Fly Tying Recipes & Patterns

The Big Easy Scud by Todd Turner of Armstrong Creek Outfitters is a sparse, highly translucent scud imitation built around his split-thread touch dubbing technique. Designed to closely replicate the natural glow, segmentation, and subtle movement of real freshwater scuds, this pattern combines a Stretch Glass underbody with a lightly applied veil of Antron-based dubbing. The result is a lifelike profile that allows light to pass through the body while suggesting motion and natural texture. A subtle touch of orange in the dubbing mimics egg sacs often seen in live scuds, and the finished fly rides slim and realistic in the water. It is particularly effective on tailwaters and any system where scuds are a primary food source.Materials Hook: TMC 226BL barbless hook, size 16 Bead: 2mm tungsten bead, mottled olive Thread Base: Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread, Watery Olive Working Thread: Semperfli 18/0 Nano Silk, Brick Beige Shell Back: Stretch Glass by Sybai, 5mm strip tapered to a point Abdomen Underbody: Stretch Glass by Sybai, 2.5–3mm strip Dubbing: Short-fiber touch dubbing blend (olive/tan with small amount of orange Antron) Wax: Overton’s Wonder Wax (for traditional touch dubbing application) Tying NotesA thread base of watery olive is applied first to eliminate the dark hook shine beneath the translucent body. The abdomen is formed by wrapping a narrow strip of Stretch Glass rearward to create a thin, realistic underbody. Split-thread touch dubbing (learn how to do that here) is then applied sparingly, allowing fibers to stand perpendicular to the thread for a natural leg and movement effect. After wrapping the dubbed thread forward, fibers are gently preened downward before pulling the wider Stretch Glass shell forward and securing it behind the bead. The result is slim, segmented, and highly realistic.Learn more about the history of this pattern as well as the Touch Dubbing technique, here. How to Tie the The Big Easy Scud 

This month's featured fly: Luke Stacy's CDC Elk Hair Caddis combines classic design with soft, realistic movement. Get the full tying tutorial and materials list at J. Stockard.

Learn to tie and fish Tim Cammisa’s Double Play streamer — a proven pattern for big trout. Step-by-step guide, materials, tips, and fishing techniques.

Discover materials, tying tips, and fishing notes for this deadly trout fly that imitates Isonychia nymphs and emergers.

This high-floating Chernobyl Ant variant blends traditional terrestrial appeal with modern fly tying materials and design cues from Tim Flagler. Perfect for hopper and ant season, it offers great visibility and durability. Follow our detailed steps and materials list to tie this proven attractor fly.

Tied by Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions, this simple, smart, and deadly effective streamer proves that sometimes less is more. Made with just two core materials (dumbbell eyes and rabbit zonker strips) this pattern is a minimalist’s dream and a fish’s nightmare.Tim describes it as a mash-up of a zonker, a Clouser Minnow, and even a Texas-rigged rubber worm. The end result is a fly that has the irresistible motion of bunny fur, the jigging action of a weighted head, and the sleek profile of a baitfish.It’s a fast tie, durable, and adaptable in both fresh and saltwater. You can scale it up for pike or stripers, or size it down for trout and smallmouth. Whether you're targeting aggressive fish in stained water or need something with a little wiggle and thump, the Dumb Bunny gets it done.Materials Hook: Ahrex TP650, sizes 2-6. Thread: 6/0 or 140 Denier, fluorescent chartreuse. Belly: Rabbit zonker strip, fluorescent chartreuse. Eyes: 1/64-ounce dumbbell eyes. Back: Rabbit zonker strip, dark olive. How to Tie the Dumb Bunny Streamer 

