• Royal Stimulator TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Royal Stimulator TBT. The Royal Stimulator is a fly I tied recently for a customer and thought is would be a good candidate for a TBT post. I checked Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Dry Flies (1991) to see if the fly was listed. The fly pattern at the…

  • Clark’s Stonefly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lee Clark’s Stonefly. Lee Clark developed this wing-style body dressing, which “refers to flies in which the yarn is combed and tied atop the hook shank in a downwing fashion but actually serves as the body.” Fly tying with Poly Yarn – (2000) Lee was a high school…

  • Very Small Flies

    I finished a few small flies for two different customers recently. I’m always amazed how the stars seem to align. Turns out, both orders included some very small flies. I remember several years ago stating “if I need any flies size 20 or smaller, I’ll buy them!” Well, I’m having to eat those words right…

  • Stalcup’s CDC Parachute Dun

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Stalcup’s CDC Parachute Dun. Stalcup’s CDC Parachute Dun is another example of Shane’s creative mind. I don’t know if he was the first to utilize CDC as parachute hackle, but it’s very creative technique of tying a parachute fly. Many of his fly patterns are tied with biots…

  • Stalcup’s Stillborn Emerger TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Stalcup’s Stillborn Emerger TBT. Here is another example of Shane Stalcup’s creative mind. He tied this fly backwards, starting at the eye and working towards the bend of the hook. The fly is designed to ride flat on the surface. In all honesty, it felt very odd tying…

  • In-The-Film CDC Midge Emerger

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the In-The-Film CDC Midge Emerger. I found this fly recently while reviewing Ed Engle’s Tying Small Flies book. I tied up four size 22 In-The-Film CDC Midge Emergers and placed them on a dime to show how small they are. I met Ed through a friend while fishing…

  • McMurray Ant

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the McMurray Ant. Ed Sutryn invented the McMurray Ant in the early 1960’s while fishing on a stream in McMurray, Pennsylvania. He watched trout crazily feeding on ants. Sometime later, he found out they were timber ants and set about designing a fly using monofilament, cork, and black…