I’ve been tying flies several days a week because the fishing has really dropped off for us and I have a fly order to complete. That means it’s fly tying season for me. I started with a few Frenchies for our upcoming trip to Argentina.
You might be surprised we fish these in Patagonia, but it’s the go-to fly on our dry-dropper rig. The dry fly is usually a PMX Royal. I’m amazed how effective the Frenchie is!
PMX Royal
The fish tore these flies apart and we began calling them “Frenchie Emergers”. The pheasant tail fibers have been torn from around the body and extend behind the fly like a tail.
So I tied up 2 1/2 dozen using three different brands of size 14 hooks – Ahrex, MFC, and Daiichi.
The image below illustrates the difference between these hooks. It’s a pet peeve for me and many other fly tiers about the lack of consistency. I’ll take them all with us to Argentina and see how they work.
I have another Zoom fly tying session this Friday night, November 13 at 5 PM Pacific on BT’s Fly Tying Friday. I’ll be discussing John Atherton and his ‘appearance of life’ flies. He’s a fly tier I’ve featured in several Throw Back Thursday posts. Specifically, I’ll be tying Catskill fly patterns – the Atherton No. 2 and Atherton No. 4.
Atherton No. 2
Atherton No. 4
Here is a link for the class:
Gretchen & Al Beatty are inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: BT’s Fly Tying Friday –13Nov26 – 6 PM MT, John Kreft Tying Catskill Flies
Time: Nov 13, 2026, 05:30 PM Mountain Time (Early to test equipment)
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82470027309?pwd=keD4b4C7UScGqvHmJ4MKFrKuGawaUS.1
Meeting ID: 824 7002 7309
Passcode: 961358
I’m tying flies for a customer headed to Patagonia. He found my posts about the flies I tied for our Argentina trip last year and placed an order for similar flies. In addition, the lodge recommends several nymph fly patterns and I started tying them first.
It’s been a minute since I’ve tied nymphs!
I finished tying Hare’s Ear Nymphs, Prince Nymphs , and Copper John’s with a red body, all in sizes 12 – 16.
And since I was tying nymphs, I decided to publish a YouTube video on my RiverKeeper Flies channel about tying Copper John nymphs.
Better get back to the vise…
Enjoy…go fish!
