Fly Fishing | Fly Fishing Starter Flies: Beginners in fly tying are frequently surprised to learn that the term "fly" is largely a generic term. While some beginner flies are designed to resemble flying insects, others are designed to resemble fish food such as baitfish, leeches, worms, crustaceans, and scuds.




BEGINNER FLIES CATEGORIES

Fly anglers use lures to catch fish that mimic the immature and adult stages of terrestrial and aquatic insects such as mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, damselflies, dragonflies, midges, and others.

When it comes to determining the "easiest" fly fishing starter flies to start with, the answers are as diverse as the anglers themselves. However, one crucial piece of advice for making beginner fly fishing flies that appears to be shared by all experts is this: tie a fly that you can fish with. It's pointless to make a bunch of trout flies, no matter how simple the pattern, if the only fish around are panfish.

The majority of the best fly fishing flies fall into one of three categories: dry flies, nymphs, and streamers. When you go to a fly shop or look through a mail-order catalog, you will usually find these various fly fishing flies displayed or listed by category.

DRY FLY FISHING STARTER FLIES

Dry flies float on the water's surface and imitate a wide variety of foods, including adult mayflies, caddisflies, midges, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, and many others. While the newest type of fly, dry flies have grown in popularity to the point where there are now subcategories to describe the various types of dry flies:

Traditional dry flies have the hackle tied around the hook, allowing the fly to sit slightly above the water. Good for fast, choppy water where the hackle tips can help with floatation.




Dry flies float on the water's surface and imitate a wide variety of foods, including adult mayflies, caddisflies, midges, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, and many others. While the newest type of fly, dry flies have grown in popularity to the point where there are now subcategories to describe the various types of dry flies:

Traditional dry flies have the hackle tied around the hook, allowing the fly to sit slightly above the water. Good for fast, choppy water where the hackle tips can help with floatation.

One of the most exciting thrills in fly fishing is seeing a trout, bass, or panfish take a dry fly floating on the surface of the water. Deer-hair bass bugs and poppers, which are used for largemouth and smallmouth bass and panfish, are also dry flies because they float on the surface.

Popular dry beginner flies include the Adams fly, brassies, and several caddis variations.

NYMPHS/WET FLY FISHING STARTER FLIES

Nymphs and wet flies are the immature stages of insects such as mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, and others. These flies are fished beneath the water's surface and usually work best just before a hatch of water-born insects, when the nymphs and pupae that they represent become active.

Special nymphs that imitate the emerging adult insect are fished just below or in the surface film of the water. These flies, known as emergers, are half wet and half dry, but because they don't float on top of the surface film, we'll group them with the nymphs and wet flies.

Among beginner flies, the Pheasant Tail Nymph is regarded as a must-have in all fly boxes.



STREAMERS

Streamers are larger flies that imitate minnows, sculpins, leeches, and other swimming food items for bass, trout, panfish, and saltwater fish like tarpon, redfish, bonefish, and striped bass. Although all fish will strike streamers, regardless of size, these flies are well known for their ability to catch the largest fish in streams, ponds, lakes, and saltwater.


While the Woolly Bugger is the most popular streamer regardless of skill level, the San Juan worm may be the easiest to tie.

FLY SIZES

Fly sizes are denoted by a number that corresponds to the size of the hook used to tie the fly. The larger the number, the smaller the fly for most trout flies. A size 18 Adams (#18 Adams) is, for example, smaller than a size 12 Adams. Sizes smaller than #2 are represented by even numbers, so in our example, there is a four-hook size difference between the #12 and #18 Adams. Extremely large hook sizes, such as 1/0, are noted with "ought" sizes (called "one-ought" or "one-oh" in fly fishing terminology).


HOOK SIZES

Hook-shank length can be standard, extra-long, or extra-short for any hook size. Extra-long (XL) and extra-short (XS) shanks are specified in multiples of standard shank length, such as 1XS or 4XL. Hook wire comes in extra-fine and extra-heavy gauges.

One of the quirks of hook terminology when it comes to hook sizes is how large hooks with a /0 size designator are numbered. The larger the number ahead of the slant bar, the larger the hook (for example, a size 5/0 hook is larger than a size 2/0 hook). /0 hooks, on the other hand, increase in size by one number at a time, unlike smaller hooks that only come in even numbers (e.g., sizes #2/0, #3/0, #4/0, #5/0, and so on).

These larger hooks are typically used for bass and saltwater flies, but large trout fishermen will occasionally use these sizes as well, especially when tying streamers.