Thoughts on the Fly

Todd Turner’s Big Easy Scud blends translucence and subtle movement into a remarkably lifelike scud imitation. Built on a Stretch Glass underbody and finished with sparse split-thread touch dubbing, the pattern captures the natural glow and delicate leggy motion of real scuds—especially in tailwaters where fish see the real thing every day. LEARN HOW TO MAKE TOUCH DUBBING Todd keeps the profile slim and realistic, adding just a hint of orange to suggest egg sacs commonly seen on live scuds. The result is a sparse, light-passing pattern that looks alive in the water without unnecessary bulk or flash. Read the full step-by-step tying instructions and materials list on our Flybrary.

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.

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

The most consistently productive dry fly fishing of the spring season happens before the fish are rising. From the moment water temperatures begin climbing out of winter lows — typically in the upper 40s°F — trout shift from the tight, slow-metabolizing holding positions of winter into active feeding, and the first food they're eating in any quantity is nymphs. Not dries. Not emergers yet. Nymphs drifting along the substrate and through the water column, representing the full range of aquatic insect life that spring sets in motion. The tyer who has a realistic, well-proportioned nymph in the box before the first significant hatch of the season — not after — is fishing when the eating is most reliable. Which is the argument for building a spring nymph bench now, with the right materials for each stage of the hatch calendar. Semperfli's ABC range — Andy's Bugs and Creatures, developed by Andy Kitchener and laser-cut from synthetic suede — covers the freshwater spring spectrum from early-season BWO nymphs through the major stonefly migrations. Each body is water-reactive: the suede absorbs water on contact, activates subtle flex, and creates the kind of lifelike drift that segmented synthetic or dubbed bodies don't quite replicate. The porous surface accepts waterproof marker pens for colour-matching local insects, and a UV resin topcoat finishes the back into a durable, natural-looking shell. What follows is how to use the range across the spring calendar. April and May: March Browns and Hendricksons Hendricksons are among the first significant mayfly hatches across much of the eastern and midwestern United States, beginning as early as April and running through mid-May. They emerge in faster water and float for quite a while until their wings dry — which means trout have extended feeding windows on ascending nymphs before surface activity begins, and nymph fishing in the riffles and runs leading into feeding lies can be exceptional. March Browns are one of the larger spring mayflies — sizes 12–14 — hatching sporadically through early to mid-May in riffles, glides, and pocket water. Their size makes them a more substantial target than Baetis, and a realistic body makes a genuine difference when fish have time and visibility to inspect the fly. The build: ABC Mayfly Nymph 20mm or 25mm on a size 12–14 hook, standard or jig. Hendrickson nymphs are reddish-brown with distinct segmentation — the suede body takes a warm brown marker cleanly, and the laser-cut segmentation provides the visual detail that traditionally built bodies require ribbing and body material to approximate. March Brown nymphs trend darker: olive-brown to chocolate brown. A sparse Scud & Boom Dubbing thorax, Synthetic Marabou tail fibres, UV resin back. The ABC Mayfly Nymphs Kit covers multiple sizes across the mayfly nymph life stages — the most efficient entry point for tyers who want to cover the full spring mayfly calendar from small Baetis through larger Hendrickson and March Brown nymphs without buying separate packs for each size. May and June: The Stonefly Migration Stonefly nymph fishing is the most underutilised opportunity in spring trout fishing. During emergence, stonefly nymphs migrate en masse to the shoreline before crawling up through the waterline into adults — and this migration, which unfolds over days or weeks depending on the species, puts large numbers of stonefly nymphs in the drift and moving through the water column in ways that make them among the highest-calorie food available to trout before the adult stoneflies appear. The ABC Stoneflies are laser-cut in the flattened, segmented profile that stonefly nymphs actually have — not the rounded, generalist profile of most dubbed stonefly patterns. The water-reactive synthetic suede body produces the subtle flexing movement of a nymph working across bottom cobble. The build for Salmonfly and Golden Stone nymphs: ABC Stonefly body in the appropriate size on a size 4–8 3X long nymph hook or wide-gap jig hook. Colour with brown, black, or golden-tan marker depending on species. Add rubber leg fibres, a sparse dubbed thorax, and UV resin over the dorsal surface. Weight with lead wire wraps on the shank for deep-run dead drifts. For Yellow Sallies and smaller species: Small stoneflies in sizes 14–18 begin hatching in late May. The smaller ABC Stonefly bodies in yellow-gold on size 14–16 hooks cover this range — same construction, lighter wire hook, fished in faster riffle water in the afternoon when Yellow Sallies are most active. The ABC Stoneflies Kit covers multiple sizes for the range from Yellow Sallies through large Salmonfly nymphs. See Product See Product See Product Customisation: The Marker Pen Approach The ABC range is designed around the premise that a precise colour match to local insects matters and that tyers are best positioned to know what their local Baetis nymph looks like compared to a river three states away. The suede surface accepts waterproof markers for colour-matching before finishing with UV resin. The practical approach: tie bodies in natural suede, colour with markers at the vise or in the hand, finish with UV resin. A set of seven to ten colours  )pale olive, BWO tan, dark brown, golden amber, black, cream, and rust) covers the full spring freshwater nymph palette. The UV resin coat seals the colour, creates natural sheen, and significantly increases body durability. The ABC SemperSuede Fly Sheets provide the raw suede material in sheet form for tyers who want to cut their own body shapes — scud profiles, freshwater crab bodies, or specific regional insect shapes that the standard ABC body range doesn't cover. The same water activation, marker acceptance, and UV resin compatibility apply. Andy Kitchener Talks ABCs, Innovation & the Future of Fly Tying Read more Is your fly box ready for spring fly fishing? Read more

