Featured Tiers
The fly tyers featured on this page have achieved prominance in the fly tying game. They have distinguished themselves by demonstrating their fly tying skills at fly fishing conclaves and shows and by providing seminars, workshops, and tying classes for fly fishing clubs and other organizations. Some have written articles for major fly fishing magazines, published books, videos, and DVD's on fly fishing and fly tying, and are editors of web sites devoted to fly fishing and fly tying.
John hails from Plano, Texas. He is a long standing member of the Dallas Flyfishers and a charter member of the club's "Roadkill Rountable," a small group of expert flytiers who give weekly tying demonstrations at outdoor stores and fly shops throughout the Dallas area. John is also a member of the Whiting Farms Pro Team.
John has been a guest fly tyer at a number of fly fishing shows and conclaves including the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council Conclave, the Southeastern Council Conclave, the Huston Fly Fishing Show, the Sowbug Roundup, the Smallmouth Rendezvous, and the Federation of Fly Fishers International Conclave in Montana.
The Calcasieu Pig Boat is one of many warmwater flies made famous by the late Tom Nixon in his book "Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and Panfish." The first edition was published in 1968 and a revised third edition was published in 1999, just a few years before his death.
Join John as he takes you step-by-step through the process of tying the famous Calcasieu Pig Boat.
Tie John's version of the Calcasieu Pig Boat
Fred DuPre' lives in Colleyville, Texas. Fred has been tying flies for more than forty years. He is a Director with Verizon and has fished all 50 states, the 10 Canadian Provences, and 6 foreign countries.
Fred is a member of the Dallas Flyfishers, Fort Worth Flyfishers, North Santiam Spey Casters, Roadkill Roundtable, Federation of Fly Fishers, Trout Unlimited, and the International Flytiers Guild.
Fred has tied flies at numerous fly tying events including The Sowbug Roundup, the Southern Council FFF Annual Conclave, the Houston Show, Flyfish Texas, and the Smallmouth Rendevouz.
"Fred's Frog" is one of his latest creations. It is designed as a big bass fly that rides hook point up. Join Fred as he takes you step-by-step through the tying process for this intriguing top water lure.
Anthony Hipps is a professional fly tying artist, instructor, and speaker who hails from Lexington, North Carolina. He has been tying flies for more than twenty years, specializing in deer hair bass flies, smallmouth bass nymphs, saltwater streamers, and soft-bodied foam poppers. In 2004 he was a featured tier of bonefish flies on the Outdoor Life Network's "Fly Fish TV Magazine." Anthony's current project is fleshing out the manuscript for a book on tying warmwater flies that will be published by the Lyon's Press.
Anthony is also active with the Federation of Fly Fishers Southeastern Council, serving on the Board of Directors and as the Council's Fly Tying Chairman for the past several years.
He enjoys fishing for smallmouth bass as well as other warmwater species. Two of his favorite "smallie" lures are the Soft-Bodied Popper and the HellCraw. A feature article describing the Soft-Bodied popper appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Fly Tyer Magazine. A feature article describing the HellCraw appeared in the Spring 2007 issue.
Join Anthony as he takes you step-by-step in the process of tying Hipps's Soft-Foam Popper and Hipps's HellCraw.
Bill Heugel lives on the shores of Toledo Bend Lake near Hemphill, Texas, where he spends much of his time tying flies and fishing for largemouth bass. Bill is an active member of the Piney Woods Flyfishers and has held the position of Secretary/Treasurer for the club.
Like fellow Texans Billy Munn, Jeff Mack, and Jimmy Nix, Bill is an excellant tier of deer hair bugs and divers, which is his preferred tying specialty. As is the case with many other versitile fly tiers, Bill is adept at tying a variety of fly styles, as you will see in the tying sequence for his Spooky Shad.
This Deer Hair Diver, which appeared in the Federation of Fly Fishers "Flyfisher Magazine," is an excellant example Bill's deer hair work.
