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

CLOUSER DEEP MINNOW

If there’s a fly that works in a wider range of sizes than a Clouser Deep Minnow, I can’t imagine what it might be. Among my various fly boxes, I have at least 50 Clousers just for freshwater fishing (plus as many again for saltwater), ranging from two to five inches in length. Along with natural brown, time-tested wing colours include green, yellow, blue, grey, pink and my favourite, chartreuse. Flies with all-white or all-black bellies and wings are also popular. All season long, the Clouser is one of my go-to flies for pike and subsurface bass, or any time I want to fish something deeper or bigger than a standard bucktail.

Tying a Clouser is not difficult, but it’s easy to screw up. There are two trouble areas, which are common even in commercially produced flies. For one, be sure not to place the lead eyes too far forward, which disrupts the fly’s sleek profile and crowds the head. And the bucktail must be sparse—so sparse that the fly almost looks unfinished. When compressed, the bucktail clumps should be about the diameter of a wooden match. Use too much, and the wing loses its tantalizing, flowy action.

Hook: Standard wet fly or saltwater, sizes 3/0 to 8
Eyes: Lead dumbbell weights
Belly: White bucktail
Wing: Natural brown or dyed bucktail, over six strands of Krystal Flash

BIVISIBLE

A hook, thread and two feathers—dry flies don’t get any simpler than that. This pattern is nearly 100 years old and, perhaps not surprisingly, it’s wildly out of fashion among anglers. But because it floats so well thanks to the palmered body hackle, it remains one of my favourite flies for swift- to medium-speed rivers. The secret to tying this fly (and most dry flies) is using the right kind of feather for the body. It’s crucial to select one with fibres that are stiff (rather than webby) and of a consistent length.

The Bivisible is one of my first choices when there’s no obvious insect activity, but I still want to try surface fishing. It’s intended as a mayfly imitation, though it lacks the prominent upright wings characteristic of classic mayfly patterns, such as the Adams. One theory is that the fly dimples the surface film in the same way as a long-tailed, six-legged mayfly does, making it attractive to a hungry trout or smallmouth. The name Bivisible reflects how the fly is visible to both the fish and the angler. The white front does indeed make it easier to see on the water, which is very helpful in detecting surface takes, which can be surprisingly gentle.

Hook: Standard dry fly, sizes 10 to 16
Tail: Brown hackle fibres
Body: Palmered brown hackle
Front: White hackle

EGG FLY

How simple is the egg fly? Put it this way: If you’re too clumsy to tie one of these, maybe stay away from all sharp objects, let alone a flowing river. You just fasten an inch of egg yarn to the hook, tease and fluff it out, then shape it into a ball using scissors. Useful colours range from pale yellow to hot pink (the colour of the pictured Egg Fly is, hilariously, Oregon Cheese). If you want to get a little fancier, you can add an extra dot of colour with a marker, or by twisting in a strand of yarn in a different shade.

Egg patterns are so effective that some fly purists consider them cheating, which is a pretty good endorsement. They’re best when dead-drifted near the bottom, often under a strike indicator. These flies are generally associated with steelhead and West Coast salmon fishing, but inland river trout will bite them as well, especially in cold water when other foods are scarcer. Even stillwater rainbows will have a go, and I’ve heard of anglers nabbing such surprise catches as suckers and carp. Wherever you fish it, this is a fly to warm up a cold spring day.

Hook: Wide-gap, short-shanked, sizes 10 to 16
Body: Egg yarn