From late June through September, the most productive fly fishing bench is not the one stocked for hatches. It's the one stocked for what falls into the water — hoppers blown off grass banks, beetles that lost their footing on streamside vegetation, ants caught in the film at the wrong moment, crickets after dark. Terrestrial season and warmwater season overlap almost completely on the calendar, and the materials that build terrestrial patterns and warmwater flies overlap almost completely on the bench. Foam, flash, and rubber legs are the core of both categories. Getting those three materials right — knowing which specific products to stock, in which formats and sizes — is the difference between a bench that produces quickly across a wide range of patterns and one that requires a separate shopping trip every time a new pattern comes up. This is a stocking guide. It covers what to keep, what to know about each product, and which patterns depend on it. Foam: the full fly tying material picture Foam in terrestrial fly tying covers more applications than most tyers realize until they start working across the full range of terrestrial and warmwater patterns. Popper bodies, hopper backs, beetle shells, ant bodies, extended dry fly bodies, foam cylinders for poppers built from scratch — each application calls for different foam density, thickness, and format. Stocking foam intelligently means keeping multiple formats rather than defaulting to one. Pre-formed bodies — poppers and sliders Pre-formed foam bodies are the most efficient starting point for bass bug and panfish construction. The cup-faced TCS profile of Wapsi Soft Foam Popper Bodies produces the characteristic pop on a sharp strip and reverses into a slider profile for calmer, pressured water. Wapsi Hard Foam Popper Bodies offer a denser, harder version of the same profile — sharper pop, more durable finish, better suited to heavy-duty surface fishing for larger bass and pike. Fulling Mill Popper Heads provide a high-density option engineered for maximum surface disturbance on larger hooks, the right choice when the target species demands an aggressive, audible topwater action. Keep at least three colors of each across the yellow, chartreuse, white, and natural frog spectrum. Color consistency is less important for warmwater poppers than for trout dry flies — largemouth and smallmouth are not inspecting the hue — but having the right size range matters. Stock bodies in sizes appropriate for hook sizes 2 through 1/0. Sheet foam — terrestrials and custom work Hareline Fly Foam in 2mm and 3mm are the foundational sheet foam products for terrestrial tyers. The 2mm thickness is the right format for beetle backs, small ant bodies, and the foam posts that make parachute terrestrials visible at distance. The 3mm sheet builds hopper backs, larger beetle shells, and the foam cylinders that form extended ant and cricket bodies when cut and shaped. Both thicknesses cut cleanly with scissors and shape easily with heat from a lighter applied carefully — the technique for producing rounded beetle backs from flat sheet foam rather than buying pre-cut shapes. Chocklett's Loco Foam adds a metallic or pearlescent surface coat on one side — the underside of a beetle or the top of a crease fly body — that contributes flash at the material level rather than requiring a separate flash application. Particularly effective for beetles fished in slower water where the subtle underside shimmer can be seen by a trout holding on a surface examination. McMurray Ant Bodies solve the most technically demanding terrestrial construction problem efficiently. The extended ant body — two rounded foam sections connected by a narrow waist — is one of the more fiddly builds in terrestrial tying when produced from sheet foam, and the pre-formed McMurray bodies eliminate that construction step entirely. Tie them onto the hook with a few thread wraps at the waist, add hackle, add legs, done. Black and cinnamon cover the vast majority of ant pattern applications. Foam cylinders Pre-cut foam cylinders — available in a range of diameters — make hopper body construction faster and more consistent than cutting cylinders from sheet foam by hand. Hareline Fly Foam Cylinders in tan, yellow, and olive are the core colors for Rocky Mountain hopper patterns. For tyers who work Dave's Hopper, Parachute Hopper, or Chernobyl Ant variations in volume, having cylinders pre-sized to the hook range eliminates the cutting step and standardizes body proportions across the batch. Flash: terrestrials and warmwater applications Flash in a terrestrial fly tying materials or warmwater fly is doing slightly different work than flash in a saltwater baitfish pattern. The saltwater application is primarily attraction at distance — a flash that can be seen by a predator before the fly is close. In terrestrial and warmwater applications, the primary job is reflectivity at close range and movement on micro-currents, suggesting the wing membrane of an insect or the scale flash of a small baitfish in still water. Standard Flashabou Hedron Flashabou in pearl, gold, and copper is the foundational flash for both categories. In hopper and cricket patterns, two or three strands of copper or gold Flashabou along the wing suggests a natural insect wing without adding visible bulk. In warmwater poppers and sliders, six to ten strands in the tail provides the lateral line flash that gives the fly optical presence without loading the tail with weight. Pearl works across both applications as a neutral, high-visibility option when water conditions are unclear. Hedron Holographic Flashabou adds a prismatic, multi-tone shimmer that standard Flashabou's flat reflectivity doesn't produce — more effective on overcast days and in low-light warmwater conditions where the prismatic behavior catches available light more completely than a single-plane reflector. Krystal Flash Hareline Krystal Flash occupies a different space from Flashabou and earns specific mention in the terrestrial category. Where Flashabou is flat and highly reflective, Krystal Flash is crimped and twisted, which creates a diffuse, scattered light behavior rather than a direct reflection. In hopper wings, Krystal Flash suggests the translucent, slightly iridescent membrane of a real grasshopper wing more accurately than straight Flashabou does. Pearl and gold are the core colors for hopper applications; the full color range extends into warmwater attractor patterns where more aggressive flash colors — chartreuse, pink, orange — are useful for panfish and bass visibility. Lateral Scale and wider-strand flash Hedron Lateral Scale — wider-strand, crimped flash that produces a scaled baitfish flank appearance — is the right flash material for the tail of warmwater sliders and baitfish-profile poppers tied to suggest shad, perch, or bluegill. The wider strand and crimped profile creates a fluttering action on the pause that standard Flashabou strands don't replicate. For bass bugs targeting largemouth that have been feeding on bluegill throughout summer, a slider tail built with olive-over-pearl Lateral Scale in the tail reads as exactly that baitfish profile. Bass Bug Fly Tying: What Foam, Flash, and Rubber Legs Are Actually Doing for Your Fly Read more Why Foam and Flash Are Best Friends Read more Rubber Legs: the full range and what each product does Rubber legs are not interchangeable across hook sizes and pattern types. The diameter, stiffness, and action of the leg material needs to match the scale of the fly and the species being targeted. Stocking the full useful range means keeping three or four distinct products rather than one universal option. Round rubber — the workhorse Hareline Round Rubber Legs in medium diameter are the most broadly useful leg material on the bench. Medium round rubber works across the full warmwater bass bug range — hook sizes 2 through 1/0 — and handles the larger hopper patterns on sizes 4 through 8. The round profile produces consistent 360-degree movement in all directions rather than the planar movement of flat rubber, which generates more vibration frequency per unit of leg material. Stock in barred olive, barred black, and tan as the core colors for both terrestrial and warmwater applications — barring adds visual segmentation that reads as more lifelike than solid-color legs in clear water. Centipede legs — the precision option Montana Fly Centipede Legs in medium are the refined version of the round rubber category — slightly finer diameter, more supple material, more responsive to micro-currents and the lightest surface disturbance. For hopper patterns on size 10 and smaller hooks where standard medium rubber legs are slightly overscaled, centipede legs produce proportionally correct action without dominating the fly's visual profile. Also the preferred leg material for smaller warmwater patterns — panfish bugs, bluegill flies, smaller surface crickets — where the finer diameter matches the hook scale more accurately. Silicone legs — the clear-water choice [Hedron Perfect Rubber Silicone Legs offer a refinement in leg material that earns its place on any bench regularly fishing clear water for pressured bass or selective trout taking terrestrials. Silicone is more translucent than rubber, which produces a leg that catches and diffuses light rather than blocking it — closer to the appearance of an actual insect leg than any opaque rubber alternative. The movement behavior is slightly different from round rubber: silicone legs are more responsive at very low current speeds and in still water, which is exactly the condition where clear-water warmwater fishing typically occurs. Fulling Mill Tri-Color Legs extend the silicone category with a three-tone color shift in each strand — a dynamic color variation that produces depth and visual complexity in the finished leg that single-color silicone doesn't achieve. Pre-formed hopper legs — the realism option Wapsi T.N.T. Hopper Legs are pre-molded rubber legs with jointed segments replicating the natural kicking leg of a grasshopper. For realistic hopper patterns where the leg silhouette is part of the imitation — a Dave's Hopper or a Letort Hopper for selective late-season trout on spring creeks — the molded joint and natural color of the T.N.T. legs produces a more convincing presentation than round rubber in an approximated kicking shape. Eight legs per pack covers several flies and the durability of molded rubber means they outlast most other components in the pattern. A note on leg placement Across all leg materials and all pattern types, the placement principle is consistent: four legs — two per side — splayed outward at approximately 45 degrees produce more independent movement and a more convincing silhouette than eight or more legs crowded around the hook shank. Fewer legs with room to move independently always outperforms more legs that collapse against each other on the pause. For foam-body patterns, thread the legs through the body using a large needle or Hareline Leg Puller after the body is mounted on the hook — cleaner placement, better symmetry, and a more secure connection than thread-tied legs on foam. Stock Up On Foam Terrestrial Fly Tying Materials Shopping List A bench stocked to cover the full range of terrestrial and warmwater patterns across summer and into fall:Foam:- Hareline Fly Foam 2mm — beetle backs, ant bodies, parachute posts- Hareline Fly Foam 3mm — hopper backs, larger beetle shells, extended bodies- Hareline Fly Foam Cylinders — pre-sized hopper bodies in tan, yellow, olive- Wapsi Soft Foam Popper Bodies — bass bug poppers (soft) and sliders (reversed)- Wapsi Hard Foam Popper Bodies — heavy-duty bass and pike surface work- McMurray Ant Bodies — black and cinnamonFlash:- Hedron Flashabou — pearl, gold, copper- Hareline Krystal Flash — pearl and gold for hopper wings; chartreuse and orange for warmwater attractors- Hedron Holographic Flashabou — low-light and overcast conditions- Hedron Lateral Scale — baitfish-profile warmwater sliders and poppers Legs:- Hareline Round Rubber Legs medium — barred olive, barred black, tan- Montana Fly Centipede Legs medium — for smaller hooks and precision applications- Hedron Perfect Rubber Silicone Legs — clear-water bass and selective trout terrestrials- Fulling Mill Tri-Color Legs — depth and visual complexity in clear water- Wapsi T.N.T. Hopper Legs — realistic hopper patterns on spring creeks and tailwaters

