Doug Wright has been fly fishing and tying flies since he was a kid. For the last 15 years, he has been a full-time steelhead guide based in northern BC, primarily on the fabled Dean River. He has amassed a wealth of skill, knowledge and experience chasing steelhead on the fly during this time. One of his favourite pursuits is taking steelhead on waking flies – flies designed to create a visible disturbance that suggests skating caddis, fluttering stonefly adults or appeal to a steelhead’s natural predatory nature. Through his time on the water, Doug has witnessed steelhead rising to emergin ..read more

Craft fur is a durable synthetic material that breathes and flows in the slightest current or under the subtlest of retrieves. It is an ideal tail and wing material, especially for baitfish patterns. You can use craft fur in several ways: tie it in as a wing or tail, insert the fur or underfur into a dubbing loop, you can even cut the backing into Zonker strips. The fur is attached to a cloth, hide-like backing and is available in a wide range of colours, from bright fluorescents to mottled schemes. You can also use permanent markers to add features such as gills or dark vertical barring. Al ..read more

Conor O’Shaughnessy is an innovative, creative fly tyer. His mind is constantly engaged, trying to figure out new ways to deceive fish. Conor’s flies blend his talent and unique tying techniques to solve the presentation challenges before him. His BC Crayfish utilizes composite dubbing loops, one of his favourite tying techniques. A composite dubbing loop involves using two or more dissimilar materials spun and twisted together in a dubbing loop. Typically, a base layer of dubbing is combined with various other materials, including fur, synthetics or any other material that can be layered on ..read more

Spey flies feature long, flowing hackles, slender lines and, on occasion, a beautiful, streamlined, bronze mallard wing. For the most part, spey patterns are straightforward to tie. However, selecting, preparing and tying in the bronze mallard wing can be frustrating. Matt King is one of the most talented fly tyers I know. His tying skill and attention to detail radiate through every pattern, from simple nymphs to complex patterns. Matt’s steelhead patterns are works of art, showcasing his tying skills, especially his winged spey flies, such as the Winter Spey. Bronze mallard feathers, named ..read more

Dry-fly fishing is arguably the easiest way to fly fish rivers, but it can be frustrating if fish come up and refuse a fly at the last second. Even worse, fish are rising everywhere, but you are having little success. To increase your success and improve your dry-fly angling skills, focus on identifying the riseform, constructing effective leaders, managing the drift and learning to cast well. Photo by Chase White.Identify The Riseform Learn to recognize the nature of the rise. Successful anglers can tell a lot by nature of a trout’s rise, or the riseform. Paying attention to how fish rise is ..read more

When John Kent managed Tunkwa Lake Resort, he enjoyed a lot of success fishing a lightly dressed Carey Special. Gil’s Monster, a pattern designed by Washington state fly fisher and tyer Gil Nyerges inspired John’s Carey, a pattern that featured a black body and a sparse pheasant rump tail and hackle. John’s version maintained the sparse lines of Gil’s Monster but swapped the original black chenille body for one of dark olive chenille. Gil’s Monster and his Nyerges Nymph were two flies featured within the pages of the iconic book Flies Of The Northwest by the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club base ..read more

Stanton Jack is a professional classical guitarist and head of the Guitar and Harp Department for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s School of Music. As an accomplished fly tyer, Stanton applies the same dedication and attention to detail to his flies as he does with his music career. Stanton grew up in Kamloops, BC, where he spent countless days fly fishing the lakes and rivers within the surrounding area. In his mid-teens, Stanton became an active fly tyer and started designing trout patterns to match the hatches he observed on his local waters. Since then, the art of fly tying and fly fishi ..read more

The larger the food source we are trying to imitate, the more complex our fly patterns can become. For moving-water fly tyers, a stonefly nymph would be an excellent example. Dragonfly nymphs would be the stillwater parallel. These large prey items offer many features to keep us busy at the vise for hours. Jointed legs, large heads, prominent eyes and distinct wing pads are just a few features to attract our attention. The temptation is to include all of these features and more into our designs. The danger, however, with complex patterns is the time they take to tie and, in our attempts to d ..read more

It was not that many years ago that planning a summer holiday around some lake fly fishing was considered a really bad idea, as the fishing was most likely going to be unproductive. Stillwater fly fishers have since learned a lot more about trout behaviour and feeding strategies, to the point where those anglers in the know are able to have some great fishing and catching action during what has historically been referred to as the “summer doldrums” period. In BC, our most productive trout lakes are found in the interior regions of the province, where nutrient-rich water creates an ideal envi ..read more