Week four -- Olive Fore and Aft

This week I elected to do the Olive Fore and Aft fly that I learned about on the Fly Angler's Online website in the lake fishing section. I figured that if it looked like something that a trout would eat, most likely the fish in my neighborhood would take it for food also. It is tied quite thin to sink fairly quickly without adding weight besides the hook. I hope you enjoy it and that you can also catch some fish with it.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the Olive Fore and Aft, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook:   Wet Fly Hook. (I selected a size 8 streamer for this.)


• Thread: Black


• Rear Hackle: Ginger Saddle Hackle, 2 Wraps


• Body:   Dark-Olive/Gold Chenille


• Front Hackle: Black Saddle Hackle

After gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook.

Wrap the thread to the back of the hook and prepare the hackle that you have selected for the rear of the fly.

Tie in the rear hackle at the bend of the hook with the concave side facing downward. (Shiny side up.)

Make two complete wraps of hackle at the tie-in point, tie it off, and remove the extra part of the hackle. (My wraps are a little spread apart. I did not notice this until I saw the photographs. I kinda doubt the fish will notice either.)

Prepare the chenille by stripping a little bit of material from the string that holds it together.

Tie in the chenille and advance the thread to the front of the hook. At that point tie in the front hackle after preparing it. This time with the curved side facing up, or shiny side facing down.

Wrap the chenille forward to the tie in point of the front hackle and tie it off. Also remove any extra chenille.

Make two wraps with the black hackle, tie it off, and trim the extra feather off.

To get a clean whip finish on the fly I use a small peice of straw to hold the hackle fibers back out of the way. With the straw on there, build a small head and whip finish the fly. Also a bit of head cement can be applied, if you use it, at this time.

Completed Fly.

Top View.

Bottom View.

Well, now I hope the temperature rises a bit so I can go play with my little finned friends in the water. I am really hoping that some of the ice will melt off a bit in some areas so I can just go see if anything wants to play.

Lime Trude

Week Three Fly -- Diawl Bach

Here is the Diawl Bach Fly. I was referred to an article about it over on the Global Fly Fisher site located here and it was said to be a good still water pattern. Since I mostly get to fish lakes and ponds these days I wanted to tie some up and give them a try so I figured I would do that at this point.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the Diawl Bach Fly, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook:   Wet Fly hook. (I selected a size 12 for this.)


• Thread: Red


• Rib:    Copper Wire


• Tail:   Brown Hackle Fibers


• Body:   Peacock Herl


• False Hackle: Brown HackleFibers

After Gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook. The thread I am using is a sewing thread, so it is fairly thick for this application.

Wrap the thread to the bend of the hook and tie in a pinch of hackle fibers for the tail. Also tie in the copper wire for the ribbing at this point.

Also tie in a couple of pieces of peacock herl. For the fly to sink quickly the body should be quite thin.

Wrap the herl body forward leaving just enough room ofr the head of the fly. Tie off the herl and clip the extra tips.

Counter wrap the copper wire ribbing material forward and tie it off also.

Turn the fly over and tie in a small pinch of hackle fibers as a beard or false hackle.

Turn the fly back over, whip finish a head, clip off the thread, and apply your head cement.

Completed Fly.

That is it for this fly. It really was a pretty simple fly to tie. Of course, I just could not leave well enough alone, so I started playing around and made a few adjustments to try once the ice is gone from my part of the country. Let me know what you think of these too.

I switched back to a brown thread and added a silver seed bead to the front of this one.

Instead of using the red thread I tied a couple with red seed beads to get the same red head effect.

I also tried one with red hackle tips instead of the brown that was called for.

Well, now I hope the temperature rises a bit so I can give these a try and see if the fish here like them as well as the ones in England do.

Lime Trude

Week Two Fly

Here is the Wasp Fly. Someone posted an image of a wasp with no recipe on the FAOL bulletin board a couple of years ago and I printed out the thread. I have tied it and used it to catch some warm water species since then. I also like the way it looks, so I decided to include it.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the Wasp Fly, which are
Pictured above and as follows:

• Hook:   Dry Fly hook. (I selected a size 10 for this.)


• Thread: To Match (I chose Black.)


• Body:   Yellow and Black Foam


• Wing:   Feather tips (Left over from wrapping hackle. I keep a small pile of these on my desk.)


• Hackle: Coachman Brown Dry Hackle

After Gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook.

Wrap the thread to the bend of the hook and create a dubbing loop. This loop will be used as the 'rib' on the body, so having two strands of thread will give it a thicker look.

The yellow foam I selected for the body was a popsickle shaped piece I found at a craft store. I cut it in half to have a thinner piece to work with. Tie it onto the hook covering the area for this part of the body. (Covering all of the abdomen with this will give you an even body shape.)

Wrap the foam forward and tie it off.

Counter wrap the 'dubbing loop' up the body in open turns. So, if you wrapped the foam away from you as you wrapped it forward, wrap the thread rib toward you as you wrap it forward.

Tie in the hackle tips for wings. For this one I have selected white tips, I also use brown or grizzly tips. It just depends on what I have 'available' and like at the time.

Clip off the extra feather bits. At this point I do not know what else I could use them for, so I toss them.

Tie in the hackle. I usually use brown for this from an old Indian hackle bit that I got with my original fly tying kit. This hacle is more for legs than to support the fly, so the choice of feather used is really not that important. Use whatever you have available.

Wrap the hackle forward and tie off. I also trim the hackle on the top of the hook so that the next step is easier, but that is up to you.

Lay a piece of black foam on top of the front third of the hook and tie it down. I usually try to cut this so it is 1/4 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. Make sure that when you are tying it down you don't trap the legs with the thread. End by moving the thread to just behind the hook eye.

Pull the black foam forward and tie it down just behind the eye of the hook.

Trip the black foam and whip finish to complete the fly.

Completed Top view.

Completed Bottom View.

Completed Fly.

Week One Fly

Here is the first Fly a Week entry!

Well, I have completed the first week's Fly. Hope you like it! It could be better, but I am hoping my skills will improve as the year progresses.

I have chosen for the first fly, the Lime Trude. I chose this because I like the pattern and the way the fly looks. It has been a favorite pattern for a long time. It is also one that is not seen too often.

Hope you enjoy it.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the Lime Trude Fly, which are Pictured above and as follows:

• Hook:   Dry Fly hook. (I selected a size 12 for this.)


• Thread: To Match (I chose Brown.)


• Tail:      Golden Pheasant Neck Feathers


• Body:   Lime Colored Material (I chose floss.)


• Wing:   White Bucktail Fibers


• Hackle: Coachman Brown Dry Hackle

After Gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise.

Start your thread on the hook at the point where you want to end the body.

Select a few fibers from the Golden Pheasant feather and tie them in leaving the tail about as long as the hook shank.

Tie in the body material where the hook just begins to start into the bend.

Wrap a tapered body by wrapping it on thicker as you progress forward to where the body will end. Be careful to leave room for the wing, hackle and head. (I crowded the eye quite a bit on this particular fly. Mainly because the floss broke off twice while I was wrapping the body and I had to get it restarted.)

Cut a small bundle of straight bucktail fibers and stack them to even the tips. Then tie them in where you tied off the body material. I like the wing to extend a little beyond the hook bend.

Select a hackle feather where the barbs are a bit longer than the hook gap and tie it in with the shiny side facing the back of the hook. (In the above image the shiny side is facing away from you.)

Wrap the hackle forward a few turns and tie it off. Clip off the extra length of feather.

Build a small head and whip finish.

Completed Top view.

Completed Bottom View.

Completed Fly.