May is the month that converts trout anglers into bass anglers. Okay, not permanently — (at least, not everybody is abandoning their dry fly boxes) but for a few weeks in May, when largemouth and smallmouth are shallow, aggressive, and willing to eat almost anything that lands on the surface and looks alive, the case for picking up a bass rod and a box of foam bugs is genuinely compelling. The takes are violent. The water is warm enough to wade comfortably. The flies are big enough to see from fifteen feet away. It is, by almost any measure, one of the most satisfying forms of fly fishing available in the continental United States, and it requires almost no specialized knowledge beyond understanding what the three materials at the core of every good bass bug are doing.Those materials are foam, flash, and rubber legs. Together they build a fly that floats indefinitely, gets noticed from distance, and moves in a way that triggers reaction strikes from fish that have been feeding aggressively since the water hit 60°F.  Read on to understand what each one contributes: Foam Foam is not a shortcut. It is the correct material for a surface bass bug in a way that deer hair — beautiful, traditional, effective in its own right — is not always the correct material. Deer hair bugs are compressible, which means a bass that crushes the fly on the take can collapse the body enough to throw the hook. Deer hair gets saturated on long sessions. Deer hair requires stacking, spinning, and trimming skills that take real time to develop. None of this is a reason to stop tying deer hair bugs. It is a reason to understand why closed-cell foam builds a different fly that is worth having in the box alongside them.Closed-cell foam cannot absorb water. A foam popper at the end of a three-hour session on a warm pond floats exactly as well as it did on the first cast. It rides higher in the film, it pops more consistently because the face geometry doesn't change, and it comes back to shape after a hard take in a way that compressed deer hair doesn't. For tyers who fish bass bugs hard and fish them often, foam's durability is not a minor convenience — it is a session-long functional advantage.At the vise: Pre-formed foam bodies eliminate most of the construction work and let the tyer focus on the tail, legs, and flash that actually differentiate one bug from another. Wapsi Soft Foam Popper Bodies come in the classic TCS profile — tapered, cupped, and slotted — which creates the cupped face that produces the characteristic pop on a sharp strip. Reversed, the same body becomes a slider: no cup, no pop, just a smooth push of water on the retrieve and a quieter surface disturbance that works in clear, pressured water where a loud pop puts fish down rather than bringing them in. Wapsi Hard Foam Popper Bodies offer the same profile in a denser, harder foam for tyers who want maximum durability and a sharper pop. Fulling Mill Popper Heads add a high-density option specifically designed for explosive topwater action on larger hooks.For tyers who want to build from sheet foam rather than pre-formed bodies, Hareline Fly Foam in 3mm cuts cleanly and shapes well for beetle backs, extended bodies, and any application where custom geometry matters more than speed. Chocklett's Loco Foam adds a metallic or pearlescent coating on one side — useful for crease fly construction and disc poppers where built-in reflectivity on the body itself contributes to the overall flash picture.The popper vs slider question: Poppers are the first choice in low-visibility conditions — early morning, low light, surface chop, any water where fish are oriented upward and looking for disturbance. The pop announces the fly and gives bass a location to attack. Sliders are the choice for clear, calm water with visible fish where a hard pop would spook rather than trigger. Keep both in the box. The decision should be made at the water, not at the bench. Hair Stacking for Beginners and Pros Read more Flash Flash in a bass bug is doing two jobs simultaneously. The first is optical — it catches light and creates the appearance of a baitfish scale or an insect's wing membrane, signaling to a bass that something edible is present. The second is mechanical — the movement of individual flash strands in the current, on the retrieve, and after the pause creates micro-vibrations that bass detect through their lateral line even in stained water where visibility is limited.Neither of those jobs requires a lot of flash. The most common mistake with bass bugs is over-flashery — a tail so loaded with Flashabou that the fly looks like a disco accessory rather than a frog or a wounded shad. The correct amount of flash is the minimum needed to produce the optical and mechanical effects. In practice, that's usually six to ten strands of standard Flashabou in the tail, possibly a few strands along the lateral line of the body, and nothing else.Hedron Flashabou is the foundational flash material — thin, highly reflective Mylar strands in a comprehensive color range. Pearl, chartreuse, gold, and silver cover the vast majority of bass bug applications. The original Flashabou has no bulk and no weight, which means it doesn't affect the fly's balance or action on the surface — it simply catches light and moves. [Hedron Holographic Flashabou](https://www.jsflyfishing.com/products/holographic-flashabou) adds a 3D prismatic effect to each strand, producing a more complex light-catching behavior that's particularly effective on overcast days when standard Flashabou's reflectivity is reduced.For bass bugs with a baitfish profile — sliders imitating shad or perch rather than frogs or mice — Hedron Lateral Scale adds a crimped, horizontally-textured flash that creates the scaled appearance of a real baitfish flank. The wider strands and crimped profile produce a fluttering action on the pause that straight Flashabou doesn't quite replicate — particularly useful in the tail of a larger slider or popper tied to suggest a dying shad on the surface. Hedron Mirage Flashabou shifts color with its surroundings, the way real baitfish scales do — a property that sounds like marketing until the fly is in the water and the color change is visible on the retrieve. Useful in the lateral line position on baitfish-style poppers where accuracy of imitation is part of the goal. The ratio that works: Six to ten strands of Flashabou in the tail, positioned along the top and sides of the marabou or hackle tail rather than mixed through it. Keep the flash parallel to the hook shank on the tie-in, not flared outward, so it tracks cleanly on the retrieve rather than spinning around the tail materials. Fly Fishing For Bass: The Pre-Spawn Window And The Flies That Open It Read more Why Foam and Flash Are Best Friends Read more Rubber Legs Rubber legs are the material that most consistently converts strikes from fish that are following but not committing. The reason is vibration. Rubber and silicone leg materials move at frequencies that natural materials — marabou, craft fur, hackle — don't produce. They pulse on every micro-current, they vibrate on the pause, and they continue moving after everything else on the fly has stopped. For a bass that has tracked a bug across the surface and stalled behind it, the continued movement of rubber legs after the strip pause is often the final trigger.The specific leg material matters less than the diameter and the action it produces at the size range being tied. For standard size 2–1/0 bass bugs, medium rubber legs in a barred or speckled pattern — Montana Fly Centipede Legs in medium diameter, or Hareline Round Rubber Legs — provide the right combination of stiffness and movement. The barring or speckle pattern adds visual complexity — a leg that looks segmented reads as more lifelike than a solid-color leg, particularly in clear water. Hedron Perfect Rubber Silicone Legs offer a refinement on the round rubber format — finer diameter, broader color range, slightly more responsive movement in current. Particularly well-suited to smaller bugs on size 4–6 hooks where standard medium rubber legs are slightly overscaled.Placement matters more than quantity. Four legs — two on each side of the body, positioned to splay outward at approximately 45 degrees — produce more action than eight legs crowded around the hook shank. The splayed placement creates the widest possible action radius when the fly is at rest, and it looks like an actual frog or large insect rather than a centipede. Legs tied too close together collapse against each other on the pause and lose their individual movement. Legs tied with room to move independently do the work they're designed to do.The insertion method for foam-body bugs is worth noting: rather than tying legs onto the hook shank before attaching the foam body, use a large needle or the Hareline Leg Puller to thread the rubber legs through the foam body after it's mounted on the hook. This technique produces cleaner placement, better symmetry, and a more durable connection than thread-tied legs on a foam body. Tie The Mr Wiggly Foam But Variant

One material, five inshore species. How EP Fibers, 3-D Fibers, Minnow Fibers, Foxy Brush, and Gamechange Blend build the flies that work for stripers, bonefish, permit, redfish, and tarpon.

Dry fly sinking on the first cast? The problem is almost always at the vise. Here are the five most common hackle and tying mistakes that cause dry flies to sink — and how to fix each one