Over the years Bill has been a guest fly tier at many flyfishing shows and conclaves including the Texas Fly Fishing Show, the Sow Bug Roundup, the Smallmouth Rendezvous, the Federation of Fly Fishers Southeastern Council Conclave, and the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council Conclave.
Bill currently is the Fly Tying Chairman for the Federation of Fly Fishers Gulf Coast Exposition which will be held for the first time at the Lake Charles Civic Center on May 18, 19, and 20, 2007, in Lake Charles, Louisinia.
In the tying sequence that follows, Bill ties the Spooky Shad utilizing some of the tying techniques incorporated in Anthony Hipps Soft-Foam Popper.
Join Bill as he takes you step-by-step through the tying process as he ties the Spooky Shad.
Deer hair is one of the most versitile fly tying materials to be found on the fly tiers bench. For more than half a century, ever since Dr. James Henshall created the first hair bug, commonly referred to as the Henshall Bug, innovative fly tiers have used deer body hair and bucktail hair to create a variety of poppers, divers, sliders, streamers, and wet flies.
Deer hair can be spun, stacked, flared, folded, or blended to form fly bodies, heads, collars, skirts, and backs. It is also used to form wings, tails, and legs on various fly patterns.
Deer Hair, when it is spun or stacked on an appropriate hook, really comes into it's own when it is applied to various types of deer hair bugs, divers, and sliders. Today, the most common flies that are made from spun or stacked deer hair are the "Most Whit Hair Bug" created by Dave Whitlock, the "Dahlberg Diver" created by Larry Dahlberg, and "Tap's Bug" created by H.G. (Tap) Tapply. Nowadays, most fly tiers who enjoy working with deer hair tie those deer hair bugs or variations of them.
As you will see on the following pages, Mike George, a native Iowan now living in Kansas has taken the art of spinning and stacking deer hair to the highest level with his exquisite deer hair creations. In my humble opinion, Mike is one of the best deer hair sculpturers in the country.
Half-Trimmed Bass
Fly tiers who spin and stack deer hair have their own special techniques to form well made deer hair heads and bodies. Mike's special techniques allows him to build a body that is so tight that, once it's properly trimmed, it could be sanded with sand paper.
Once Mike has filled a hook with deer hair it appears to be nothing more than a big hair ball. But then the magic begins as Mike, with the help of scissors and a double-edged razor blade, transforms the ball of hair into a beautiful sculpture of a fish or other creature.
Completely Trimmed Bass
His sculptures are composed of different colors of deer hair, sometimes in combination with other common fly tying materials such as rabbit strips, chicken feathers, rubber legs, Marabou, and Krystal Flash. The vivid colors in Mike's sculptures are the result of the colors of the materials used, not the result of paint or color markers.
Mike has tied at various venues including the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri, the Sow Bug Roundup, the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council Conclave, the Houston Fly Tying Festival, the Smallmouth Rendezvous, and the Federation of Fly Fishers International Conclave in Montana.
His fly sculptures are regularly auctioned at Federation of Fly Fishing Conclaves in FFF Fly Plates. Photos and descriptions of his works often appear in the federation's "Flyfisher" Magazinie.
A feature article by Mike appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of Fly Tyer Magazine and some of his work was included in the Fall 2004 issue. Mike was the winner of the "Patent Patterns" section of the summer 2005 issue of Fly Fishing and Tying Journal. One of his fly sculptures was also featured in an ad campaign conducted by the First National Bank of Olathe, Kansas. Most recently, photos of Mike's fish scuptures appeared in the Art of Angling Journal.
In 2004 Mike conducted an Advanced Deer Hair Tying Seminar at the Southern Council Conclave In Mountain Home, Arkansas and was honored as the FFF Southern Council "Fly Tyer of the Year".
Mike's other honors include First and Second place medals in the 2006 Federation of Fly Fishers Fly Tying Competition and First Place in the Open Catagory of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Mustad Scandinavian Open Fly Tying Competition.
Visit the following pages to view Mike George's exceptional Deer Hair Sculptures.
