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Shenk’s Minnow
As baitfish imitations go, Shenk's Minnow might be the most fun to tie. While other patterns, like Norm Zeigler's Schminnow, might actually be a little easier to craft, no other simple baitfish patterns calls for baby-blanket yarn in order to put it together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGQ7VHFsFM Above, Tim Flagler ties the Shenk's Minnow with his own variations…
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Tying in the dreaded bucktail
The bucktail wing is one of the elementary ingredients in a number of popular flies, from Clousers to Coachmen ... even some caddis patterns call for bucktail. But, man, can it be hard to work with or what? I've always struggled with bucktail—I either lash it too tightly to the hook shank, which makes it…
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Jeff Blood’s White Death
It's steelhead season, although here in the Northwest, most folks aren't nearly as excited about it as they used to be thanks to dismal fish returns in the Columbia River system—it's an unfortunate recurring theme for anglers in the region who are helplessly watching our prized ocean-going fish dwindle seemingly every season. But for those…
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Hanging with the pros
Dave Kielar felt like he had to pinch himself. There he sat, surrounded by what amounted to fly fishing glitterati, at a dinner table at TroutHunter in Island Park, Idaho. Earlier in the week, he got to rub elbows with the venerable Craig Mathews, who for years owned and operated Blue Ribbon Flies in nearby…
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Set your fantasy fly lineup
‘Tis the season. Over the weekend, my buddy and fellow TU-er Kirk Deeter and I faced off in fantasy football. We’re both underachieving this year--it seems we both have the bad fortune to play the highest-scoring opponents in the league every week this season, so we both find ourselves in the middle of the standings,…
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Tying quill bodies
If flies were measured by their appearance, quill-bodied mayfly patterns would take Best in Show honors every single time. Sleek yet buggy, streamlined, yet high-floating, quill-bodied flies are stylish and functional. https://youtu.be/4dpdMZmfRYM Tim Flagler shows us how to tie the perfect quill-bodied fly. But they can be a bear to tie, especially if you've never…
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Ode to the Olive
It's a tiny little bug, but it — and its many variants — might be the single-most important fly of fall. The venerable Blue-winged Olive, the vise-borne imitation of the tiny baetis mayfly, is the dry-fly king of autumn, even though it rarely materializes on the water in any form larger than a size 20.…
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