Pattern Recipes

The Adams is a general mayfly searcher pattern that suggests a broad range of duns without imitating any single species. Fish it during mixed or unidentified hatches, on riffled freestone water, and as a prospecting fly through spring and summer. Leonard Halladay tied the original in Mayfield, Michigan, around 1922 at the request of Charles Adams. Halladay's first version used golden pheasant tippets for the tail; the modern standard substitutes mixed grizzly and brown hackle fibers, which is what's tied here.

The Black Woolly Bugger is a dark streamer for leeches, small sculpins, baitfish, and large swimming nymphs. It works in streams, tailwaters, ponds, and lakes when fish are feeding low or when stained water calls for a strong silhouette. This unweighted version is a good beginner streamer because it teaches tailing, chenille bodies, palmered hackle, and wire ribbing in one durable fly.

The Bunny Leech imitates a swimming leech, sculpin, or small dark baitfish with the pulse of rabbit fur doing most of the work. Fish it for Pacific salmon and steelhead in fall rivers, tidewater edges, and travel lanes where a broad, slow-moving profile shows well in stained or broken water. The tying is straightforward, but good material control matters because rabbit strips can bulk up quickly.

The Chernobyl Ant is a buoyant foam terrestrial that suggests ants, beetles, hoppers, and stoneflies more than one exact insect. This tan foam variant fishes well in summer pocket water, along grassy banks, and as the dry in a dry-dropper rig. The tie is straightforward, but keeping the foam centered and the legs even takes some care.

The Christmas Island Special is a simple bonefish shrimp and baitfish attractor from the tropical flats of Kiritimati, formerly Christmas Island. It rides hook point up with bead-chain eyes and shows a slim pearl body, sparse wing, and a little flash for clear shallow water. It is a good first saltwater pattern if the tyer can seat bead-chain eyes firmly with figure-eight wraps.

The Chubby Chernobyl is a buoyant terrestrial dry fly that represents a hopper, stonefly, or large attractor insect riding low in broken water. It works well through summer and early fall on freestone streams, pocket water, and grassy riverbanks, and it also makes a steady dry in a dry-dropper rig. The pattern is approachable for tyers with basic foam and rubber-leg control; the main challenge is keeping the foam, wing, and legs centered.

The Crazy Charlie is a sparse flats fly for bonefish, small permit, and other saltwater fish feeding on shrimp and tiny baitfish. This standard bonefish variant uses bead-chain eyes so the fly rides point-up and a slim pearl body that shows well over sand or turtle grass. It is a good first saltwater pattern because the tie is simple, but the proportions need to stay sparse.

The Egg-Sucking Leech is a Pacific salmon and steelhead streamer that suggests a dark leech trailing a loose salmon egg. The black marabou tail pulses in current, the chenille body gives the fly a simple silhouette, and the fluorescent orange head adds a strong trigger in stained water, low light, and fall salmon runs.

The Fat Albert is a high-floating foam terrestrial and attractor dry for hopper banks, beetle water, and summer dry-dropper rigs. This tan-and-brown version uses stacked foam, rubber legs, a poly indicator wing, and a short dry-fly hackle collar to suggest a hopper, cricket, beetle, or small stonefly without matching one insect too tightly. It is a good intermediate tie because the thread segments must hold the foam firmly without cutting it.

The Gotcha is Jim McVay's classic bonefish pattern, a sparse flats fly that suggests a shrimp, small baitfish, or fleeing bit of bottom forage. Bead-chain eyes make it ride hook point up, and the pearl body with tan wing shows well over sand, marl, and turtle grass. It is a good beginner saltwater tie because the proportions are simple, but the eyes and sparse wing still teach useful flats-fly control.

The Half Pint Midge is a modern, bead-head midge pattern designed to imitate chironomid pupae, one of the most abundant and consistently available food sources for trout in rivers, spring creeks, and stillwaters year-round. Midges make up a significant portion of a trout’s diet, particularly in cold water, winter months, and heavily pressured fisheries where fish key on small, high-protein insects. The Half Pint Midge can be described as an enhanced Zebra Midge, combining a slim, segmented profile with subtle flash and a tungsten bead for rapid sink rate. Its compact body closely matches the natural proportions of a midge pupa, while the ribbing suggests segmentation and durability. The small pearl Krystal Flash wing buds imitate trapped air or emerging wings, an important trigger during the pupal ascent. The addition of a tungsten bead allows the fly to reach the strike zone quickly, making it highly effective in deeper runs, tailwaters, and technical nymphing situations. Simple, elegant, and highly functional, the Half Pint Midge excels as a dropper fly, part of a midge cluster, or as a confidence pattern when trout are selectively feeding on small subsurface insects. This fly is especially effective when fish are refusing larger nymphs and demanding precise, realistic imitations, earning the Half Pint Midge a permanent place in many anglers’ midge boxes.

