7 easy-to-tie flies that will catch fish anywhere in Canada

Here’s a secret truth for novice fly anglers and tiers: It’s not that hard to tie flies that will actually catch fish. How can that be? It’s easy—just sidestep fly fishing’s notorious complexity and focus instead on a few proven, easy-to-tie patterns. And what better way to while away non-fishing days than spending some time at the vise and filling up your fly boxes?

These seven flies call for only fundamental tying techniques and easy-to-find materials, making them well within the capabilities of the beginner fly tier. And because they’re designed to get wet rather than look pretty in your fly box, all of these flies will work just fine if they’re a little sloppy. If yours don’t look exactly like the following photos, not to worry—mine don’t either, and the fish don’t seem to mind.

Like all successful baits, these flies are generically imitative of forage, and made of materials that come to life in the water. They cover surface, shallow and deep water, and will fool all manner of trout, bass and panfish, plus northern pike, walleye and more. You could stock a box with just these workaday patterns—tied in a range of sizes and colours—and confidently catch fish almost anywhere in the country.

Looking for more new flies? Check out our running list of the all-time best flies for Canadian anglers at www.outdoorcanada.ca/musthaveflies. And you can see all of Outdoor Canada’s expert fly tying tips at www.outdoorcanada.ca/flytyingtips.

BEAD-HEAD WOOLLY BUGGER

If you’ve ever tied a fly at a sportsmen’s show, this was likely it. The Woolly Bugger uses three basic fly-tying techniques that open the door to a world of tying: attaching a tail, forming a body and wrapping a hackle feather over that body (called “palmering”). Even a perfectly tied Bugger looks kind of mangy, so the youngest and clumsiest fingers can produce a serviceable fly. And because all the materials are available at a craft or dollar store, you can literally tie 50 of them for about $10.

But that’s only part of the reason why the Bugger is the world’s most popular fly. It’s one of those patterns that doesn’t look like anything in particular, but vaguely resembles everything. In olive or brown, it’s a crayfish or large aquatic insect, while in black, it’s a leech. Include some flash and it’s a baitfish. Adding a bead head helps the fly sink and gives it a seductive jigging action as it swims. In current, you can dead-drift the fly or swing it downstream. In stillwater, let it sink and retrieve it quickly, slowly or somewhere in between. Basically, you can’t fish it incorrectly. And literally any fish that will take a fly, will hit a Bugger.

Hook: 2XL streamer, sizes 2 to 12
Tail: Bunch of olive marabou
Body: Olive chenille or wool
Hackle: Olive hackle palmered through body
Head: Brass bead

BROWN & WHITE BUCKTAIL

Bucktail is one of the most common and useful materials for minnow-imitating streamers. When starting out, expect to end up with bulky, lopsided flies, but learning to work with bucktail is worth a few misfires. For one, bucktails are cheap and plentiful, and they last a long time. More importantly, bucktail looks great in the water because it’s strong but flexible, and slightly buoyant, giving it a breathing-like motion. The only thing a baitfish has that a bucktail lacks is a little sparkle, which is why you add a wisp of synthetic flash.

Fly-tying books offer many traditional bucktail streamers with very specific recipes, frills and flourishes. But I like the way this generic pattern distills the fly to its essence of a shiny body and brown-and-white bucktail wing (it’s also a winner in chartreuse and white, or red and white). In moving water, you can swing the fly downstream or dead-drift it with occasional twitches, making it appear like a wounded, tumbling minnow. I’ve also found bucktails are excellent for fishing the top few feet of the water column in lakes and ponds to fool bass, sunfish, pike, walleye, rainbows and brookies. To my immense surprise, I even once caught a quillback carpsucker on a bucktail.

Hook: 4XL streamer, sizes 6 to 12
Tag: Clump of red marabou
Body: Flat silver tinsel ribbed with oval tinsel
Wing: Sparse clumps of bucktail, brown over white
Side Wing: Few strands of clear Krystal Flash (pictured) or Flashabou