Suggested patterns for beginners

[SlingerFlyRods]

Good morning. I am relatively new to fly tying. Admittedly, all I have tied are green weenies, buggers and glo bugs.


tied a bunch of these last night. not the greatest but I think they should work.

What other flies would you suggest I get myself into that are relatively easy for beginners? My dad has all the stuff for tying and he's been showing me how to do everything in steps, its just nice to hear other peoples opinions on patterns and such.

FYI I am big into wild and native trout waters and spend most of my time on class A's and wilderness streams

 

[LouM]

Pheasant tails, hares ears and walts worm are a good start.

 

[Cold]

For the fishing you do, I'm not sure there's a better fly than a green weenie subsurface.

If/when you're ready to get into dries, start with something like an Elk Hair Caddis.

 

[SlingerFlyRods]

thank you for the replies.. the flies I use on top for wild/natives are as follows (in no particular order) dark adams, royal wulff, EHC, and anything with a parachute which ive seen my dad tie and looks challenging.

 

[Cold]

Parachutes are...different.

I personally find them far easier to tie than any other hackled dry, but I know a few friends who are my equals/betters in tying that avoid them because they give them fits. Typically, I try to remember this and if I know I'll be fishing with those guys offer to trade some parachutes of mine for wulffs, humpies, and other stuff I don't tie as much.

My favorite brookie fly is the stimulator, tied in a #14. Really, though, they're not picky. Just use something that'll fit in their mouth that floats forever and is easy for you to see on the water.

 

[lv2nymph]

Ants & beetles

 

[SlingerFlyRods]

good deal. I know my dad has all the stuff to make those in his fly tying bench.. anyone recommend a good book or online resource for pattern specifics? such as hook size and type, and colors?

 

[MKern]

Beginner patterns should have few and easy to use materials and only a couple of steps.

Master skills first (thread control, basic dubbing, palmerering, head spacing, and damage control) then move to more intermediate patterns like PTs and dry flies.

 

[Cold]

Totally agree with MKern...though if you only ever attempt the simplest patterns, while you'll be "doing it right" from the tying end, you'll have notable holes in your quiver on the water.

As a sort of happy medium, you can get a simple no-name pattern going...tail, body, hair wing. You can vary the hook, proportion, materials, and color of this basic framework to imitate nearly anything fish eat (and really a large percentage of patterns).

Do this on a 2x long dry hook with a wing 1/2 the length of the body and antron tail, it's a decent generic mayfly emerger. Use rabbit for the tail and body, with a short-cropped wing, it's a passable all purpose nymph.

Normal length hook with a wing the same length as the body, no tail? Elk hair caddis. Add a sparkly body and antron tail, it's a caddis emerger. Throw a bead on that for a caddis pupa. Skip the tail and wing, and just use a tan or green dub for the abdomen and black for the head and its a caddis larva. Now you have the whole caddis life cycle on variations of a pattern and you haven't had to worry about a single hackle feather.

Ultimately, this is the line of thinking that I think more beginners need to see. It's not about tying lots of specific patterns...rather most flies are essentially the same parts in varying proportions of those parts.

 

[BelAirSteve]

CDC & Elk

 

[RCFetter]

I started in March with wooly buggers and then moved on to pheasant tail nymphs and then hare's ear.

Now I'm back onto wooly buggers but on nymph hooks and I'm using arctic fox tail instead of marabou for the tail. It's a bit more expensive than marabou but a lot easier to work with.

 

[SlingerFlyRods]

thanks for all the suggestions. I don't think I want to get too overly involved with it.. but it would be nice to do that in addition to build rods during my winter season