Lance Zook, who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been tying and fishing the Foam Minnow since the early 90's and has caught a variety of warmwater gamefish with it. On one of his best days on the Maquoketa River in Northeast Iowa, Lance and a fishing companion caught well over a hundred smallmouth bass on the Foam Minnow on an all-day float of the catch and release portion of the river.
Lance is an active member of the Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association, a state-wide organization with over four-hundred members throughout the state. Over the years he has held virtually every office in the association and has been actively involved in organizing and coordinating association events. Lance and association member Jeff Moore are currently editing a second edition of "Fly Patterns of the Midwest" a Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association book with a hundred favorite fly patterns submitted by club members.
The association sponsors several weekend events throughout the year including the Annual Meeting and Fly Fishing Show in the winter, the Bluegill Outing on a Southern Iowa lake in the spring, the Smallmouth Outing on Northeast Iowa Rivers in the summer, and the Trout Outing on Northeast Iowa spring creeks in the fall. In addition, the association conducts several stream improvement days throughout the year in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
For several years Lance wrote a fly tying column for the association's bi-monthly magazine, "The Flyline." Each issue featured one of Lance's creations along with step-by-step tying instructions. Many of the flies were designed to take warmwater gamefish and the "Foam Minnow" along with a companion fly, the "Foam Popper," were among those creations.
Lance ties the Foam Minnow with a shad finish shown in the tying sequence and also in a perch finish which will be described in the "Tying Notes" section of the pages that follow.
Join Lance as he takes you step-by-step through the tying process as he ties the "Zook's Foam Minnow."
Warmwater angler and fly tyer Max Birnkammer lives in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.
Max started tying flies five years ago. He favors tying and hand painting warmwater poppers and streamers which he uses to catch largemouth, kentucky spotted, and shoal bass in the rivers and lakes close to his home.
Max recently published his first fly tying article, "Bass Bug Paint Shop" in the spring 2007 issue of Fly Tyer magazine. If you're not a subscriber to Fly Tyer, you should be. For more information about the magazine go to the "Tier Resources Page" and check out the fly fishing and tying magazine section.
In addition to tying flies and writing magazine articles, Max builds his own fly rods and can often be seen fishing from one of his vintage wooden boats. He also catches some great looking fish out of those boats as evidenced by the photo at the right.
Each summer Max makes his way to Maine to fish for northern smallmouuth bass which he believes to be the ultimate trophy in warmwater fly fishing. I would agree with Max.
Max has been a demonstration tier at fly shops and fly fishing shows including the Federation of Fly Fishers Southeastern Council Conclave held at Georgia's Callaway Gardens; a mecca for those who like to fish for big bluegills and bass.
He also custom ties flies, provides individual and group fly tying instruction, operates a warmwater guide service in northwest Georgia, and sells a variety of custom made fly tying tools.
To learn more, check out his web site at Stillwaterangler.com.
www.stillwaterangler.com
Max has developed an interesting and unique set of streamers that have proven to be effective for a variety of gamefish. There are four color patterns in the set; the Stillwater Bluegill, the Stillwater Perch, the Stillwater Shad, and the Stillwater Trout.
Each color pattern employs the same tying procedures. The only difference between the patterns are the colors of their markings.
Join Max as he takes you step-by-step through the tying process as he ties the "Stillwater Bluegill Streamer."
Terry and Roxanne Wilson live in southwest Missouri, where they enjoy fishing the streams and lakes in the Ozark Mountains.
The Wilsons have presented innovative, practical fly-fishing methods for bass, bluegill, crappie, gar, and channel catfish for more than twenty years in over a hundred magazine articles published in Fly-fishing and Tying Journal, The Flyfisher, Midwest Fly-Fishing, Warmwater Fly-Fishing, Fly-Fishing Quarterly, BassMaster Magazine, Ontario Out of Doors, and many others. They are also staff writers for St. Louis based Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Terry and Roxanne are members of the Missouri Smallmouth Alliance and are active life members of the Federation of Fly Fishers. They were presented with the Federation's Don Harger Memorial award in 1996 for their contributions to the sport of fly fishing. Roxanne was named 1994 Woman of the Year by the Federation's Southern Council. They are also members of the Federation's Warmwater Conservation Committee.
