Formula 1 Flies
Formula 1 Style - Fly Tying In order to create the most volume and action in a fly pattern, I came up with this Formula 1 variation on the "dubbing ball" technique. Rather then using dubbing, or chenille I use a brass bead. The benefit of a brass bead is that it forms...
Thoughts about COVID-19 and Fishing
Thoughts about COVID-19 and Fishing There is an old fishing joke that goes something like this; When John died and arrived at the pearly gates he was amazed. He had lived a rough life and figured he would end up in hell, not in heaven. Peter was at the gate to greet...
Beads and Their Application In Fly Tying
Beads and Their Application In Fly Tying In this article I will go over a variety of applications for beads in fly tying. The focus will be on larger fly patterns and does not include nymphs for trout etc. For the purpose of this article I will have a look at true,...
Junction Tubing
Junction Tubing Junction Tubing was originally used to connect hooks to tubes, and this continues to be the most common use. With the increased use of tubes for fly patterns a variety of Junction Tube materials and applications have developed. In this article I will...
Fly Balance
Fly Balance From a practical perspective a fly should fulfill a number of criteria in order to consistently catch fish. There are obvious criteria such as the right size or the right colour. However, all the very good fly patterns have other, less obvious, qualities....
How To Rig Hooks With Tapam Special Tube Flies
How To Rig Hooks With Tapam Special Tube Flies The “Tapam Special” is a large baitfish pattern that I developed for the big tarpon at Tapam Lodge in Nicaragua. One of the reasons for using a tube fly is better hook holds. When tarpon jump and shake their head the big...
How to Choose the Best Double Handed Fly Rod and Line Combination for Steelhead
How to Choose the Best Double Handed Fly Rod and Line Combination for Steelhead The selection of a good rod and line combination can be challenging. I commonly get requests from clients to check their rod and line combination and help them out with proper set up. With...
Steelhead Fly Pattern Variation – Does It Matter?
Steelhead Fly Pattern Variation - Does It Matter? In steelhead fly fishing there appear to be two schools of thought; the first school attributes very little importance to the fly pattern and supporters will argue that presentation is what mostly counts. The second...
The Franc ‘n Snaelda Crustacean and Iron Maiden
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End of Season – Start of an Adventure
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How To Tie the Tapam Special
How To Tie a Tapam Special The giant jungle tarpon in Nicaragua feed on variety of bait. The waters are rich in shrimp which can be productive at times. The main attraction for fly fishermen is the explosive surface feeding on mullet. A hunting group of large tarpon...
Recipe: Baby Rooster
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Fly Fishing for Spring-Run Steelhead
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How to Rig Tube Flies
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The King’s Candy Bait Fish Pattern
The King’s Candy Bait Fish Pattern Chinook salmon, also known as King Salmon, are 100% piscivores; that means they only forage on bait fish. The most common bait fish that they feed on is the Pacific Herring. It is therefore rather surprising that fly patterns for...
Interview: Derek Barber on Chinook Rigging
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How to Create a Great Hair Wing
How To Create a Great Hair Wing Hair wings are a very common type of wing in fly tying. Because we use them so often it is useful to know how to create a nice hair wing that has good movement in the water, retains its volume in the water without excessive bulk of...
How to Tie the Tsunami Squid
How To Tie the Tsunami Squid The “Tsunami Squid” was designed by the guides from Skeena River Lodge to deal with low visibility conditions during Chinook season. With the squared off deer head the fly pushes as much water as possible. It turned out to be a very good...
How to Tie the Skeena River Lodge Prom Dress
How to Tie the Skeena River Lodge Prom Dress The “Prom Dress” is a staple pattern for Chinook at Skeena River Lodge. I slightly modified the original pattern, by Scott Howell, to make the pattern more durable and bigger for use for Chinook salmon. I changed the...
The Yellow Tailed Shrimp
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Articulated Gonatid Squid
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Battling Giants in Southern Chile
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The “Pink Rhea Stinger” – A Northeastern Pacific Squid Imitation for the Skeena System Steelhead.
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Metal Tubes: A Review
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“SRL Pattegrisen”
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The Easy Rider
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“Winter Squid”
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Practical Tips On The Use of Snow Runner
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FnS “Bulkley” on Aluminum Shrimp Tube
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“Skeena Squid”
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A DOT Tube Closer Pattern Variation of the Classic Green Butt Skunk
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Nutria Hackle – the better alternative to traditional feather hackle.
When I started testing Frances, Snaelda and Franc 'n Snaelda patterns for steelhead I ran into a couple of "issues" with the patterns. Firstly the traditional body with ribbing did not hold up very well to repeated catches. Maybe a luxury problem, but still I wanted a...
