I have laid out the lessons in an order that I strongly recommend to tyers who want to tie the fully dressed flies. Follow them in the order presented below, even if you are fairly competent in tying other types of flies. The reason is that each pattern presented will have elements needed to tie the fully dressed flies no matter if they are the classics or free style. For instance the hair wing lesson has floss work while the simple stripwing gives a small preview of setting married wings. The Speys have hackling and the use of bronze Mallard for the wings which will also come in handy for Mallard roofs on the classics. The Demon, a Rangeley-type of streamer has a long floss body and full feather wings. March Brown, Dressed to Kill will bring all of these elements together and go into winging and other areas of fully dressing a fly. Once you can tie this fly consistently, you can tie any fully dressed fly either classic or free style.
When you do these lessons/flies, don’t worry that you will never fish them. It is the techniques that you need to master. You can recycle the hooks after you have finished the lesson. Tie each pattern until you can do them well and do them consistently. Keep the first of each fly and put it away, out of sight. In a year or two pull them out and look at them. I guarantee you will get a good laugh. As good as you thought they were at the time, you will have progressed to the point you won’t believe you could have tied such flies.
Click on a link below to access various tutorials and dressing related information:
Lesson 1 – The Rusty Rat
Lesson 2 – Silver Monkey
Lesson 3 – Red & Gold Strip Wing
Lesson 4 – The Carron Spey
Lesson 5 – The Dunt Dee
Lesson 6 – Demon Rangeley Style
Lesson 7 – March Brown Dressed to Kill