Good flies are
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A marabou tail and soft, palmered hackle suggest leeches, baitfish, and larger aquatic food.

A clipped deer-hair head gives this classic baitfish pattern its distinctive profile.

A rabbit-strip back brings movement to a bright, minnow-shaped body.

Elk hair and two hackles make a visible searching dry for stonefly and caddis water.

A dense wire abdomen, bead, and reflective wingcase make a useful sinking searching nymph.

Upright feather wings, mixed hackle, and a gray body form a classic mayfly silhouette.

A buoyant Goddard Caddis exemplar with a shaped deer-hair body, brown hackle and paired quill antennae.

A general mayfly-nymph teaching pattern with a dubbed abdomen, wire rib, darker thorax and peacock wingcase.

A long orange tail and mobile collar define this familiar Atlantic salmon pattern.

Yellow and orange saddle feathers with a mixed hackle collar and orange thread head.

A documented glass-bead olive biot soft hackle as one exact example within the broader assortment of indexed soft-hackle names.

Splayed rabbit strips and a four-bead monofilament keel define this shrimp pattern.

An olive swimming fly with soft hackle, marabou, rubber legs, and a bright head.

A beadhead Barr Emerger exemplar with a curved shank, hackle-fiber shuck and wingcase, and a contrasting dubbed thorax.

A bucktail wing shelters the upward-riding hook point for working shallow cover.

A fine biot abdomen, matching dubbed thorax and CDC gills; the independently published dressing explicitly supports black and olive.

A segmented turkey-biot abdomen with a fine wire rib, squirrel thorax and turkey wingcase.

A brown, copper-beaded biot midge pupa with blue wire segmentation and a small UV-brown thorax; one sourced representative of the indexed label.

A large weighted stonefly attractor with a two-color chenille abdomen and swept hackle.

White feather wings over a black, silver-ribbed body with yellow accents.

A red tail, yellow-and-black chenille bands and soft hen-hackle collar, without a wing.

An olive mayfly body with dun wings and hackle for small olive hatches.

A small resin body with deer hair, synthetic fibers, and flexible legs.

A clipped deer-hair head, barred craft-fur tail, and dumbbell eyes for shallow flats.

Copper-wire abdomen, peacock thorax, and a dark bead: a compact midge and caddis-larva nymph.

An olive squirrel-dubbing nymph with pearl rib, partridge hackle, salt-and-pepper thorax and tungsten bead; one independently documented buggy nymph.

A yellow chenille body, four rubber legs and rear weighting for a tail-first descent.

Rabbit fur breathes during pauses and makes a simple, mobile leech profile.

A large Hexagenia nymph with a marabou tail, dubbed body, turkey back and soft aftershaft gills.

A weighted Holy Grail-style caddis emerger with hare dubbing, flash rib, pheasant wingcase and partridge legs.

A compact beadhead caddis larva with a tapered cream latex body and clear flexible finish.

A compact, weighted caddis pupa with a translucent, segmented green body.

A chenille worm tail and soft hackle combine in a compact carp searching fly.

A wrapped CDC feather supplies both body and moving fibers beneath a hair wing.

Kevin Compton’s tan-thread Callibaetis floating nymph, with a biot body and three CDC feathers drawn over a hare-fur thorax.

A slim black thread pupa with a red wire rib and bright glass bead, based on a specific stillwater dressing.

Foam, rubber legs, and two visible wings create a floating hopper or stonefly attractor.

A small wood-duck-tailed emerger with a dubbed body, fine rib and sparse grizzly collar.

Sparse bucktail and weighted eyes create a baitfish fly that fishes hook-point up.

Furry foam, curled flank-feather claws, and hackle legs imitate a small crayfish.

Splayed grizzly tails, a natural collar, and a strong hook for tarpon.

A bright bucktail tail, silver body, and soft collar make a compact swinging fly.

Marshall Porterfield’s Copper Prince combines a copper-wire abdomen and peacock thorax with the white biot wings of a Prince Nymph.

A sparse calf-tail wing and light eyes create a compact flats fly.

A sculpted deer-hair head dives on a strip and resurfaces during the pause.

A classic grasshopper with knotted legs, a turkey wing, and a sculpted deer-hair head.

Pearl flash wrapped over a black thread body gives this tiny, wingless midge its bright profile.

An orange bead leads a soft leech profile that moves during pauses.

A tent-shaped hair wing and hackled body suggest adult caddis on the surface.