The Hendrickson is a Catskill classic, tied by Roy Steenrod around 1916 on the Beaverkill and named for his friend and angling companion A.E. Hendrickson. It imitates the male dun of Ephemerella subvaria, a mid-spring mayfly of the eastern United States that hatches when water temperatures hold in the low 50s F, typically from late April through May. The female counterpart, with its rusty-brown quill body, is dressed as the Red Quill or Light Hendrickson; this pattern is the male, with the distinctive pinkish-tan fox-belly body. The dressing given here follows Art Flick's Streamside Guide (1947), the standard Catskill recipe with upright divided wood duck wings and a dun hackle collar.

The Intruder is a versatile steelhead and salmon streamer built around a long-shank hook, bead head, and marabou tail and wing. It imitates baitfish and leeches and is effective on both Pacific Northwest rivers and Atlantic salmon lochs. The pattern flies through the water with a pulsing, lifelike action and produces in a wide range of conditions, from clear low water to stained spring runoff.

Tied in 1850 by Jock Scott — gillie to Lord John Scott on the River Tweed — this is among the most celebrated of the fully-dressed Atlantic salmon flies. The body is built in two halves separated by an ostrich-herl butt, finished with the recognizable mixed married wing of dyed swan or goose, peacock wing, bustard substitute, golden pheasant tail, and white-tipped turkey, topped with golden pheasant crest and set off with jungle cock eyes. Originally fished for Atlantic salmon on the Tweed and Spey, it is today tied as much for the bench as the water — but a sparser dressing on a heavy iron will still swing a pool. Pinch or remove the barb on any hook intended for fishing.

The Mercury Midge, created by Pat Dorsey, is a highly effective imitation of a midge pupa with a trapped air bubble. The glass bead mimics emerging gas, making the fly especially deadly during winter and early spring when trout feed heavily on midges. It is best fished deep on fine tippet in tailwaters, spring creeks, and clear, slow-moving rivers.

The Midge Larva is a minimalist, ultra-realistic imitation of the aquatic larval stage of chironomids (midges), one of the most abundant food sources in trout streams worldwide. Representing the small, worm-like insects that live near the stream bottom, this pattern is especially effective in winter and during periods of selective feeding, when trout key in on tiny subsurface prey. Its slim, segmented body and subtle profile make it deadly in clear water and pressured fisheries.

The Parachute Adams is a low-riding dry fly for mayfly duns and general surface searching. It keeps the gray Adams body and mixed hackle look, but the upright post and horizontal hackle make it easier to see and help it sit flush in the film. Fish it through spring and summer mayfly hatches on streams, tailwaters, and stillwater edges.

Partridge and Green is a traditional soft-hackle wet fly in the North Country spider family. The green silk body and sparse partridge hackle suggest small caddis, drowned olives, and other slim-bodied insects drifting just below the surface. Fish it on trout streams in spring through fall, especially on a slow swing or lifted at the end of the drift.

Partridge and Orange is a traditional North Country spider that suggests small emerging mayflies, drowned midges, and other slim-bodied trout food in riffles and soft seams. The pattern is built from orange silk and a sparse turn of partridge, so proportion matters more than material count: keep the body thin and let the hackle breathe in the current.

Partridge and Yellow is a sparse soft-hackle wet fly for pale mayflies, small caddis, and drowned emergers. Fish it swung just under the surface or lifted through riffles in spring and summer. This dressing uses the classic spider structure: a slim yellow silk body and one turn of mottled partridge.

The Rainbow Warrior is a highly effective modern nymph developed by competitive angler Lance Egan. It is a flashy, attractor-style imitation that suggests a wide range of aquatic insects, especially midge and mayfly nymphs. With its hot-spot thread collar, iridescent wing case, and tungsten bead, it excels in fast water and pressured fisheries, making it a staple in Euro-nymphing and competition-style rigs.

The Silver Doctor is a classic fully dressed Atlantic salmon fly, here drafted as a Pryce-Tannatt-style variant with modern legal substitutes for protected materials. Its bright silver body, blue hackle, married wing, jungle cock sides, and kingfisher-blue cheek make it a clean showpiece pattern as much as a fishing fly for clear salmon rivers.

The Skykomish Sunrise is a Pacific Northwest steelhead swing fly built around a bright orange front body and a pale hair wing. This version uses the common hairwing dressing: red hackle-fiber tail, silver rear body, orange chenille front body, orange throat, and white calf-tail wing. Fish it on swung presentations in rivers for summer and winter steelhead, especially when a visible attractor with classic proportions is useful.

The Smokejumper Midge imitates a midge pupa hanging in the film as it sheds its shuck. The slim thread body, fine rib, trailing shuck, and CDC wing keep the fly sparse and light for tailwaters, spring creeks, and stillwater edges during winter and spring midge activity.

The Top Secret Midge imitates a small midge pupa or emerging adult in the surface film, especially on tailwaters and slow seams when trout are feeding selectively. Its slim thread abdomen, sparse trailing shuck, fine wire rib, and slightly fuller dark thorax keep the profile simple while giving just enough segmentation and contrast for tiny sizes.