Tying And Fishing Bucktails And Other Hair Wings

The classic bucktails--Mickey Finn, Black Nose Dace--are some of the very first flies that anglers learn to tie, and they are the most well-traveled of all streamer types, from Maine to Washington, trout to salmon. With over 500 patterns, this is the only book to date written on bucktails as well as other hairwing streamers.

“The dry fly, the wet fly, and the nymph all enjoyed cherished places in an angler’s bag of tricks; but all except the most opinionated will agree that streamer flies and bucktails; when properly selected and employed, hook more and bigger fish more often and in more places than any other type of fly rod lure.” —Joseph D. Bates, Jr. Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (1966) Streamers, and hair wing versions called bucktails, are versatile patterns that can be fished anywhere whether targeting landlocked salmon on a pristine Rangeley region Maine lake, largemouth bass swimming among the lily pads in a tepid southern farm pond, cutthroat trout inhabiting swift, western rivers or hypercritical browns in the Catskills. In this valuable reference for tiers and anglers alike, author Mike Valla collects here for the reader his favorite classics that are not only important from a historical perspective, but also work well to this day. 100 favorite patterns including Allie’s Favorite Bleeding Shiner Brooks’s Honey Blonde Bumblepuppy Chief Needahbeh Colonel Bates Edson Tiger-Dark Fox’s Yellow Optic Bucktail General MacArthur Goober Jane Craig Missoulian Spook Nine-Three Parma Belle Shushan Postmaster Spruce Supervisor Thunder Creek Silver Shiner Warden’s Worry

In the twelve years since his landmark book Pop Fleyes, Bob Popovics has continued to develop new fly patterns and improve old favorites. His new book includes 36 step-by-step tying and technique tutorials, over 12 new patterns, and numerous variations for every situation, plus contributions from a new generation of fly tiers who have been influenced by his signature style.- Includes the Bucktail Deceiver, the Hollow Fleye, and other new patterns that have greatly influenced saltwater tying in the past ten years- Improves on old favorites, including a full update for the Surf Candy- Features contributions from well-known tiers such as Steve Farrar, Dave Skok, Johnny King, David Nelson, Paul Dixon, and Nick Curcione

43 American fly-tying masters, including Mary Orvis Marbury, Thaddeus Norris, and Theodore Gordon.

Step-by-step instructions to tie the unweighted Blacknose Dace Thunder Creek, weighted Emerald Shiner Thunder Creek, Marabou Shiner Thunder Creek, and Silver Shiner Thunder Creek with tail. All the tools you'll need to tie the entire Thunder Creek series.

The story of and instructions to tie the popular and successful Clouser Deep Minnow and its variations, including Purple Darter, Clouser Crayfish, EZ Popper, Rattle Clouser, Bright Sides Minnow, and more. Choose effective hooks, thread, eyes, glue, natural and synthetic fibers. Recipes, instructions, methods, and variations are included, with color photos to tie 17 flies designed to catch trout, carp, smallmouth, pike, redfish, albacore, and more.

This long-awaited book is both a history of the woman and the region, as well as a guide to the Stevens method. It includes color plates of original patterns, some only recently discovered, along with a biography illustrated with archival photos.

A complete guide to selecting, handling, and tying deer hair, with notes on using other hairs as well. Covers patterns for trout, bass, musky, and other species as well as important fishing techniques.

This is a guide book for those totally new to the art of tying flies. Until now, learning flytying from a book has not only been challenging, but often the cause of great frustration, with photographs or diagrams making even the elementary techniques difficult to grasp. Step-by-step images help a reasonably proficient flytyer understand the stages in making a fly, but for the new beginner, there will always be a gap between each step-by-step image, which can be bewildering. Seeing the manual maneuvers that take place in these pages can make the different between success and failure for a beginner. The techniques you will learn in this book are the building blocks for which all successful fishing flies, even the most complex ones, are based.

The Catskills region of the eastern United States, just two hours northeast of New York City, was the birthplace of a uniquely American style of fly that continues to grace the bins of fly shops around the world. Mike Valla explores the essence of Catskill flies, delving into the history of the region's rivers, fly fishers, and fly tiers and blending their colorful histories with precise step-by-step tying methods. He compares the styles of all of the Catskill school of fly tiers and shares color photos of never-before-seen flies from the vaults of the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum as well as detailed tying steps for 11 Catskill-style fly patterns. This book is essential for those not only interested in learning to tie the Catskill-style flies, but also those interested in the history of American fly fishing.