Hackle is the single most discussed material in dry fly tying — and also one of the most consistently misunderstood by tyers who are early in the process of building a bench. The terminology alone creates confusion: cape and saddle are often used interchangeably in conversation, hen gets treated as a niche specialty item, and synthetic hackle is either dismissed as a beginner's compromise or overclaimed as a universal replacement for the real thing. None of those positions is quite right. What follows is a clear breakdown of the four main hackle categories a dry fly tyer will encounter: What makes a dry fly hackle "good"? Before the comparison, the criteria. A dry fly hackle feather is doing a specific job: it needs to support the fly on the surface of the water, maintain a consistent fiber length so the finished hackle collar sits level on the hook, and ideally keep doing both of those things after repeated casts, dunks, and the attentions of a trout. The properties that determine whether a hackle feather does this well are: Fiber density. More barbs per inch of stem means a fuller, stiffer collar that traps more air and supports more weight. This is the primary function of genetic hackle breeding — increasing barb density over generations until the feathers produce flies that float better and last longer than anything from a non-selective flock. Stem stiffness. A stiff, fine stem wraps cleanly and doesn't buckle under tension. Soft stems require slower, more careful wrapping and can collapse on small hooks. Fiber length consistency. A feather where individual barbs are the same length from base to tip produces an even, uniform hackle collar. Variable barb length — common in lower-grade and non-genetic material — requires more shaping work to produce a clean finished fly. Web content. Webbing is the soft, broad material at the base of each feather that absorbs water rather than repelling it. Genetic dry fly hackle is bred specifically to minimize webbing. The more webbing, the more water a hackle absorbs — and the faster the fly sinks. With those criteria established, the comparison becomes more concrete. Rooster Cape (Neck Hackle) A hackle cape is the skin from the neck of a rooster, with feathers attached. Because the feathers graduate in size from the very top of the neck (small) to the shoulder (larger), a single cape covers an enormous range of hook sizes — typically size 4 down to size 22 on a quality genetic cape. This size range is the cape's defining advantage. A tyer who works across a variety of pattern sizes — size 10 parachute Adams, size 14 Elk Hair Caddis, size 18 Comparadun, size 22 midge — can find the right feather size from one cape rather than maintaining multiple saddles. The cape is the inventory solution. The tradeoff is feather length. Cape feathers are shorter than saddle feathers, which means each feather typically ties one or two flies rather than the four to six that a long saddle feather produces. For a tyer who ties the same pattern in volume — dozens of identical size 16 Blue-Winged Olives for a tailwater season — saddle is more efficient. For a tyer who ranges widely across sizes and patterns, the cape's breadth compensates for the lower yield per feather. What to look for in a cape: Fiber density and consistent barb length are the primary quality indicators. Hold the feather up to light — the barbs should be uniform in length and close together, with minimal webbing extending past the bottom third of the feather length. On a quality genetic cape, the usable portion of most feathers extends almost to the stem tip. The Whiting Farms Dry Fly Cape is the benchmark against which most other capes are judged. Directed by Dr. Tom Whiting, Whiting Farms has spent decades refining genetic lines for barb density, stem fineness, and size consistency. Bronze grade provides excellent value and enough feathers to tie several hundred flies; Pro Grade steps up in fiber quality and color range. For tyers building a bench from scratch, the [Whiting Farms Introductory Hackle Pack] — four half-capes in essential colors covering sizes 8 through 22 — is the most efficient entry point in the range. See Product Ewing Dry Fly Capes are worth noting for their size range — size 4 down to size 22 — which is broader than most capes on the market and useful for tyers who need large hackle feathers for bass bugs, Wulffs, and attractor patterns alongside standard trout dry fly sizes. Keough Tyer's Grade Half Capes offer a solid mid-range option, and the four-color starter set is a practical way to build out the core color palette — brown, grizzly, black, and cream or dun — without committing to full capes across each color before knowing which sees the most use. Rooster Saddle Saddle hackle comes from the back of a rooster, above the tail. The feathers are longer than cape feathers — often much longer — with a fine, consistent stem and barbs that run the full length of the usable portion with very little taper. A single quality saddle feather can tie four to six dry flies. A full saddle contains hundreds of feathers. The arithmetic is favorable for tyers who tie in volume at a consistent size range. The limitation is that saddle feathers cover a narrower size range than a cape. A dry fly saddle from Whiting typically ranges from size 12 to size 18, with the bulk of the feathers in the 14–16 range. That covers the core of most trout dry fly tying — the Elk Hair Caddis, Adams, and Parachute patterns that make up the majority of most boxes. But it doesn't cover the extremes: a tyer who needs size 22 midge hackle or size 8 attractor hackle from the same source needs either a second saddle or a cape to fill those ranges. The other thing saddle does particularly well — and this is worth noting for tyers primarily working nymphs or wet flies with a secondary dry fly application — is streamer work. Long saddle feathers stripped of their barbs, or used whole as tailing material, are foundational to patterns like the Deceiver, Woolly Bugger, and many articulated designs. A saddle purchased primarily for dry fly work has substantial secondary use in streamer patterns. The Whiting Farms Dry Fly Saddle in Bronze is the standard recommendation for tyers who tie primarily in the size 12–18 range and want maximum feather count at a good price point. Bronze grade at Whiting doesn't mean lower quality feathers — it refers to feather quantity, with Bronze producing enough material for at least 500 flies. Pro Grade runs approximately 300 flies per saddle but at a slightly higher fiber quality and more consistent size concentration. For tyers who specifically need midge-range saddle hackle — sizes 18 through 24 — the Whiting Farms Dry Fly Midge Half Saddle addresses a real gap in most tyers' material kits. Standard saddle feathers selected for size 14–16 don't consistently produce the fine, short barbs that a size 22 Griffith's Gnat or size 24 Brassie collar requires. The midge saddle is bred and selected specifically for that range. The Whiting 100 Packs deserve specific mention for tyers who want the Whiting quality without the commitment of a full saddle or cape. Pre-sized and selected for a specific hook size — available in sizes 12, 14, 16, and 18 — each pack contains enough hackle to tie 100 flies of that size. For a tyer who ties primarily size 16 and wants to stock a season's worth of hackle for one pattern without buying a full saddle, this is the most direct solution. The Keough Saddle Value Pack is a useful entry point at a lower price — a small pack of graded saddle feathers that gives a new tyer experience with quality genetic saddle without the full saddle investment. Both the Keough Tyer's Grade Half Capes and Ewing Dry Fly Capes are currently 20% off — making this a good moment to build out the color palette if you've been running off a single cape. Whiting is excluded from this promotion Hen Hackle (Cape and Saddle) Hen hackle is rounded, soft, and webby — three properties that make it useless for floating a dry fly and invaluable for a specific set of patterns where soft, mobile fibers are precisely what's needed. Calling hen a "dry fly hackle" is technically accurate for certain applications (CDC-hen combinations, soft-hackle wet flies fished in the film) but mostly misleading. Hen is a wet fly and soft hackle material that happens to also produce excellent dry fly legs and wingcase details. The softness that disqualifies hen from a conventional hackle collar is what makes it valuable for soft hackle wet flies, emergers, and any pattern where hackle fibers should move independently in the current rather than stand out stiffly from the hook. A Partridge and Orange, a classic Leisenring wet fly, a CDC emerger with hen body feathers — these patterns work because of the way hen moves underwater, not in spite of it. Hen also produces excellent dry fly legs on realistic and semi-realistic patterns. Knotted hen back or hen saddle fibers are the standard material for extended-body mayfly legs, and hen breast feathers are used for thorax details on a range of realistic nymph and emerger patterns where hen's rounded, mottled appearance suggests the texture of natural insect parts better than any rooster feather. Recommended products: Both Whiting Farms Hen Cape and Whiting Farms Hen Saddle are the standard recommendations — the same Whiting breeding quality applied to hen stock, producing consistent fiber length and clean mottled coloration across the natural palette. The cape provides more size variety; the saddle provides more volume at a consistent size. For soft hackle and wet fly tyers who work primarily in size 12–16, the saddle is the more efficient purchase. Hareline Hen Cape and Hareline Hen Saddle offer the same coverage at a slightly lower price point — well-suited to tyers who use hen primarily as a secondary material and want to keep it on the bench without the Whiting price premium. Hareline Hen Cape and Hareline Hen Saddle are both 20% off right now — a practical opportunity to add hen to the bench if it's been on the list. Synthetic Substitutes Synthetic hackle has improved substantially over the past decade and deserves a more considered assessment than the blanket "beginner material" dismissal it often receives. The current generation of synthetic hackle products — CDC substitutes, poly fiber collars, and purpose-built synthetic tailing and hackling materials — perform at a level that makes them genuinely appropriate for specific applications, not just acceptable as a compromise. Where synthetic hackle earns its keep: Saltwater patterns. Natural hackle absorbs saltwater and degrades faster under repeated exposure to salt and UV than most synthetics. For Clouser Minnows, Deceivers, and estuary patterns tied in volume, synthetic collar and winging materials are both more durable and more practical than a cape that costs multiples of the flies it's producing. High-visibility attractor patterns. Neon, UV-reactive, and colors that simply don't exist in natural hackle — chartreuse, hot pink, electric blue — are available in synthetic form in ways that dyed natural hackle can't quite replicate in intensity or consistency. Parachute posts. Synthetics like Antron yarn, polypropylene fibers, and CDC substitutes produce parachute posts that are visible, buoyant, and easier to work with than natural materials on small hooks. This is not a compromise; for many tyers it is the preferred material. What synthetic hackle still doesn't do well is replace a quality genetic rooster cape or saddle for standard dry fly collars on size 14–20 trout patterns fished in current. The stiffness, barb density, and water-shedding properties of a Whiting or Keough saddle feather are not currently replicated by any synthetic product at the same hook size. For these applications, natural genetic hackle remains the correct choice. Cape vs Saddle: the practical decision The question tyers ask most often — cape or saddle — is best answered by how the bench is organized rather than by any absolute quality difference between them. Buy a cape if: range across hook sizes matters more than per-feather yield. A single quality cape covering size 4 through 22 is the most versatile single hackle purchase available, particularly for tyers who don't yet know which sizes and patterns they'll settle into. Buy a saddle if: Volume at a consistent size range is the priority. A tyer who ties 200 size 16 Adams per season gets more flies per dollar from a saddle than from a cape. The long feathers and high per-feather yield make volume tying significantly faster. Buy both if: the bench is established and the tyer has identified both the size range they cover and the patterns they tie most. This is the realistic end state for any tyer who ties seriously across a season — a cape for size coverage, a saddle or two for volume at the core sizes. A practical starting point: the Whiting Introductory Hackle Pack gives four half-capes in essential colors at a price that makes sense before committing to full capes across the palette. Tie with it for a season, identify which colors and sizes disappear first, and build from there. SHOP HACKLE AND FEATHERS