Sparse synthetic fiber layers create a broad baitfish silhouette without a heavy body.

Henry Ramsay’s swimming Isonychia nymph, with an oval biot abdomen and an epoxy-coated, white-striped wingcase.

Wally Eagle’s ostrich-herl nymph, shown here with a bead, pheasant tail and wingcase, and wire rib.

Tony Abel’s documented Flash Back Nymph with pheasant-tail abdomen, copper rib, peacock thorax and pearl Mylar flashback; shown with the optional tungsten bead.

A compact egg-yarn body with a short rear flash tail, tied here with a bead for weight.

A simple straight-cut rabbit-strip fly, shown in an Alaska guide’s dressing for imitating drifting salmon flesh.

A foam shell and peacock belly give a compact beetle profile along banks.

A buoyant foam head pushes water while a soft tail moves between pops.

A pheasant-tail abdomen and bright collar combine a natural body with a visible trigger.

Two dubbed segments separated by a narrow waist create a simple ant silhouette.

A foam lip makes a waking or splashing surface fly with a light baitfish tail.

Jack Gartside’s impressionistic fly uses a short pheasant-rump tail, rough fur body, soft collar and aftershaft head.

A small yarn sphere imitates a drifting fish egg.

A weighted, leggy warmwater fly with a twisted ice-chenille body and rubber legs.

Craft fur, pearl braid, and bead-chain eyes form a versatile bonefish shrimp.

A white hair wing contrasts with a black body and bright chartreuse rear band.

A large mayfly nymph with a tapered dubbed body, soft gills and a dark protective back.

Peacock and grizzly hackle make a small surface pattern for midge activity.

A shaggy, natural nymph with a gold rib and mottled wingcase. Let the guard hairs do the work.

A large dark dobsonfly-larva imitation with a segmented body and distinct side appendages.

A large low-riding Quigley-style hex with a marabou abdomen, emu shuck, deer-hair wing and grizzly hackle.

A large cream hex nymph with marabou tail, aftershaft gills, turkey back, soft legs and black mono eyes.

A buoyant hair back and upright hair wings make a visible rough-water attractor.

Three contrasting Superhair strands form a slim segmented midge with a pale wingcase and short wing buds.

A curved abdomen hangs beneath a parachute hackle and visible white post.

A loose Antron sheath surrounds the abdomen beneath a low deer-hair wing.

Randall Kaufmann’s olive stillwater dragonfly nymph with marabou tail, fur-blend body, turkey wingcase and prominent eyes.

A stonefly nymph built with a wrapped latex abdomen, paired biot tails and a dubbed thorax.

A feather tail and bucktail collar make a flexible baitfish silhouette.

White feather tails, yellow marabou and hackle, and a clear-wrapped head on an exposed shank.

A pale Catskill dry fly with divided wood-duck wings and cream hackle.

A bead, pearlescent abdomen, copper rib and peacock thorax make a bright searching nymph.

Dan Delekta’s beadhead nymph combines a pheasant-tail abdomen, peacock thorax, flash wingcase and soft CDC collar.

Devin Olsen’s later Lite Brite Perdigon exemplar builds a glossy UV-pink flash abdomen behind a fluorescent collar and dark wingcase.

Alvin Theriault’s sparse calf-tail nymph uses two layers of beige chenille on a long streamer hook.

A supple olive damselfly nymph with a marabou tail and body and weighted eyes.

A flat yarn crab with splayed feather claws and mobile rubber legs.

Yellow-red-yellow bucktail over silver tinsel creates a recognizable baitfish attractor.

A slender white thread abdomen, fine gold rib and small dark thorax suggest a midge pupa.

A foam back and soft fur belly produce a mouse silhouette and a surface wake.

A bright yarn nucleus covered by a sparse translucent veil; all colors share one tying method.

A beadhead olive nymph example with a coq-de-Leon tail, tubing-and-wire abdomen and picked-out dubbing thorax.

An extended micro-chenille abdomen, peacock thorax and gray Antron cover suggest a midge in the surface film.

A gray mayfly profile with an upright white post for tracking the drift.

A thin orange body and sparse soft hackle suggest emerging or drowned insects.

A chenille stonefly with mobile rubber appendages for deeper drifts.

A gold-beaded Zug Bug offered as a clearly named peacock-bodied representative, with peacock sword tail, silver rib and mottled flank wingcase.

A smooth, resin-coated nymph with little bulk for reaching depth in current.

An orange egg sac, separate shrimp eyes, and a soft rabbit wing.

