Muskrat has been replaced by the synthetics for no real reason in my mind. It is still a great material for both dries and wets. The ancients valued it highly. Like all natural furs there are variations both on the animal and between them. Here are two pieces showing the difference along the transit...

Simple but more imitative than the Gray Nymph for the cranefly larvae. A better pattern in Driftless spring creeks in the early spring. Just olive grey dubbing and ostrich herl. And, lots of lead wire.

One of my all time favorites. Here is my iteration on a size 6 3906B. It is a fly that I find is the antithesis of the pressured trout/small fly advice you hear today. It is just as good of a fly on spring creeks as it is on freestones in larger sizes. I believe it represents a cranefly larvae and s...

Video game youngsters have cheats. Fly tiers can do the same. If you search the internet you can find old style wet fly hooks with looped eyes. Quill wings are easier to mount because you are tying on a flat surface. You will be limited by size and hook type. Also, like many things, these hooks will...

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I tie with lots of squirrel tail.
Brilliant!

Buz Buszek offered a similar fly named the Trueblood Mayfly Emerger. Same concept and possibly the same fly. It was greased and fished in the film. I believe the fish took it for either an emerger or a spinner.

Jim Slattery certainly has a great selections of hen hackle. As good, if not better, than anyone in the country. An alternative for fiery brown and other uncommon dyed colors I would suggest are fly shops in the UK and Ireland. Fiery Brown, for instance, has been a prominent color in many of their '...

Partridge hooks were indeed good until the early to mid-80's. After that the quality control was lacking and you never knew what you were going to get. Their primary value became that their profiles were unique. Truly, it seemed that some of the models were made specifically for some pattern types. ...

Artery clips/clamps are the best. Before I came upon those I used the old Herb Howard model for years. Micro vascular clamps are the finest. Buy the good ones that are used in surgery, not the cheapos from Pakistan. Standard fly tying hackle pliers can be made infinitely better by gluing emery cloth...

I firmly believe that no one will ever make any sense of hooks. The chassis of our work is a Tower of Babel. The only improvement, a significant one, has been the quality control within a brand. Mustad and Partridge, in particular, would have serious differences in a model depending on the productio...