Shopping for a fly tyer can feel like buying a paintbrush for an artist — he probably has opinions, and he probably already owns more thread than any one person needs. But that’s exactly why a good gift lands so well: the right tool, the right material, or just a thoughtful little extra says I see what you love better than almost anything else. We’ve pulled together a range of gifts for Father’s Day (Sunday, June 21), sorted not by category but by the kind of tyer your dad is — whether he’s just getting started, fishes more than he ties, or has a fully stocked bench and swears he doesn’t need a thing. A few of these are on sale right now, too, so there’s room to be generous without overspending. The little extras (tuck one in a card) Sometimes the best gift is the small thing he keeps meaning to grab and never does. Wapsi Ultra Thread — $2.24 (15% off) The site’s top-selling thread for good reason: strong, smooth, and available in 70, 140, and 210 denier across dozens of colors. Pick up two or three shades he’s been low on. It’s the kind of refill that always gets used. Tiemco TMC 100 Dry Fly Hook — $6.26 per pack of 25 (30% off) Tiemco’s most-trusted dry fly hook, in sizes 10 through 26. At 30% off, even a dad with a drawer full of TMC 100s will happily stock up — and a few packs paired with the Ultra Thread above makes a tidy little bundle that feels like more than the sum of its parts. For the dad who fishes more than he ties Not every tying dad spends most of his time at the bench. For the one who’d rather be on the water, these earn their place in the vest. Loon Outdoors Aquel Gel Floatant — $5.94 (15% off) Loon’s best-selling silicone gel floatant won’t melt in summer heat or stiffen up when it’s cold. It’s a streamside essential small enough to slip inside a Father’s Day card as a surprise. J. Stockard Double-Sided FliCon Silicone Fly Box — $13.45 A slim, clear-lidded box with self-healing silicone foam on both sides, so hooks hold firm without crushing delicate hackle. Better organization for the streamside dad, in Large, Midge, and X-Large to match how he fishes. Bench upgrades he’ll feel every session These are the small-to-mid upgrades a working tyer notices immediately — the difference between making do and tying comfortably. Umpqua Dreamstream+ Bobbin — $17.56 (20% off) A workhorse bobbin with adjustable tension arms, a smooth steel tube, and ball-weighted arms for steady thread control. If he’s been fighting tension or snapping thread, this fixes it — and it’s a meaningful step up at 20% off. Dr. Slick All-Purpose Scissors, 4″ — $19.95 Gold loop handles, serrated blades, and a choice of straight or curved. These are the scissors tyers actually reach for on every fly. A genuine under-$20 upgrade for anyone still borrowing from the kitchen drawer, and a smart backup pair for a seasoned bench. Whiting 100-Pack Saddle Hackle — $25.45 Pre-sized Whiting hackle in a pack measured for exactly 100 dry flies — no sorting, no waste. For the dad who already has a full cape but would love a ready-to-tie pack for an evening of Sulphurs or Adams. For the dad who already has everything The trick with this one is finding the thing he’d love but won’t buy for himself. Stonfo Elite Disc Drag Bobbin — $29.75 Precision Italian engineering with a quick-adjust disc-drag tension system and a weighted stainless body. It comes in Original, Saltwater/Streamer, and Compact versions — the kind of refined upgrade a longtime tyer notices every single session. See Product See Product Getting him started — or doing it right For the dad who’s curious about tying, or the one ready to graduate from his first kit. J. Stockard Economy Vise & Tool Kit — $34.95 Everything a new tyer needs in one box: vise, scissors, bobbin, bodkin, hackle pliers, and more, with or without a carrying case. This is the “here’s how you get into it, Dad” gift that removes every excuse not to start. Dr. Slick Fly Tying Tool Gift Set — $119.95 A full bench of professional-grade tools — all-purpose scissors, ceramic bobbin, threader, bodkin, hair stacker, whip finisher, and hackle pliers — in a hard-shell display case that doubles as a fly box. Rated 4.91 out of 5, with buyers reporting their tools are still going strong years later. It’s the rare tying gift that already feels gift-wrapped, perfect for the tyer ready to move up from an entry kit to tools he’ll keep for good. The splurge When you want the gift to be the gift. PEAK Rotary Vise — $239.95 PEAK’s flagship rotary vise: a heavy pedestal base, precision cam-operated jaws, and true 360° rotation, rated 4.86 out of 5 across 49 reviews. For the serious tyer who’s been limping along on an entry-level vise, this is a bench centerpiece he’ll be using decades from now. A Guide to Introducing Children to Fishing Read more Basic Fly Tying Tools To Elevate Every Tyer’s Bench Read more When in doubt J. Stockard eGift Card — $10 to $500 If your dad has firm opinions about exactly which hackle color or hook size he needs next, let him choose. The eGift card is delivered by email — there’s a “Send as a gift?” option at checkout — so there’s nothing to wrap and nothing to ship. Available in $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, and $500. Order in time for Father’s Day Father’s Day falls on Sunday, June 21 this year, so there’s still comfortable room to shop. A few notes to make sure it arrives: Standard USPS free on orders of $100 or more — so a gift set, a vise, or a card stacked with a few extras can ship at no extra cost.  To be safe with standard shipping, order by the end of this week.  Whatever he ties, there’s something here to make this Father’s Day feel like you were paying attention all along.

Women's Fly Tying Month. Jillian Beattie traces her path from a childhood to tying her own musky flies and the tribe of women anglers she found along the way.

"No one ever tried to get me interested in fishing," writes Guest Blogger Mary S. Kuss. Mary is a life-long avid angler, a retired licensed PA fishing guide, and founder of the Delaware Valley Women's Fly FishingAssociation. She started fishing at 6 years old, read on as she reflects on her life in fly fishing and the current rise of women in the sport.  I was six years old when I first took notice of people doing it, and I desperately wanted to do it myself. I pestered an uncle by marriage to help me get started as soon as I found out that he was a fisherman. He set me up with a rather primitive pole and line, and although I failed to hook up on the first bite I had from a Pumpkinseed sunfish on its nest I was firmly hooked on fishing.  I voraciously consumed all the information I could lay my hands on. I’d beg my Mother to buy me a copy of Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, or Sports Afield at the supermarket, and would read it from cover to cover. And I loved watching my favorite weekly TV show, Gaddabout Gaddis, the Flying Fisherman. All of these things fueled my passion. Growing up in Point Pleasant, New Jersey in the nineteen-fifties and sixties provided me with ample opportunities to engage with the natural world in general and fishing in particular. When fly fishing came on my radar during my teenage years, serendipity provided me with three mentors. I got to fish the some of the Holy Waters of the Catskills, the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc, and to make the acquaintance of Harry and Elsie Darbee. In 1978 I married a man who was not an angler. What can I say, I was in love. He fly fished with me before we wed, and did well at it, but stopped immediately after. When I finally asked him why, he replied, “Why should I go fishing, I caught the fish I was after.” I forgave him this little deceit, mostly because he was always tolerant and even supportive of my fly fishing habit. Our marriage has lasted for 48 years now, which says a lot. In the early years of my fly fishing experience I was often the only woman present. This caused some humorous incidents. Once while fishing the Beaverkill along Old Route 17 I heard a car screech to a halt on the roadside pull-out above me. A guy jumped out and ran to the guardrail to take a look. As he returned to his vehicle I heard him exclaim to his companion, “Crisis Pete, it’s a woman fly fishing!” By the 1980’s I’d put in a stint as a water pollution investigator for the NJ State Bureau of Fisheries, and been very active in three different Trout Unlimited chapters. I also started working as a fly fishing instructor and guide at The Sporting Gentleman, an Orvis dealership in Media, PA. In 1992 A River Runs Through It hit movie theaters. Those in the fly fishing community referred to it simply as The Movie. It spurred a tremendous boom in all things fly fishing. When the inevitable crash came the industry was desperate to stem the bleeding. At long last attention turned to women, until that time a largely untapped pool of potential customers. The involvement of women in the sport has grown steadily ever since.  In 1996 I recruited nine other women anglers to launch the Delaware Valley Women’s Fly Fishing Association. The club is still going strong under its third generation of leadership. The future of women in fly fishing looks very bright, and I’m very proud of myself and my sister anglers for it.    Breaking The Rules Read more From Lake Erie to the Gallatin: A Conversation with Jessica Suvak Read more