DOT tube step-by-step
Colin came up with the idea for Drilled Out Tubes (DOT) for low water fishing on his home river, the Tweed, in England. The tube will allow the use of salmon or steelhead sized hooks and a very small pattern. For Atlantic Salmon small patterns are commonly used when...
“Skeena Spey”
Fresh run Skeena steelhead love orange and pink. For most situations a tube fly with a short shank, off-sett bait style hook, is the best way to land these acrobatic fish. However, there is something to be said for the beauty of a fly tied on iron, even if it means...
Snow Runner brush fly for Chinook.
Snow Runner is a great material for large baitfish patterns. Unlike synthetic fibres it does not tangle up after being mangled by predator fish. Another benefit over most synthetics is that it is less buoyant. It will sink better and when the hair has absorbed the...
FnS – “Bulkley”
I have had some requests to do a step-by-step on the "Bulkley" Franc 'n Snaelda. Here it is. I cast the fly roughly straight across, nymph it down, let it swing and strip/twitch it as it slows down. This fly and method will get you strikes at times when many other...
Preparing for Battle
Each year I find myself travelling more and more to fishing destinations around the globe...... Some might say my life is one big fishing trip. But I am talking, fishing outside northern BC for species other than Steelhead and Pacific Salmon. Every spring I travel to...
Jungle Cock Repair
The first part of the process for using the JC eye feathers in a fly is to select a matched pair from the same part of the cape, and depending on what you are tying, you may want to select a small, medium or large pair. The larger JC eye feathers tend to be more...
The “More Green”
This is a fly that I call the "More Green". It's intended for early spring Atlantic salmon on the rivers of the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec. But this fly will work very well for chinooks here on the Skeena system. This fly came about last night. While I was...
Management of Nutria (Coypu)
Although this is a great fur, there are some very important points in its use: The skin upon which you find the Nutria is good leather, provided it has been cured and dyed well. The fur itself consists of the most diverse fibres I have ever worked with; the guard...
Doubling Hackles
This is the method I use for doubling a hackle feather for any type of fly. This works for whatever type of hackle feather is used; cock hackle, hen hackle, schlappen or saddle hackle feather, provided the feather is even in the distribution of the hackle barbs - ie....
“UV or not UV; that is the question.”
Most fish have a vision that is similar to ours, but with better low light and contrast detection, and many species can see light in a lower spectrum than we can. The lower range that we cannot see, but some fish can, is called the Ultra Violet (UV) range. Sockeye...
“Seek & Destroy” Steelhead Dry Flies
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“Morrum Monster”
Here is a step-by-step for the "Morrum Monster". A pattern designed by pro fly tier Dave Bijlsma for the famous Morrum River. It incorporates our new Integrated Shrimp Tube. If you have questions for Dave you can respond to this blog below. Enjoy. Materials:...
Integrated Shrimp Tube FnS
Materials : black Junction Tubing diameter 3,2 silver integrated conehead 14x5 black lining tubing 1,8 tail: Snow Runner or buck tail (in this fly black buck tail) blue crystal flash rear: hackle -black cock, or black nutria body silver flat tinsel and silver rib...
Integrated Shrimp Tubes
This is a step-by-step that demonstrates our brand new Integrated Shrimp Tube design. Commercial tiers will like these integrated tubes. It eliminates the use of a separate cone head, thus speeding up the tying process. It also produces a rock solid fly that holds up...
“Formula 1”; a novel wing support method
In order to create the most volume and action in a fly pattern, I came up with this variation on the "dubbing ball" technique. Rather then using dubbing, or chenille I use a brass bead. The benefit of a brass bead is that it forms a much better barrier to tie your...
The Jaap Kalkman Signature Series
This series of steelhead flies has been developed over the past 30 years. It is based on my own fishing experience here in the Skeena drainage and knowledge that I acquired over my years of guiding on the Bulkley River. Many of the patterns have been refined...
Keep It Simple
Here is a very simple and easy way of rigging your tube flies. This is how I rig all of my wet flies. Whether fishing Steelhead and Salmon here at home or Atlantic salmon, sea trout or saltwater species abroad. I tie on the 3mm tube. No liner tube or junction...
Franc ‘n Snaelda “Skeena”
This step-by-step tying instruction shows how I tie our commercial Franc 'n Snaelda pattern. The FnS pattern was originated by Sean Stenton who combined features of the famous Francis and Snaelda patterns. The resulting FnS pattern has been very popular...