A recent trick to winter flyfishing depends simply upon the weather. For instance, last winter there was hardly any snow—so little, in fact, that I’ve never seen a winter that dry in the central Rockies in my lifetime. I’d call it a drought. This year’s winter started with parallel results, but finally it began to [...]
About Brian
Brian Nelson was born and raised in western Colorado. In his younger days, he worked as a whitewater rafting guide and fly-fishing guide. He no longer guides commercially, but enjoys teaching fly tying classes to local kids. When he was seven, he tied his first fly when his father put him in front of the vise--and has been fascinated with this art ever since!Author Archive | Brian
The Green Fish
I passionately enjoy catching genuine, pure-bred cutthroat trout. Regarding the Greenback, there are places where this is possible, albeit catch & release–which suits me just fine. Oh, wait—the Denver Post said a study of cutthroat genetics revealed that “pure greenbacks” only exist within a four mile section of Bear Creek, near Colorado Springs. Which means…all [...]
CDC & Quill Parawulff Fly Tying Tutorial
The idea of using tying materials to enhance a fly pattern’s effectiveness is as ancient as the inception of fly tying. In fact, it could be argued that the practice of manipulating both old and new materials in different ways into both old and new fly patterns comprises a large part of modern fly innovation. [...]
Nautical Attitude
I had a lot of success with Magpie Nymphs. However, unlike its dry counterpart; the mosquito, a Magpie Nymph does not imitate a mosquito very well. But this got me to thinking, “What wet fly does?” Besides, the best places I knew of to fish for trout had lots of mosquitos. I noticed in the [...]
The Magpie Nymph Fly Tying Tutorial
I enjoyed a lot of success as a kid one summer with a traditionally tied mosquito dry fly, but then one day it stopped working, just like that. Ah, such is trout fishing! Further observation revealed that the fish had switched to sub-surface feeding, so I was forced into fishing nymphs. I caught a few [...]
Bridle Path Emerger Tying Directions
Bridle Path Dressing: Hook: 10-18 TMC 205 BL or similar; a slightly curved, down-eye hook works well. Head: Spun, clipped deer or antelope hair. Wings: tie calf body wings with the tips pointing forward, towards the hook eye; spun hair forms a base in front of the wings. Tail: antron or similar for trailing shuck, [...]
An Emerger That You Can Actually See!
Remember the emerger pattern craze that erupted in the 90′s? Me too! I jumped on board with everyone else, tying and fishing emergers–catching trout that had become “standard-dry shy.” However, after a few years of this, I grew tired of rigging a two-fly setup, or managing strike indicators, for an emerger pattern that sat partially [...]
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