By now most tyers have felt the tungsten price shock at the bench. What was a manageable material cost has become a genuine line item in a season’s tying budget. The short version: tungsten probably won't be getting any cheaper. The forces driving prices are structural — China controls roughly 80% of global production, export volumes dropped sharply in 2025, and the competing demand from defence and semiconductor industries is prioritised over fly tying beads every time.  Is there some way to put a positive spin on the situation? We like to think so (at least when it comes to getting your fly down into the strike zone)... Tungsten became the default bead material on a huge percentage of nymph patterns over the past three decades, not because it was always the right choice, but because it was available, affordable, and effective enough that defaulting to it rarely cost fish. Price pressure, applied selectively, tends to produce better decisions. A tyer who is now thinking carefully about when tungsten actually earns its place on the hook (and when brass, lead wire, or a technique adjustment does the same job) is a better tyer for having thought about it.  The blog over at Last Cast Life makes this argument compellingly, including a reminder that the bead head nymph only became standard practice in the early 1990s. Serious tyers were getting their flies into the strike zone for decades before tungsten beads arrived, and the methods they used are worth revisiting. So, what are the alternatives, and when do they actually work? Brass beads Brass is not a compromise. It is the correct material for a meaningful range of fly types and water conditions, and the current pricing environment is a reasonable moment to remember that. Brass beads provide moderate weight and are lighter than tungsten or lead, which gives you more control of the depth while fly fishing in slower-moving water. In slower currents, shallow tailouts, spring creek presentations, and any situation where a tungsten bead would drive the fly too deep or too fast, brass is the functionally correct choice — not a substitute for tungsten but the right material for the job. Our brass vs tungsten beads breakdown covers exactly when each material earns its keep, but the practical headline is this: if the water is slower, shallower, or the fish are higher in the water column, brass is fishing the right zone. The Hareline Brass Beads range covers the full size spectrum from midge to streamer, in all the standard finishes. For tyers who have been defaulting to tungsten across the whole bench, there are almost certainly patterns in the box where brass is the better choice — and currently the more economical one by a significant margin. Lead and lead-free wire Lead wire wrapped on the hook shank distributes weight along the body rather than concentrating it at the head, which changes how the fly sinks, how it moves in current, and how it looks to the fish. A wire-weighted nymph without a bead often has a more natural tumbling action through pockets and runs than the same pattern with a heavy bead pulling the head down. Lead-free heavy-weight wire from Semperfli is the best option for adding significant weight to nymphs and streamers. This environmentally safe option provides excellent sink rates without the toxicity concerns of lead wire. The technique matters as much as the material:  graduated weighting produces better results than random wrapping: placing 60% of the wire weight in the forward third of the hook shank for nymphs gets the fly down efficiently while maintaining action in the body. Semperfli Lead-Free Weighted Wire, Wapsi Lead Wire, and Ultra Wire across sizes from small to large cover the full range — from adding subtle weight to a Hare’s Ear on a size 16 hook through loading a large stonefly nymph to anchor a euro rig. Wire in multiple diameters is worth having on the bench regardless of bead pricing, because it solves weighting problems that beads don’t address and adds body detail that dubbing alone can’t produce. Bead chain and brass dumbbell eyes For any tyer who uses tungsten dumbbell eyes on Clousers, egg-sucking leeches, or saltwater patterns, the current pricing environment is a direct prompt to reassess whether the jigging action and depth those patterns require genuinely needs tungsten or whether brass gets the fly fishing correctly. Hareline Brass Dumbbell Eyes in sizes from extra-small through large cover the streamer and saltwater range. Brass barbell eyes add weight and action to any pattern and allow the fly to sink more quickly in the water column while maintaining the level of depth control that slower-moving water requires. For most Clouser applications where the retrieve speed keeps the fly in the mid-column, brass provides the jigging action the pattern requires without the sink rate of tungsten that would put the fly on the bottom on every pause. Bead chain eyes remain the correct choice for shallow water presentations — bonefish flats, spring creek streamers, shallow bass water — where a heavy dumbbell eye would put the fly past the fish’s feeding level on the first strip.  The weight hierarchy (bead chain → brass dumbbell → lead dumbbell → tungsten dumbbell) maps directly to water depth and current speed, and that map still applies regardless of tungsten pricing. See Product See Product Polyleaders and sink tips One of the most efficient solutions to the tungsten question isn’t at the tying bench at all but at the end of your fly line. A polyleader or sink tip converts a floating line into a system that fishes at depth, which means the fly itself can be lighter, sparser, and more naturally mobile than a heavily beaded equivalent doing the same depth work on its own. The logic is straightforward: the line does the sinking, the fly does the swimming. A lightly dressed soft hackle, an unweighted wet fly, or a sparsely tied nymph on a sink tip behaves differently in the water column than a tungsten-beaded version of the same pattern. In fact in some instances it might move more freely, respond to current more naturally, and present a profile that isn’t anchored head-down by the bead’s weight. For many situations, that presentation can be more effective than the beaded alternative, not just a cheaper substitute for it. The Airflo Tactical Polyleader is the most versatile entry point — built on Airflo’s PVC-free polyurethane construction, it tapers like a fly line rather than a level sink tip, turning over large flies and weighted rigs cleanly without the hinge point that undermines stiffer mono sink tips. Loop-on attachment converts a floating line to a sink tip in seconds across multiple sink rates — from slow intermediate for just below the surface through fast sinking for deeper runs. The RIO Sinking Trout VersiLeader provides the same functionality in RIO’s construction — a pre-tapered, loop-on system available in multiple sink rates specifically calibrated for trout water. For anglers who want a more precise density selection, the Scientific Anglers Sonar Leader is available in five densities — float, hover, intermediate, sink 3, and sink 6 — on a 25-lb mono core in 7-foot and 10-foot lengths. The 10-foot Sink 6 in particular gets a lightly weighted fly into deep runs that would otherwise require a heavy tungsten bead to reach. For streamer applications where a full sink tip is the right tool — deep runs, steelhead water, lake fishing for predators — the Scientific Anglers Frequency Sink Tip Type III puts a fast-sinking 10-foot tip on a floating running line, keeping the line controllable and liftable while getting the fly into the two-to-four foot depth range. The RIO Elite Predator takes this further for warmwater and predator applications — a three-density system (floating rear, hover section, intermediate tip) that holds flies in the top two to three feet of the water column without needing the fly itself to carry significant weight. The practical point: before adding weight to a fly to get it deeper, consider whether a polyleader swap achieves the same result with a fly that moves better in the water. In many situations it does — and the presentation improvement is not incidental. The technique adjustments that change the equation entirely The Last Cast Life post makes the point that tungsten became a substitute for casting and line management skill in some corners of the sport — and it’s worth sitting with. A tuck cast, a longer dead drift, better mending upstream to control belly and extend sink time — these are skills that put flies in the strike zone without any change in material. Techniques worth developing alongside the material review: The tuck cast — a deliberately driven stop on the forward cast that drives the fly down into the water rather than laying it on the surface. Creates immediate sink and is particularly effective in pocket water where the drift window is short. Upstream mending — reduces drag, extends drift time, and creates more sink time for lighter flies. A well-mended drift with a brass-beaded fly can often fish the same depth as a poorly managed drift with tungsten. Spare patterns without beads — an unweighted soft hackle, a sparse emerger, or a simple wet fly worked on a downstream swing covers water that a heavily beaded nymph fishes past. Trout feeding in the upper water column or just below the film are not caught on tungsten-heavy patterns regardless of how well the cast is made. Brass vs tungsten beads: sink rate, depth, and when to use each Read more In Praise of Sink-Tip Fly Lines Read more Where tungsten earns its place (and price) None of this is an argument for removing tungsten from the bench. It is an argument for using it where it genuinely outperforms the alternatives: fast, deep water where the trout are holding at the bottom and the fly needs to arrive quickly and stay there through a short drift window. That’s a real and common fishing situation and tungsten is the correct answer to it. The practical habit worth building: before reaching for a tungsten bead, ask whether the water and the presentation actually require it.  Our brass vs tungsten beads guide maps the water type and pattern type decisions in detail. The full beads, eyes, and weighting range at J. Stockard covers everything from glass beads for surface work through lead wire and dumbbell eyes for deep, fast water.

