Making Fly Fishing Flies

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The old timers will tell you that the art to this sport is your fly fishing flies and like they are with most things that have a tradition, they are spot on. They’ll also tell you that you need to learn how to make your own to be considered a true fly fisherman but be warned, this is an art and skill all of its own. It can take years of experimenting with home made fly fishing flies before settling on a design that really has the fish fighting over your fly! Even the old timers had to start somewhere though so don’t be afraid of giving it a go. You will need fishing hooks and string and then something, preferably natural, that you think will get the fish excited or interested enough to go for it.

When you cast out and skim your fly fishing flies over the water to tempt the fish to take a bite of your hook the fish is only going to go for a fly if it looks like a bug that it finds appetizing or if it makes the fish feel aggressive. The aggressiveness is caused by the colors you used when you made your fly fishing flies. If the color does the trick for the fish it will take a bite out of pure emotion. This is why it takes years of experimenting and experience to find the right combination but lets take a look at these two reasons a little closer as they are the essence of good fly fishing flies.

Shape and Material

The usual method of making fly fishing flies is to use feathers, hair, string and anything else that just might appear to be a bug from below the water as you move your fly around. It has to appear real and alive to the fish or it will simply ignore it, or worse swim away. It’s important to keep experimenting with different materials. Always keep your eye and mind open to something new to try. It might be something you see at work or on a woman’s hat on the way to work but always keep looking for something new to try on your next set of fly fishing flies.

Color

It takes a while to work out what colors effect what fish and there are no rights and wrongs, just keep on experimenting and see what works for you. It can be a very frustrating pastime and there is nothing wrong with buying some fly fishing flies to start with. See what works on your river and then try to improve the flies with your own design.

Never think you have the perfect set of fly fishing flies because they don’t exist. When you have two good ones, try to improve them by making another and keep the best two then make another and so on. This way you are constantly improving your collection of fly fishing flies.

For a more in depth look at making your own fly fishing flies check out our ebook by clicking here and have a look at the video below showing how to do a whip finish.