Terry's original flies for bluegills, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass have been featured in Fly Fish America, Fly-Fishing and Tying Journal, and the Federation of Fly Fishers Magazine. One of his best known bluegill flies, "Bully's Bluegill Spider," has become the fly of choice for many warmwater anglers across the country. Bully's Bluegill Spider can be tied in a number of different colors depending upon which color the bluegills in your favorite pond prefer.
His warmwater fly patterns, along with "Bully's Bluegill Spider" have also appeared in a number of fly fishing and fly tying books including "Innovative Flies and Techniques" published in 2005 and the Federation of Fly Fishers "Fly Pattern Encyclopedia" published in 2000.
Roxanne is the photographer for the team and her excellent photography appears in all of their magazine articles and slide show presentations. All three of the Wilson's books include her photographs of some of their greatest fly fishing moments in pursuit of warmwater gamefish.
Their first book, "Bluegill Fly-Fishing and Flies," was published by Frank Amato Publications in April, 1999. "Largemouth Bass Fly-Fishing: Beyond the Basics," was published in 2001. Their latest book, "Smallmouth Bass Fly-Fishing: A Practical Guide," was published in early 2007.
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The books are lavishly illustrated with drawings and color photographs. Chapters are devoted to a discussion of where the fish live, successful presentation strategies under various fishing conditions, and fly pattern photos, recipes, and tying instructions for the best flies to do the job. If you want to order any of their books, you can contact them their new web site, The Bluegill Pond.
The Bluegill Pond is packed with fishing techniques and other information for those of us who enjoy fishing for all warmwater gamefish. In addition, you can find information about how to bring them to your club for presentations and demonstrations, or order their books and custom tied flies.
Terry, Roxanne, and I were among a group of fly tiers at the 2007 Smallmoth Rendezveou in Tahlaquah, Oklahoma, where they gave an excellent seminar on smallmouth fly fishing. It was at this meeting that I was able to photograph Terry as he tied one of his favorite black bass lures. He calls his creation "Wilson's Bass Bully". I can't wait to try it out on my favorite smallmouth streams in northeast Iowa.
Wilson's Bass Bully is a fairly easy fly to tie. One of it's unique features is a wool head which completely surrounds the lead barbell eyes. The other components include a short piece of Zonker strip for the tail, Estaz for the body, a piece of red chenille for the gills, and a bunch of sili-legs. All of these materials are lashed to a TMC 8089 hook.
Join Terry as he takes you step-by-step through the tying process as he ties Wilson's Bass Bully.
A Tribute to Joe Messinger and his Bucktail Frog
Virtually every fly tyer who ties deer hair bass bugs knows about Joe Messinger. His Bucktail Frog has probably received more acclaim over the years than any other deer hair lure ever created.
Joe Messinger, shown here at his tying bench around 1935, passed on in 1966 at the age of seventy-four. Forty Years later a Messinger Bucktail Frog , tied by his son Joe Jr., mounted in a shadow box along with his dad's photo and a signature card, can bring six hundred dollars or more at auction at Fly Fishig Conclaves. That says a lot about Joe Messinger's legacy.
I have several books on bass fishing and fly tying in my library. Most of them mention the Messinger Bucktail Frog and it's role in the evolution of bass bug design.
The centerpiece of the cover of Stewart and Allen's landmark book, "Flies for Bass and Panfish" is a photograph of several bucktail frogs. In the "Frog Patterns Section" of the book four Messinger Frogs are featured - two versions by Joe Sr. and two versions by Joe Jr. In the "Insect Patterns Section" Joe's Nitehummer, tied by Joe Jr., is also featured.
Both Jack Ellis in his book "Bassin with a Flyrod" and William G. Tapply in his book "Bass Bug Fishing" discuss the Bucktail Frog and Joe's place in bass bug history. John Likakis in his book "Bass Bug Basics" says that the best and easiest way to make jointed legs on a bass bug is to use Joe Messinger's technique for making jointed legs on his Bucktail Frog.
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