There are fly anglers who find the sport and quietly make it their own. And then there are people like Jessica Suvak — who find the sport and immediately start building something with it. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Jess came up as a college athlete competing in volleyball and track before pivoting to ultra running post-graduation. She logged countless miles in the Rocky River Metroparks, where her house sat a quarter mile from the trailhead and — as fate would have it — a stone's throw from her first lake-run rainbow trout run. In her younger years she ran across the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia and climbed to altitude in the Andes Mountains. These days, she jokes that she traded ultramarathons for fishing and good drinks. Her fly fishing journey began at Orvis Westlake, where instructors Steve Brugger and Jimmy Mucci lit what quickly became a lifelong obsession. From there, Jess didn't just get into the sport — she built the scaffolding around it. She founded Green Girl, an Ohio-based outdoor group dedicated to getting more women outside. She co-founded Ohio Women on the Fly alongside Katie Johnstone, growing it from a small Facebook page into a full 501(c)(3) nonprofit running clinics, entomology courses, tying nights, and trips spanning Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Michigan, Cuba, and beyond. She was instrumental in the first Women's Musky Trip with Virginia Trophy Guides. She's worked with brands including Scientific Anglers, Fulling Mill, Orvis, NRS, and Benchmade. She helped build educational programs with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History Trout Club under the mentorship of the legendary Jerry Darkes, and did community work with Ohio Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. In 2024, Jess packed up and moved to Bozeman, Montana with her fiancé Drew. Missing the community she'd built back home, she started Girl Talk Live — a twice-monthly Instagram Live show that pairs real-time fly tying with honest conversation, spotlighting women in the sport who don't always get a seat at the table. The show took off quickly, earning her a feature in Flylords Mag's Women on the Water series and a growing audience that keeps tuning in for the community as much as the tying. We sat down with Jess to talk fly tying philosophy, the move from warm-water predators to Montana trout, what it actually takes to build community in this sport — and the accidental fly that became a personal legend. You can also check out her version of Brendan Ruch's Nut Job pattern here — a great pre-spawn tie for smallmouth and pike that's worth having in your box this time of year. You came to fly fishing from ultra running and climbing. What actually hooked you?I was already deep into the outdoors when I spotted some guys fly fishing while I was out on a training run. I was starting to burn out on running, and it just looked like another incredible way to be outside. I took my first course at Orvis Westlake with Steve Brugger and Jimmy Mucci, and that was it. I was gone. Not long after, I met Katie Johnstone and we realized we were basically the only two women in our area trying to figure this thing out. So we decided to build something around it, and Ohio Women on the Fly was born.You cut your teeth on lake-run fish and toothy critters — how's the transition to trout fishing in Montana been?Smallmouth, pike, and musky are my absolute favorites, so coming out West, I actually had a tough time catching trout. I'm like, I'm confident that there's fish there — but if they don't want the streamer, I'll find new fish. Back home I was a diehard streamer angler. Out here, I'm getting softer with my age. It's hard to deny that these fish want to eat little bugs. They don't always want to work super hard for it.I've been nymphing more just to get used to where the fish are sitting. But now that I've been at it a bit longer and I know the water better, I'm getting back to streamer mode. And I'll say this — there's a big hungry brown out there somewhere that's just waiting for my fly to come past its face. I know it.You're also starting to explore dry fly fishing more. How's that going for someone who loves throwing big meat?I always joke that's why I'm probably not a great dry fly angler yet — I'm just not a delicate human. I wanna slap a huge fly down on the water. But the art of those tiny patterns is genuinely beautiful, and I'm getting more into it. My partner grew up doing a lot of dry fly fishing in New York and Vermont, so we'll be out on the boat together and it becomes this whole fun back-and-forth. It's a new experience for me that I'm really starting to appreciate. It's just as challenging in its own way. One of the gals I fish with out here said she basically just ties dubbing and CDC for her dry flies and she catches more fish on those than anything intricate she spends an hour on. And I'm like — if it works, go for it. That's the whole philosophy, right? Let's talk fly tying. What's your philosophy on it, and why do you do it?At its core, I think fly tying just makes you a better angler. You pay more attention to what the fish are eating — you're flipping rocks, you're looking at everything, you're observing how things swim and what colors are actually in the water. Then you go home and try to mimic it. It's one more step into the sickness of fly fishing. How far down the rabbit hole can you go? Beyond that, it's the best decompression at the end of a long day. Some people sit in front of the TV. I put a record on, sit down at the bench, and tie. It's meditative. And now we have three dogs, so sometimes I just lock myself upstairs and it's like — no sound, nobody bothering me. It's perfect. In Conversation With Tim Flagler Read more Why Your Size 16 Isn't Really a Size 16 Read more A lot of new tyers hit a frustration wall early on. How was that for you? For sure — even just buying all the materials at the start is overwhelming. But you know, mistakes happen, and that's where some of the best stuff comes from. I always tell people in my tying classes: most innovative things started as a mistake. If your fly looks a little funky, still fish it. You might have just invented something. Or you might learn something. Either way, you're not losing. Do you have an example of a happy accident at the bench that actually worked? Oh, absolutely. Way back when I was tying a zonker and ran out of materials — no time to get to the shop, so I just threw in whatever I had. We ended up calling it Dreamboat Annie, after the Heart song, because that's what was playing. Just a zonker-style fly with a wild bead head and the most random rabbit strip colors you can imagine. Fished it the next day and it absolutely crushed. My friends and I still tie it. It's nothing special on paper — but it works, and it has a special place in my heart. Speaking of confidence in flies — do you think that actually matters on the water? One hundred percent. If you're confident in a fly, you fish it harder, better, and it stays in the water longer. A fly in the water catches more fish than one that's not — that's just a fact. When I first got into musky fishing, someone told me: if a musky's hungry enough and you put it in front of its face, it'll eat. So make something you're confident enough to throw all day long. A heavy, waterlogged sock of a fly that I can't cast properly? I'm not confident in it. But give me something lightweight that I can throw all day — I'm making my presentations, I'm dialed in, I'm catching more fish. Confidence in your fly directly affects how you fish it. Tell us about Brendan Ruch's Nut Job. What's the story behind it and what does it fish like? [Editor's note: You can find Brendan Ruch's full Nut Job tying recipe and materials list here. It's tied with Fulling Mill hooks and materials that we carry — details below.] It's basically a cheaper, more accessible version of a leggy streamer — legs, two hooks, and a weighted bead. My biggest pike ever came off a fly mimicking this pattern. It's a great pre-spawn tie for smallmouth and pike, but honestly it crosses over into a lot of fisheries. Brendan, the fly's creator, can tell you more about the design decisions, but the short version is: it's simple, it swims great, and fish eat it. You've transitioned from tying big streamer stuff to trout patterns. Does the skillset transfer? Some of it absolutely does — understanding movement, materials, profile, proportion. But sitting down to tie a size 18 nymph after years of five-inch predator flies is genuinely humbling. I remember sitting down one day and thinking, what do trout actually eat? I had to do real research — looking at what local tiers were doing, studying the hatches. The principles carry over, but you scale everything way down and you have to retrain your hands and your patience. I still find myself tying one nymph and immediately wanting to switch to something more interesting. Talk to us about community building — you've dedicated a serious amount of energy to it. My whole life I was in team sports, through college and beyond, and when I graduated I suddenly missed that sense of being part of something. I started a group called Green Girl before fly fishing was even in the picture — just an outdoor recreation group to get more women outside in Ohio. The lifelong friendships that came out of that alone were insane. Women who are now going out solo, planning their own trips, hosting events years later. Then I met Katie Johnstone, we both got into fly fishing at the same time, and we were basically the only two women in our circle trying to figure it out. So we started a Facebook page and organized meetups at Mohican State Park — it's a beautiful spot, stocked river, easy access, safe for everyone. It just grew and grew. Watching people from that community go on to become guides and work at fly shops — that's the whole point, right there. Here's what I always say: people think community building is so much work, and it is, but it's also the minimum amount of work for the return you get. With Girl Talk Live, I'm giving an hour a month to feature a woman who doesn't always get the spotlight in this industry — and it's making a real difference. One hour. That's it. The impact is disproportionate to the effort, and I think that's underestimated by a lot of people. What is Girl Talk Live, and where can people find it? Girl Talk Live is an Instagram Live show I host once or twice a month, typically on Monday evenings around 6pm Mountain Time. Each guest picks a time around her schedule, so it varies a little, but I'm pretty transparent about when things are happening — just follow @girltalk_live and you'll know. The format is simple: I bring on a woman from somewhere in the fly fishing world — a guide, a tier, someone doing interesting things in her fishery — and we tie flies in real time and just talk. The whole session stays up on the page so you can rewatch it. We're also looking at clips and potentially a YouTube channel down the line. I try to spotlight patterns that don't circulate widely online — guests bring flies from their specific home waters that actually work, and we end up having these great conversations about cross-species applications. A carp fly that would make a killer striper fly. That kind of thing. It keeps it fresh and it keeps people learning. I didn't even know this was going to become something. It started as a way to stay connected with my friends through a Montana winter, and it just kept growing. Flylords Mag picked it up in their Women on the Water series, which was a really cool moment. I'm just riding the wave and seeing where it goes. Final word — any advice for someone sitting on the fence about getting into fly fishing or fly tying? Just go. Reach out to every fly shop, every angler. Reach out to me. The worst anyone can say is no, and then you move to the next person. You're going to look like an idiot sometimes — I do all the time. But you make mistakes, you get better, you make a ton of friends along the way. Know that fly shop owners genuinely want you to walk through the door. We're in an age where people want you in there. So just walk in. Follow Jess on Instagram at @jessicasuvak and catch Girl Talk Live at @girltalk_live, typically twice a month on Monday evenings. Full Nut Job tying recipe and materials here. Jess ties the Nut Job Fly

Caleb Snead of Rambler Angler and Blade Co. breaks down fly tying scissor steel, blade geometry, and which KAI scissor belongs at every level of the bench.