A slim, copper-ribbed mayfly profile, finished here with a peacock thorax and fiber legs.

A marabou-tailed, dubbed nymph with bead-chain eyes and a soft marabou shellback.

An orange chenille body and white calf-tail wing on a strong steelhead hook.

Tim Fox’s caddis pupa uses tapered vernille over pearl tinsel, a wire rib and sparse feather details.

Peacock herl, a gold rib, and unmistakable white biot wings. A classic searching nymph.

Splayed feather claws, barred legs, and a flattened craft-fur body.

Pearl flash and a red head make a bright, compact attractor nymph.

A red thread butt contrasts with peacock herl beneath a soft partridge collar.

Guard-hair tail, two shades of squirrel dubbing and barred rubber legs under a bead.

A barred craft-fur tail and brush head make a mobile marsh searching fly.

White upright wings, brown hackle, and a bright red waist. A buoyant attractor for broken water.

Split tails, a slim body, and a short CDC wing suggest an emerging mayfly.

Ian Rutter’s yellow Rubber Leg Tellico example: weighted body, peacock rib, turkey back and lively rubber appendages.

An uncomplicated chenille worm for a slow drift near the bottom.

White marabou and pearl chenille suggest both a shrimp and a small minnow.

A curved, segmented freshwater shrimp imitation for weed beds and productive tailwaters.

Soft saddle feathers create a light streamer that hovers and pulses on the pause.

A segmented red body and clipped hair wing suggest a small caddis pupa or midge.

A conehead and pine-squirrel strip make a compact streamer with a pulsing collar.

A reversed foam popper head slides and wakes with a quieter surface action.

Chartreuse ostrich fibers, rainbow flash, and bead-chain eyes make a mobile nymph.

A copper-ribbed pheasant-tail nymph finished with a mobile partridge collar, shown here with a gold bead.

A small freshwater crustacean profile with a soft body, bright head and narrow flashback.

A named deep-pupa dressing from Gary LaFontaine: a sparse sparkle-yarn veil surrounds a dubbed body beneath wood-duck legs.

A deer-hair fan and trailing shuck suggest a mayfly escaping its nymphal skin.

Craft fur, a ribbed chenille body, and rubber legs facing both directions.

A soft silicone worm with movement during a natural drift.

A pale gray mayfly nymph exemplar with a short pheasant-fiber tail, yellow wire rib, drake-mallard wing pads and matching hen hackle.

A black hairwing salmon fly with a golden crest tail, silver tag and rib, and black hackle.

A robust brown Kaufmann-style stone with a weighted dubbed body, biot tails and three notched turkey wing pads.

A low-riding yellow mayfly emerger with a trailing shuck and upright hair wing.

A slim synthetic baitfish with a clear resin head for schooling minnows.

A broad, flat synthetic head and a flowing black-and-red marabou dressing.

A Kwan variant with a flat, segmented body, soft tail, and separate shrimp eyes.

Jim Pettis’s translucent egg pattern wraps a colored glass bead in a thin veil of egg yarn.

A black V-rib stonefly representative based on Royal Treatment’s named Rib Roast, with biot tails, rubber legs and a bright wingcase.

A translucent V-rib chironomid built over a colored underbody, shown in a documented red version with clear-over-brown as an explained color substitution.

A green stonefly exemplar whose abdomen is built from close turns of olive vinyl rib over a weighted shank.

A small, vinyl-ribbed stonefly representative with biot tails, a dubbed body, turkey wingcase and soft hen legs.

A tapered hare’s-ear body and copper bead, without a tail or rib.

A thread abdomen and tiny dubbed thorax suggest small mayfly or midge emergers.

Satoshi Yamamoto’s documented Buddy Wing Emerger as a PMD representative, using a biot abdomen, foam-covered thorax and natural-dun CDC wings.

A short red tag, chenille body, and grizzly hackle make a compact searching fly.

A trailing shuck and low hair wing imitate a caddis struggling at the surface.

David Knowles’s compact, two-tone beaded yarn fly, tied here in an orange-and-McCheese modern egg-style dressing.

A turkey-backed caddis pupa with a dubbed abdomen, bright rib, paired Z-Lon stubs and peacock head.

A slim thread body and fine wire rib imitate a small midge below the surface.

A rabbit-strip back, variegated chenille and rubber legs combine Zonker movement with a Girdle Bug profile.

Peacock herl, a barred wingcase, and soft legs create a dark searching nymph.