Guest Blogger: J. Stockard Pro Tyer, Scott Fisher, aka the 'Trout Jouster' on Instagram, ties this month's fly. Named after the legendary angler Dan Cahill, who first tied this pattern in the early 1900s, the Light Cahill represents one of the most versatile and reliable mayfly imitations in any fly box. Its pale cream and light ginger coloration perfectly mimics several important mayfly species across North America, from the Eastern Light Cahill (Stenonema canadense) to various Ephemerella species that emerge during the prime fishing months of May through July. What makes the Light Cahill truly special isn't just its ability to match specific hatches—it's the pattern's remarkable capacity to serve as a searching fly when no obvious feeding activity is present. Its neutral, appetizing appearance suggests "food" to trout without being too specific, making it an excellent choice for prospecting likely holding water or when fish are feeding selectively on multiple mayfly species. The Light Cahill's construction—with its wood duck flank wing, cream-colored body, and light ginger hackle—creates a delicate silhouette that sits beautifully on the water while providing just enough visibility for the angler to track. It's a pattern that demands respect from both fish and fisherman, rewarding careful presentation with memorable takes from educated trout. RECIPE Hook: #14 Daiichi 1180Thread: 12/0 PrimroseTail: Light ginger spadeBody: Cream fox belly (or substitute for micro fine dubbing in Light Cahill from Hareline)Wing: Wood duckHackle: Light barred ginger Start your flattened thread onto the hook one hook eye length behind the hook eye, creating a smooth thread bed. End your thread with one additional hook eye length behind where your thread began. You should have the traditional Catskill bare shank, and your thread should be in place for where your wood duck wings will be installed. Select a wood duck feather that, when drawn together, the tips align with each other for best results. (Substitute Mallard flank or teal if wood duck is not available.) Remove soft fibers from the bottom of the feather. Cut the rachis out approximately halfway down from the top and remove the wood duck fibers, creating a V-shape with two clearly defined sides of fibers. Using your right hand, draw the fibers together in a bundle with tips facing the hook eye. Measure the wood duck to be a full hook length minus the eye. Bring that measurement forward and take two pinch wraps over the bundle, mounting the wood duck fibers onto the shank. Check to ensure you have them secured where your thread originally was resting, and if satisfied, proceed by taking 6-8 more flattened thread wraps down the shank to lock in your material. Clip excess wood duck at a 45° angle to the shank, creating a smooth taper of thread leading down the shank. End with your flattened thread behind the bundle of fibers. Grab the bundle of wood duck fibers with your left hand and lift them vertical. Proceed to move your thread in front of the bundle and create a thread dam by taking wraps very close to the underside of the fibers, walk the thread forward and then come back in once more with a few more wraps under the fibers, propping up the bundle to almost vertical. Feel free to pull the fibers back and continue to coax them into an almost vertical position.  *TROUBLESHOOTING* The underside of the shank should still be smooth with no lumps or bumps where the thread dam was created. If there is, redo and make sure your thread was completely flat during the thread dam process, and possibly take fewer wraps. This is critical for your hackle wraps to wrap around the shank smoothly, as it will react to everything underneath it. Fan the fibers out and start to find the divide between the fibers to create your near-side and far-side wings. If done well, the fibers should almost tell you where they want to go. Ensure you have equal amounts of fiber on both sides. With flattened thread, take two sets of figure eight wraps between your two sides of fibers, further dividing them into two distinct wings. Optional: To further your wings into two defined shapes, take two soft wraps encircling the base of the far-side wing, a wrap around the shank behind the wings to save your work, and finally, another two soft wraps around the base of the nearside wing. End with your thread behind the wings. Use your thumbnail and fingers to prop your wings up vertically or adjust the angle of the wings to your liking. With flattened thread, take touching wraps down the hook shank and stop right before the hook bend. Take 8-10 fibers of your tailing material, making sure the tips are aligned and measure a full hook length minus the eye, just as you did the wings. Take two soft wraps to get your tailing fibers mounted onto the shank. If satisfied, lock in your tail with thread wraps moving up the shank. Cut excess material at the taper you created earlier, making a smooth carrot shaped thread body, and end with your thread back down at the base of the tail. *TIP: If your tail is slanting downward at this point then you went too far into the hook bend. Undo, and back off a wrap or two and try again. Your tail should extend horizontal to the shank. Take a very small amount of dubbing from your source, and then remove a few wisps of fibers. *The quantity should be barely visible to you on your fingers. This is how little you use. Dub the material onto the thread in roughly a 3” length, enough to “color” the thread. Creating a tapered dubbing noodle is not necessary, as the taper you created with the thread underbody has already taken care of this. Wrap up the body and stop, leaving a hook eye amount of space behind the wings to allow for your first set of hackle wraps. *TIP This is critical to create a sparse, dainty body with a slight taper, as too often fly tyers overdo this, creating a sponge. The body is not responsible for floatation, and sparseness ensures your fly remains light, and not absorb more water than what already occurs. Select a rooster hackle feather from either a cape or saddle and measure on your hackle gauge so the tips match exactly a size 14. As the Daiichi hook is the closest to the original hook shape and length these patterns were built upon, the hackle measurement is true to size. Cut the rachis at the “sweet spot” where the webbing disappears and uniform barb length is seen. Then strip a quarter inch of barbs off both sides to expose bare stem. Strip approximately 6 additional fibers on the right side of your feather (if the face of the feather is facing you.) Install the rachis at a 45° angle on the near side of the shank, where your dubbing body ended. Keep thread flat, and take touching wraps forward securing your hackle, passing behind and in front of your wings and ending where your thread originally started. DO NOT move past this point, as to preserve the bare shank of the hook. Coax the hackle feather by lightly bending it forward until the feather almost stands vertical on its own. Take your first wrap of hackle over the shank, followed by one more. At this point the barbs should be wrapping vertical and neatly. If this does not show, and you see the barbs tilting back, reverse the wraps are do it again until they splay neatly. This is another critical step to ensure a neat, uniform hackle collar, as the first two wraps will tell you how future wraps will lay down. Like a domino effect, if the first two wraps don’t look good, they will continue to get worse. If satisfied, proceed by taking close wraps, making sure not to trap barbs from the previous wraps. General rule of thumb is 3 behind the wing, and 2-3 in front. Though this does vary depending on your hackles barb density, so use best judgement.Secure your hackle stem no further than where the thread base stops. Take securing wraps slightly back toward the hackle, as taking them forward will possibly jeopardize losing your bare shank space. Finish with 3 half hitches and secure with either traditional head cement or Solarez Bone Dry. I caution against using a whip finisher because it risks the possibility of ruining your last hackle wraps, and not getting a clean finish to the head of the fly. Happy fishing! Golden Demon Steelhead Fly - Fly of the Month Read more March Brown Parachute Fly - Fly of the Month Read more

