365 Trout Flies: Patterns and Recipes for a Year of Successful Fishing

By John van Vliet and Hans Weilenmann

The average fly fisher spends just 15.6 days per year on the water. Of course, few of us are fortunate enough to spend every day of every month casting into riffles, pools, and undercut banks in search of those finicky browns, brooks, rainbows, and cutthroats. Luckily, the diverse collection of gear in 365 Trout Flies provides some measure of solace to those legions of desk-bound fly fishers. Presenting enough flies to span the year, expert fly fisherman John van Vliet offers suggestions for the spectrum of salmonids fly fishers are most likely to encounter as well as the breadth of locations—from small, pastoral chalk streams to forested, free-stone rivers. Each spread depicts a group of three flies along with materials recipes, captions from the author detailing how and where to fish them, and interesting related historical facts. For ease of reference, the book is organized into five categories covering each of the major fly types—nymphs, dries, wets, streamers, and terrestrials—and is illustrated throughout with exclusive macrophotography of the flies themselves. The front matter and section openers are illustrated with gorgeous, scenic fly-fishing photos. From traditional stalwarts like the Adams, Light Cahill, Royal Wulff, and Hare’s Ear Nymph to more modern twists like synthetic inchworms, sand-encased caddis emergers, and the Chernobyl ant, John van Vliet’s 365 Trout Flies functions as both a practical how-to guide for the fly enthusiast and a handsome collection highlighting the art of these faux-entomological wonders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781610588164

Book preview

1

Nymphs

Designed to be fished below the surface, nymphs make up the second largest, and perhaps the most diverse, category of fly patterns. Once used only to describe the imitations of the immature stages of a mayfly, the term nymph now covers a broad range of subsurface fly patterns.

Some nymphs, called imitators, are designed to closely mimic the shape, size, and color of the larval, pupal, or nymphal stages of aquatic insects, such as mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies. Others, called searching patterns, are designed to suggest a number of items in a trout’s diet. Still others, called attractors, do not imitate any specific item in a trout’s diet but instead are designed with brightly colored or flashy materials to trigger a defensive or an attack strike.

Immature aquatic insects make up as much as 90 percent of a trout’s diet at certain times of the year, so it’s no surprise that flytiers devote a great deal of time to developing new nymph patterns to fool trout. Nymph patterns are tied in a wide range of sizes from tiny imitations of midge larva to large imitations of stoneflies. Nymphs can be weighted with lead wire or with metal or glass beads, or tied unweighted to drift in or just below the surface film. –JvV

Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear

Pheasant Tail Nymph

Dark Hendrickson Nymph

Isonychia Nymph

Quill Gordon Nymph

Blue-Wing Olive Nymph

Crystalline

Black Quill Nymph

March Brown Nymph

Breadcrust

Red Squirrel Nymph

A.P. Nymph

Grbica

Green Drake Nymph

Hare & Copper (Olive)

Flashabou Nymph

Prince Nymph