BEAST Fleye Zoom Presentation

I wanted to share that I will be making a BEAST Fleye Zoom presentation this coming Friday night, February 27, 2026 at 5 pm Pacific time. The presentation is for Gretchen and Al Beatty’s BT’s Fly Tying Friday class they’ve been leading for the past several years during the winter and spring months. If you are interested, I’d love to see you attend the Zoom presentation. See details below.

We’ve spent some time in the van this week, but it didn’t slow me down too much as I continued to prepare for the class.

Here is a different view of the fly in progress, tied on a 1/0 hook.

Here is the information Al sent out on Sunday about the class:

John Kreft will be sharing his experience tying the BEAST Fleye, a Bob Popovics fly pattern he recently tied for a customer’s marlin fishing trip. He’ll demonstrate how the mono extended body is tied “in hand” and attached to the hook. 

Topic: BT’s Fly Tying Friday – 27 February 2026 – 6 PM MT, John Kreft Tying The Beast

Time: Feb 27, 2026 05:30 PM Mountain Time (early to test equipment)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88111375309?pwd=QqwTJPo7erQBDekAUsDCNF2DHiaCGj.1

Meeting ID: 881 1137 5309

Passcode: 528235

Join instructions

https://us06web.zoom.us/meetings/88111375309/invitations?signature=RWYc8PuX6s7dPCkwzwyJr1Kci7QGQhJ87zkwHhNY3ZY

I’ll include a brief PowerPoint presentation about my journey tying the fly.

Briefly, this was a fly I had never heard of. A customer asked if I could tie some 8/0 flies for an upcoming marlin fly fishing trip. He provided a few materials and a link to a YouTube video of Andre Van Wyk, a south African fly tyer showing how to tie the fly.

I was intrigued to say the least.

I researched the fly, finding the inventor was Bob Popovics an excellent tyer. In addition, I spent some time watching Andre tie the fly and also found other videos of Gunner Brammer tying the fly as well.

A couple of Bull trout flies were the first to come from the vise tied on 1/0 hooks. I decided I could tie the flies and ended up with 10 of them for my customer in a variety of colors.

And yes, they work! They hooked 6 fish and landed 3.

I used this fly for Bull trout as well, tied in olive and white.

And the fly worked! I was shocked a 14 inch fish would eat this six inch fly!

Lastly, if you are planning to attend the NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo, there is still room in the class I’m teaching my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple fly pattern on Friday, March 13, 2026 from 1 – 3 pm. You can register HERE.

Enjoy…go fish!