The fly box

36 patterns that earn their place

A small box, well understood, catches more than a large one carried in hope. Every pattern here is widely proven and kind to fish when dressed on a barbless hook. Open any card for the full recipe, the tying steps and how to fish it. Hook sizes follow the common scale, where a larger number means a smaller hook.

Showing all 36 patterns.

Adams

Dry · hook 12–18 · moderate

Mayfly duns of almost any species; in small sizes, midges.

Recipe and notes 02

Parachute Adams

Dry · hook 12–20 · moderate

A mayfly dun sitting low in the surface, or one still struggling out of its shuck.

Recipe and notes 03

Royal Wulff

Dry · hook 10–16 · involved

Nothing in particular; a bold attractor that suggests a large fly or a beetle on rough water.

Recipe and notes 04

Grey Wulff

Dry · hook 8–14 · moderate

Large mayfly duns, above all the true Mayfly of late spring.

Recipe and notes 05

Kite’s Imperial

Dry · hook 14–16 · easy

The large dark olive dun, and darker olives in general.

Recipe and notes 06

Greenwell’s Glory

Dry · hook 12–16 · moderate

Olive duns of several species, from the large dark olive to the medium olive.

Recipe and notes 07

CDC F-Fly

Dry · hook 14–20 · easy

Small olives, midges, tiny sedges: a general small fly.

Recipe and notes 08

Griffith’s Gnat

Dry · hook 18–22 · easy

A cluster of midges, or a single midge struggling in the film.

Recipe and notes 09

Black Gnat

Dry · hook 14–18 · easy

The black gnat and the many other small dark land-bred flies that fall on rivers.

Recipe and notes 10

Rusty Spinner

Dry · hook 14–18 · easy

Spent mayfly spinners lying flat in the film at dusk.

Recipe and notes 11

Elk Hair Caddis

Dry · hook 12–16 · moderate

Adult caddis (sedges) resting or skittering on the surface.

Recipe and notes 12

Stimulator

Dry · hook 8–14 · involved

Adult stoneflies first of all; in other colours and sizes, large sedges and grasshoppers.

Recipe and notes 13

Red Tag

Dry · hook 14–18 · easy

Nothing exactly; a fancy fly, possibly taken for a small beetle.

Recipe and notes 14

Klinkhåmer Special

Emerger · hook 10–16 · moderate

An emerging caddis or mayfly hanging beneath the surface film.

Recipe and notes 15

CDC Shuttlecock

Emerger · hook 14–20 · easy

A midge or small olive at the moment of hatching, body hanging below the film.

Recipe and notes 16

Foam Ant

Terrestrial · hook 14–18 · easy

Ants blown or fallen onto the water, especially during late-summer flights.

Recipe and notes 17

Dave’s Hopper

Terrestrial · hook 8–12 · involved

Grasshoppers blown off meadow banks on warm, windy afternoons.

Recipe and notes 18

Daddy Long Legs

Terrestrial · hook 10–12 · moderate

Adult crane flies blown from damp meadows onto the water.

Recipe and notes 19

Hawthorn Fly

Terrestrial · hook 12–14 · moderate

The hawthorn fly, a black land-bred fly with long trailing hind legs.

Recipe and notes 20

Pheasant Tail Nymph

Nymph · hook 12–18 · easy

Slim, swimming mayfly nymphs, especially the olives.

Recipe and notes 21

Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear

Nymph · hook 10–16 · easy

Stout mayfly nymphs, caddis pupae, and nothing in particular, which is its strength.

Recipe and notes 22

Copper John

Nymph · hook 12–18 · involved

Small stonefly and mayfly nymphs, loosely; above all a heavy, bright nymph that gets down fast.

Recipe and notes 23

Prince Nymph

Nymph · hook 10–16 · moderate

Nothing exactly; it suggests a dark stonefly nymph or a cased caddis and trades on contrast.

Recipe and notes 24

Perdigón

Nymph · hook 14–18 · moderate

Small, slim mayfly nymphs and midge pupae; in truth a shape and a sink rate more than a species.

Recipe and notes 25

Zebra Midge

Nymph · hook 18–22 · easy

Midge pupae rising slowly toward the surface.

Recipe and notes 26

Sawyer’s Killer Bug

Nymph · hook 12–16 · easy

Freshwater shrimp tumbling along the gravel.

Recipe and notes 27

Pink Shrimp

Nymph · hook 10–16 · moderate

Freshwater shrimp, in a colour far brighter than most of the naturals.

Recipe and notes 28

Czech Nymph

Nymph · hook 8–14 · moderate

Caseless caddis larvae and freshwater shrimps rolling along the river bed.

Recipe and notes 29

Green Rock Worm

Nymph · hook 12–16 · easy

Free-living green caddis larvae washed loose from the stones.

Recipe and notes 30

Deep Sparkle Pupa

Nymph · hook 12–16 · involved

A caddis pupa drifting near the bottom before it rises to hatch, wrapped in a bright sheath of gas.

Recipe and notes 31

Rubber-Leg Stone

Nymph · hook 6–10 · moderate

Large stonefly nymphs crawling over the stones or swept off them.

Recipe and notes 32

Partridge & Orange

Wet · hook 12–16 · easy

Drowned duns, emerging nymphs and small stoneflies in fast water.

Recipe and notes 33

Snipe & Purple

Wet · hook 14–18 · moderate

The iron blue dun, drowned or struggling to hatch on a cold, blustery day.

Recipe and notes 34

Waterhen Bloa

Wet · hook 14–16 · moderate

The large dark olive, hatching or drowned, in the cold months at either end of the season.

Recipe and notes 35

Woolly Bugger

Streamer · hook 6–10 · easy

Small fish, leeches, large nymphs; a mouthful for a big trout in coloured water.

Recipe and notes 36

Muddler Minnow

Streamer · hook 6–10 · involved

Sculpins and bullheads, the broad-headed little fish of the river bed; greased and fished on top, a grasshopper or a large sedge.

Recipe and notes

A note on hooks

Every pattern above can be tied on a barbless hook, or on a barbed one with the barb pressed flat. A flattened barb holds a fish perfectly well on a tight line, comes out of a fish, a net or a thumb in a second, and is the single most useful thing you can do for the trout you intend to release.

Which tippet for which hook: the table · Test what you know