All the information you need about Barry Ord Clarke, aka 'The Feather Bender' our first Fly Tying Ambassador

For over 50 years, Renzetti has been at the forefront of fly tying innovation, crafting vises that elevate the art of fly tying from mere function to a true creative pursuit. It is at the vise, where Renzetti believes precision meets artistry. "Fly tying is a unique marriage of the art and craft," reads a line from one of their striking catalogs. "In its most basic form, it is a means toan end, a deception designed to entice a fish to accept the offering. But many tyers go beyond the purely utilitarian and elevate their creation as something beautiful to behold in their own right." At Renzetti they are dedicated to providing you the tools to tie at whatever level suits your fancy. And now, we’re thrilled to announce that Renzetti’s renowned vises and tools are available at J Stockard Fly Fishing! Designed for performance, durability, and ease of use, these vises provide the perfect platform for bringing your fly patterns to life. The one thing we really love about Renzetti is that there is a vise for every tyer's needs. Here’s a comparison table of the Renzetti vises we have in stock along with a brief explanation of why each might appeal to you: Our Renzetti Range Explained Vise Model Vise Details Renzetti Presentation 2000 Hook Range: #28 to #4/0Finish: Anodized aluminumKey Features: Hinged rotary head, ratchet crank arm, bobbin cradle, cam jaws, rotary tension knobBest For: Intermediate to advanced tyers looking for precision and versatility without stepping up to premium-priced models Renzetti Apprentice Vise (C-Clamp) Hook Range: #28 to #2Finish: Glass-beaded aluminumKey Features: Rotary head, tension screw, black oxide-coated jaws, simple and functionalBest For: Beginners who want an affordable but reliable rotary vise to start tying flies Saltwater Traveler 2200 Hook Range: #4 to #8/0Finish: Anodized aluminumKey Features: Cam jaws, material clip, spinning attachment, true rotary functionBest For: Saltwater tyers handling larger hooks and needing a vise that can endure tough conditions Traveler 2200 Hook Range: #28 to #4/0Finish: Anodized aluminumKey Features: Bobbin cradle, polyurethane O-ring, cam jaws, rotary tension screwBest For: Versatile choice for all-around fly tying, offering portability and durability Traveler 2300 Hook Range: #28 to #4/0Finish: Black anodized aluminumKey Features: Same as Traveler 2200 but with a black anodized finish for added durability and aestheticsBest For: Tyers who prefer a sleek black finish with all the advantages of the Traveler 2200 See Product See Product See Product Which Renzetti Vise is Best for You? Beginners: The Apprentice Series Vise is an excellent starting point, offering simplicity and durability at an affordable price. General Fly Tyers: The Traveler 2200 or 2300 provides a great balance of features, portability, and affordability. The Traveler 2300 features a black anodized base. Precision-Oriented Tyers: The Presentation 2000 is ideal for those who want more control over their tying with advanced rotary functions. Saltwater and Big Game Tyers: The Saltwater Traveler 2200 is built for handling large hooks and tough materials, perfect for saltwater flies. See Product See Product See Product Renzetti Tools and Accessories In addition, Renzetti’s lineup in our store, includes accessories that make fly tying more efficient and enjoyable. From their hair stackers and bobbins to tool caddies to name but a few.  Check out a wide range of Renzetti products here now and discover the difference for yourself.

Fly-tying is an art, a craft, and for many of us, a meditative practice. And it all starts at the bench—a place where ideas transform into intricate flies, ready for the next fishing adventure. The "Show Us Your Bench" event was inspired by our curiosity about the workspaces that fuel your creativity. Whether it’s a high-end setup with custom storage or a simple, well-loved nook in the corner of a room, each tying station tells a story. The submissions we received revealed the diversity and individuality of our community. From organized setups with walls of feathers and rows of spools to minimalist benches with just the essentials, each shared space felt like a window into your unique tying journey. Community Creativity on Display One of the most inspiring parts of this event was seeing the inventive ways you’ve organized your tools, materials, and patterns. Bench setups evolve over time, growing alongside your fly-tying skills. Some benches included custom tool racks, DIY material storage solutions, and even clever lighting setups to help tackle those intricate flies. These creative touches not only reflect your personalities but also inspire others in the community who may be looking to refine their own workspaces. Highlights from the Event: Featured Fly Tying Bench Submissions Every entry we received had its own unique charm, and many stood out for their creativity or organization. We saw submissions from seasoned tyers with decades of experience and newcomers who just started their fly-tying journey. Here are a few of the highlights: Windows to the World: Several of you shared fly tying benches in close proximity to a window! It's no surprise, since many of us get into fly fishing because we love spending time outdoors. Of course, if we can't be outdoors on the water, sitting at our bench with a fly in our vise and a nice view is the next best thing. Space-Saving Setups: For those with limited space, the ingenuity was impressive. One participant turned a small closet into a fully functional tying station, maximizing every inch with wall-mounted storage and clever lighting. Another showed us a portable tying kit that allows them to tie on the go—a reminder that you don’t need a big space to create quality flies. Tips and Tools: What We Learned from You As part of the event, many of you shared benches that showed a ton of thought went into how your fly tying materials and tools are organized. Some benches even showed tips on organizing materials, essential tools, and favorite tying techniques. Here are some insights we gathered: Lighting is Key: Good lighting was a recurring theme. Many tyers rely on magnifying lamps to reduce eye strain and see fine details more clearly. For those working late into the night, this has become an essential part of the setup. Organization Matters: How you choose to store and organize your material is a decision that breeds a lot of diversity in fly tying benches. Many tyers use the almost-ubiqitous translucent plastic bin (should we be carrying Sterilite?). Some have more traditional, elegant wooden desks with drawers. But many of you also opt for a more at-the-ready peg solution, where all your colors of threads, dubbing, hackle, and other material can be at your fingertips, making it easier to grab the materials you need without breaking their creative flow. We also saw innovative ways to keep tools handy—many of you use magnetic strips or pegboards to keep scissors, bobbins, and pliers right at arm’s reach. Thank You for Making Our Community Stronger The "Show Us Your Bench" event underscored the strength of the J. Stockard community. It’s clear that our shared love of fly-tying goes beyond making effective flies; it’s about the joy of creating, sharing knowledge, and finding camaraderie with like-minded enthusiasts. We were inspired by the warmth and willingness to share that was evident in each post. Check out more of our community's submission on the Show Us Your Bench showcase page. Events like this one remind us how important it is to celebrate the spaces that allow our community to grow. Each bench, whether big or small, elaborate or simple, reflects the dedication you bring to fly-tying. We’re thrilled to know that J. Stockard Fly Fishing plays a role in supporting your passion and providing the materials and tools that bring your flies to life. What’s Next? With such an enthusiastic response, we’re already brainstorming future community events and challenges. We hope to create more opportunities to bring everyone together, share inspiration, and celebrate the incredible work you all do. Keep an eye on our social media pages and our newsletter for announcements about upcoming events. And, of course, we’d love to hear your ideas! If you have suggestions for community challenges or topics you’d like to explore, please feel free to reach out. Thank you again to everyone who shared their workspace, their creativity, and their passion with us. We look forward to many more events like this one, and we can’t wait to see what you create next! Happy tying, and tight lines and tight wraps! Want to upgrade your bench? Check out some of our most popular tools and vises! See Product See Product See Product See Product See Product See Product

I'm Brian Smith, and I'm from Stanley, Virginia, which is a tiny town of about 2000 people, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley. I usually fish the Hawksbill Creek or Shenandoah river, and I target everything from trout to smallmouth.

The Kona fly fishing hook selection is designed to meet the most popular needs of most fly tyers. They are high quality hooks that should please many fly fishers. They are sturdy hooks with very sharp points.

We would like to welcome our new Pro Tyer, Jeff Rowley! Jeff Rowley Jeff was born and raised in the Texas Panhandle. He spent a lot of his time in the Rocky Mountains where his family had a cabin and his love for fly fishing and fly tying began there. At age 12 Jeff was gifted a fly tying kit and learned mostly from books and instructional manuals. In the mid 1990's, Jeff began to take fly fishing seriously. He has spent time fishing in Colorado, New Mexico, & Texas mostly. The majority of that time is targeting trout in the Rocky Mountains. Jeff mentions that he loves saltwater fishing on the Texas coast too. He said, "I'm always looking for new places to fish!" Jeff ties on a Stonfo Transformer vise and he uses Ahrex Hooks. He stands behind products from Semperfli, Renomed, and TFO. You can find him on Instagram. We are very excited to welcome Jeff to the J. Stockard Pro Tyers team and we look forward to seeing what he ties up in the future. Deer Hair Cicada Deer Hair Crayfish Deer Hair Mouse Deer Hair Popper