than central PA. Hardly any hackle on hand here, but full of bass and saltwater gear.
Hummm…it was Orvis’ online national catalog of flies that I believe I checked to no avail…
Thanks
I use them for Steelhead.
wcglass
Well, Cabelas has them if you want olive or black. 
Perhaps not so ubiquitous as some thought?
Whatfly indicated the Matuka is still popular in N. California. The only places I have fished in Northern California are Hat Creek and the Upper Sacramento (Above Shasta).
While fishing the area, I went to the largest fly shop around that area…The Fly Shop in Redding. Quite a nice shop.
Just searched their site for Matuka flies and the only one that came up was that Whitlock Sculpin pattern which is not the simple straight Matuka fly pattern…