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British Nick Thomas has come up with a way to form legs and feet using a tool we all have to hand in the kitchen, the common fork.

Flies fitting the "Blue Winged Olive" description are important in almost every river in the trout fishing world

Some say that caddisflies are even more important than mayflies. For us flyfishers that is probably correct. A good caddis pattern can save your day.

Russian fly tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski from St. Peterburg ties some mean looking imitations. Here's an example of his foam wasps

This small baitfish pattern is named after the childhood nickname of the originator.

Caterpillars aren't the most common type of fishing flies, but like a good ant or beetle pattern they can be killers by an overgrown stream bank on a warm summers day.

Somewhat an oxymoron - a fly that's a mammal - but still a fun fly to tie, and not least to fish when the large fish are tuned in on a mouse menu.

It might sound crazy, but you can actually help hospitalized kids by tying flies for them! Tie flies in support for this science project for kids.

Who else than epoxy wizard (and madman) Bob Kenly would take on tying... eh, building... eh, constructing a Mantis Shrimp as a fly? Follow the project this article where you can read Bob's story about the fly and see pictures of the process and the finished fly.

How to tie a squid fly pattern. Cephalopods - squids and cuttlefish in particular - are high on the menu to some saltwater species. Learn to tie them here.

Colombian Carlos Heinsohn ties a neat baitfish pattern made of synthetic fibers. It's a tough fly with nice movement designed for any predator which feeds on smaller fish.
The pattern is more a tying principle than a specific pattern.

If you are into fly fishing saltwater and like to tie your own flies, this is a book worth considering.

This is a very simple fly imitating the caddis larva. Some may call it realistic fly, some will say impressionistic, but no matter what, the originator says with 100% certainty that it's a killer pattern and he has caught lots of fish with it in many different places.

Ian Moutter, author of Tying Flies in the Paraloop Way, returns with his second book: Imitative Fly Tying. Whereas his previous book was an exploration of fly tying techniques, this book is oriented toward those who want to apply those techniques to different fly patterns. As the name would suggest, the intent is to create patterns that are imitative in nature - that is mimicking natural food forms that a fish is feeding on. In this case, the fish are cold water species - namely trout or grayling.

The C&F extended tube body tool is more than two darning needles in a fancy holder. If you - like Dutch Henk Verhaar - like doing it yourself, this might be worth looking into. The flies tied with extended bodies can become very realistic and still be simple to tie.

Shrimp patterns are always fun to tie. These salt water imitatoins are easy to do and fish well. Martin Joergensen has once again pursued the art of imitating these salt water arthopods - this time utilizing his family's hair brushes!
Read the story and find the patterns here.

Matching the hatch is rarely the item when fishing for sea trout in the ocean. The fish are rarely selective and you're sometimes surprised by which flies they are willing to take. But on a few occasions it can be important to imitate the small animals eaten by the trout.

I'll warn you now; the hopper is my favorite pattern. It's big, I can see it, it's fun to cast and present it with a plop, I have fun tying them and the fish just adore the big, juicy, summer delight.

Jan Reniers has become famous for his different shrimp creations, his latest being a shrimp imitation with a shield of real eel skin, which, when wet, has the typical smell that attracts fish.

"...once they broke the surface film, the butts would tilt down and the head and shoulders would be the only part of the grasshopper above water. They neither rode high in the water, nor lay in a horizontal plane. My thought was to design a hopper that would duplicate that presentation."

This fly was made as an imitation of a very numerous and common group of small crustaceans/isopods, that are present on the menu of sea trout. The animals are very small - a few millimeters - but still the trout will eat them in great numbers. This is especially in the late summer and autumn.

One of Hanafi Saleh's patterns is the "HS Floating Shrimp" which is very suitable for fishing just above the bottomweeds, or just above the bottom without the risk of getting snagged at underwater obstacles.

Wanna tie a mysis? This might be the pattern... Small, easy to tie. It can even stand in for a small dragonfly nymph.

The book is actually quite systematic. Dave Whitlock deals with all important fresh water trout food species; from mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies to fish, scuds, shrimps and leeches. Every group is descibed in detail: life cycle, which is very important to understand -- especially when it comes to insects, morphology, habitus and how to imitate them.