This Klink-style pattern is designed with a specific hatch—and specific fishing challenges—in mind. In Central Pennsylvania, Isonychia mayflies, or “ISOs,” tend to be large in their adult form, often falling in the #12-8 size range. For anglers who struggle to see smaller dry flies at a distance (and let’s be honest, most of us do), that extra visibility is a real gift.But size isn’t everything. This pattern also uses a bi-colored post for improved tracking. When Hans Van Klinken first developed the original Klinkhåmer Special back in 1984 to imitate emerging caddisflies, it revolutionized the way anglers thought about visibility and presentation. His design featured a parachute-style hackle around a high post that made the fly easy to see for the angler, while the abdomen dipped low into the water column to attract fish. That idea has since been adapted worldwide for countless species—including here, where it’s reimagined for the Isonychia.The bright, bi-colored post on this version helps immensely in variable light. You can customize the colors depending on your preference and conditions—common combos include chartreuse and white, pink and purple, or orange and chartreuse. The high-contrast pairing helps your eyes pick up the fly on tricky water, especially when lighting shifts throughout the day.The body of the fly is built from claret-colored goose or turkey biot, which closely matches the ISO’s natural coloration. Wrapped biot gives a segmented look with natural ribbing and translucence—traits that really sell the silhouette in clear water. The result is a high-riding, easy-to-track fly that consistently draws takes from brook trout, brown trout, rainbows, fallfish, and even smallmouth bass. It’s the kind of fly that earns a permanent spot in your ISO box.Materials Hook: #10 Firehole Outdoors 315 Thread: UTC 70D Rust Body: Turkey Biot Quill in Claret Thorax: Semperfli Kapok dubbing in Rust blended with SLF Squirrel dubbing in Rusty Brown Hackle: Golden badger saddle hackle or rooster neck Bi-Colored Post: McFlylon in cerise and purple. Bi-Colored Iso Klink Tying StepsStep 1 Start your thread an eye length behind your hook eye, flatten your thread by spinning it counterclockwise and take touching wraps down the shank and deep into the hook bend. Clip a single Turkey Quill Biot as close to the rachis as possible to ensure the longest length you can get. Break or snip off the very tip of the biot, since they tend to be brittle, and may break off when you begin wrapping the biot. Make sure the concave side of the biot is facing you when tying in, as the segmentation will only happen when you have the fibers facing you. Step 2 Again flattening your thread to keep a smooth body, take thread wraps back up the hook shank until you land directly above the hook point. If you use an inline rotary vise, you can half hitch this spot, and put your thread over a bobbin cradle to prepare for wrapping the biot. Step 3 Make gentle wraps at first to start and begin wrapping the biot up the hook shank. At first, they will be close together, and you will notice the segmentation begin. Keep each wrap up against the last, making sure not to cover the fibers that make the ribbing effect. If you do, simply reverse, adjust, and continue. Once you reach the spot above the hook point, cross your thread over the biot and secure it. Clip the remaining tag and smooth out the area with flat thread to prepare for the next step. Step 4 Cut a 1” piece of McFlylon float yarn in cerise and another in Purple. If the fibers are stuck together, you can use a small underfur comb to break them apart. Align the two bundles between your fingers and cut one end to get a clean top to the yarn post. Measure the bundle to the length of the hook eye to the back bend of the hook. This will be your estimated post height. You can always shorten it later once it’s secured onto the hook. Using a pinch wrap, secure the bundle onto the hook shank making sure it doesn’t rotate. Step 5 Cut the remaining tag to the left at a shallow angle to create a ramp for the thread to cover. Step 6 After securing the yarn and covering the tag with flat thread, lift the yarn bundle up and build a thread dam in front of it. Continue to flatten the thread and once the post is almost vertical, you can start taking flat thread wraps around the post in a clockwise direction. Wrap your thread gently up the post until it starts to hold itself up. You can begin tightening these wraps by gently holding the yarn post with your other hand every few wraps. Stop when you are about 1/4” up the post, although I like to give myself a touch more just to give plenty of room for the hackle. Step 7 Measure a hackle feather on a hackle gauge a size or two larger than the hook size. Orientate the feather so the backside of the feather, or dull side is facing you. Strip the fibers to expose roughly a 1/4” of the stem, and additionally remove a few more from the left side. This allows the hackle wraps to have a clean, neat start. Tie the stem on the near side of the post at a 45° angle, allowing most of the stem to clear the post height. Take a gentle wrap or two around the base of the post to start binding the hackle stem to the post. Grab the hackle and move it to the right side of the post, so that the more stripped side of the hackle is touching the post. Wrap your thread up the post, securing the rest of the stem, and take flat open wraps back down until you’re back behind the post and onto the shank again. Step 8 Blend the SLF squirrel dubbing with the Kapok dubbing by stacking two small amounts on top of each other, and begin tearing the bundle apart. Re-stack the two bundles and repeat this a number of times until the two are married. The Kapok gives extra floatation, and the rough, spikey squirrel dubbing gives the illusion of legs. Create a tapered dubbing noodle and begin building a bulbous thorax, covering the shank behind and in front of the post. It helps to not overtighten your dubbing, as the coarser appearance gives a more buggy, lifelike appearance. Finish just behind the hook eye with bare thread, ensuring no dubbing is too close to the hook eye. This also ensures a clean finish. Step 9 Take your hackle and begin taking counterclockwise wraps down the hook shank. Remember, the first wrap is the most important wrap. Like a Domino effect, it will dictate how the rest of the hackle will land, so make sure this is oriented well. It’s never a bad thing to take your time setting up, and reversing if it doesn’t look right. 5-6 wraps should be just about enough. On the last wrap, finish with your hackle stem just behind and to the far side of the hook eye. Holding firmly in one hand, cross your thread over the hackle tag 2-3 times before increasing your thread pressure and securing the hackle stem. Lift the hackle stem and cut as close as possible to remove it. Take a few more wraps to ensure it is bound down well. I recommend using half hitches to finish this, as it can get into tighter spaces like this without trapping any hackle fibers. Add 3 half hitches to finish and cut your thread. This is where you can clean up any remaining unruly fibers with your scissors. Use Solarez Bone Dry to saturate your finishing wraps and fire with a UV light.

