Comparadun Pattern Description: The Comparadun pattern has been one of my go-to patterns for a long time. This fly is the ultimate in simplicity and lends itself well to a variety of mayfly species. You can simply change the colors of the materials to match everything from Pale Morning Duns to Baetis to Green Drakes,

Quigley Cripple Pattern Description: Bob Quigley's Cripple pattern represents the mayfly as it struggles to free itself from its shuck.  This is an easy fly to tie and one that really works well for all mayfly species.  Feel free to adapt colors for each of the mayflies you encounter.  Or just tie brown ones...that usually

CDC Comparadun Pattern Description: The CDC Comparadun pattern has been one of my go-to patterns for a long time. This fly is the ultimate in simplicity and lends itself well to a variety of mayfly species. You can simply change the colors of the materials to match everything from Pale Morning Duns to Baetis to

Pheasant Tail Pattern Description: The Pheasant Tail is the quintessential mayfly nymph pattern. The dark brown color and slender profile create a highly realistic mayfly imitation. Although it can be tied in larger sizes, I prefer this fly in sizes 16 through 24 because smaller sized Pheasant Tails match blue wing olive and pale morning

Barr Emerger Pattern Description: The Barr Emerger is high on my list of favorite flies. A simple concoction of feathers and dubbing, this simple pattern is an all-around great fly. The idea behind this pattern, according to John Barr, was to imitate the adult insect creeping out of the nymphal shuck. Originally John tied this

Sparkle Dun Pattern Description: The Sparkle Dun is an outstandingly simple adult mayfly pattern developed by Craig Mathews of West Yellowstone, Montana. The pattern incorporates only three materials and all of them are cheap and commonly available. The Sparkle Dun was one of the first patterns to incorporate a trailing shuck. The Z-Lon shuck imitates

Parachute Emerger Pattern Description: The Parachute Emerger is a variation of the fantastic Barr Emerger. The addition of the parachute hackle and foam post adds floatation and visibility to a pattern that mimics an emerging nymph to a T. There are a couple tricks to tying this fly and you may have noticed I've eliminated

Barr Emerger Pattern Description: The Barr Emerger is high on my list of favorite flies. A simple concoction of feathers and dubbing, this simple pattern is an all around great fly. The idea behind this pattern, according to John Barr, was to imitate the adult insect creeping out of the nymphal shuck. Originally John tied

Green Drake Cripple Pattern Description: I came up with this Cripple pattern several years ago after a particularly frustrating Green Drake hatch on the Frying Pan River. It seems as though Drakes actually hatch into adults under the water and emerge through the surface film as full-blown duns. At least, this is how it is