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Butcher Wet Fly
Butcher This famous wet fly was originally called Moon’s Fly after a butcher called Moon whose favorite pattern it was. Developed by John Jewhurst the fly was newly named by William Blacker around 1838 as per Moon’s profession arguably as a marketing gimmick. Well the name change worked well as it became one of the…
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Kalkkisten Vaalea & Tumma
Kalkkisten Vaalea & Kalkkisten Tumma We are continuing with traditional Finnish trout flies. I have tied quite a lot of these because Kalkkisten Vaalea has been one of the flies I like to teach in my workshops. It’s pretty fast to tie and has many of the basic components of a classic strip winged salmon…
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Huopana
Huopana This is an interesting pattern from a Finnish perspective as it was designed in Great Britain based on insect samples from Huopanankoski (Huopana rapids), Finland in the early 1900’s. It is one of those early places in our fly fishing history where fly fishing and sport fishing in general started to play a major…
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Pro Golden Stonefly Nymph
Pro Golden Stonefly Nymph This spring I got some samples of Pro Sprotfishers trout fly tying materials and did some testing with them while planning the trip to US in the prime stonefly season. I’m sorry for the generic name but I hate naming my patterns especially ones I haven’t fished for years and gone…
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Superpupa
Superpupa Developed by the Swedish fly tyer Lennart Bergqvist in the late 1970’s Superpuppan has become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the best known flies in Scandinavia. This fly is supposed to imitate a caddis pupa swimming in the surface at dark and to make a similar pattern to the water surface. But it…
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Bergman Wet Flies Tied by Rane Olsen
Ray Bergman’s wet flies tied by Rane Olsen This is such a great feat completed by a Finnish tyer Rane Olsen that I had to share it with my readers. 234 wet fly patterns from Bergman’s books as listed in the Bergman collection by Don Bastian. I have many times played with the idea of…
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Chenille Pupa
Chenille Caddis Pupa This type of crocheted chenille pupa body used to be popular in Finland but has now been overrun by simpler patterns. I have to admit that I too usually go for the simpler ones but when I want to make a bit more chunky pupa this is a good pattern. I’m not…
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Beadhead Stonefly Nymph
Beadhead Stonefly Nymph Been tying some stonefly nymphs for a coming trip abroad and thought I’d share this pattern that is inspired by Kaufmann’s Stone nymph. Materials and some techniques are different by I think the basic appearance is pretty close. I use tungsten beads and some wire to make these really heavy and sink…