Tied by J. Stockard Pro Tyer Paul Shurtleff Follow Paul on InstagramDesigned and tied by J. Stockard Pro Paul Shurtleff, the Sprout Midge Emerger is a smartly engineered fly that imitates one of the most prolific—and overlooked—stages in the midge life cycle. Built to resemble a midge in the pupal-to-adult transition, this pattern rides low in the water film with just enough floatation and flash to remain visible and lifelike, even in slow drifts or cold water conditions.Midges, or dipterans, are found in virtually every freshwater system around the world. Depending on the region and water type, they’re also known as gnats, chironomids, buzzers, and countless other local nicknames. Though tiny, they hatch in staggering numbers and often account for more than half of a trout’s diet, especially on tailwaters and in the colder months.This particular version of the Midge Emerger is Paul’s personal twist on a classic idea—what he calls a “variant of a variant.” He’s fished it to great effect on Utah’s famed tailwaters, and with good reason. The pattern uses a peacock quill abdomen touched with UV resin and flashabou for subtle shimmer. This mimics the slick, gas-filled casing of a midge about to emerge. A thorax of peacock herl is palmered with dry fly hackle to suggest struggling legs and trapped motion. The fly is finished with a small foam post, which not only keeps it upright and afloat but gives the angler an easy visual cue in low light or tight conditions.Fished correctly, this pattern presents with the abdomen piercing the surface film and the thorax and head riding above it, exactly like a real midge in its emergence stage. It’s a highly effective fly when trout are sipping midges just below the surface and ignoring fully hatched adults.Fish this fly with a dead drift, letting it ride just under the surface. Ideal for winter and early spring midge hatches, especially on tailwaters and slower-moving pools. Pair with 6x or 7x tippet for a delicate presentation. The foam post makes it highly visible even at size 20 and smaller.Materials Hook: TMC 2488 Thread: Semperfli's Nano Silk 18/0 Abdomen: Dyed Peacock Strung Herl (stripped) Ribbing: Ice Blue UV Flashabou Thorax: Dyed Peacock Strung Herl (1-3 herls) Legs: Whiting Farms Grizzly (or color of choice) saddle hackle Gills/Head: Foam Parachute Posts Coating: Semperfli's No Tack UV Resin (for the abdomen) How to Tie the Sprout Midge Emerger