Teaching You to Match The Flies in Your Box to the Insects You See

If you are on the river and you experience a caddis hatch, do you know what flies in your box can imitate a caddis?  We list all the insect and stages that the fly pattern imitates so you can learn and memorize this info for when you’re on the river.  That way, the next time blue wing olive emergers are coming off, you’ll know what flies in your box will actually catch fish.

• Insect Stages (Nymph, Emerger, Dry, Spinner etc)
• Insect Order (Categories)  – Caddis, Stoneflies, Mayflies, Midges, Scuds, Sowbugs, and all 13 major categories of insects
• Insect Species:  Any insect species that the fly pattern imitates is listed in our seasonal insect info section where we list the colors, sizes, hatch seasons and stages of the insect so you know what to tie. 

Knowing when you can have the best success with a pattern and what fish species you can target, help you figure out when to stock it up in your box.  We provide a list of the best seasons to throw the fly and all the major fish species it could catch.  

It sucks to find a sweet pattern, get the materials and get all settled in to tie the pattern only to find out it is way freaking harder than it looks.  All flies require a little practice when they are new patterns for you, but knowing what you’re getting into is very helpful.

We list each pattern as:

• Difficulty:  Easy, Medium, Hard
• Tying Time:  1-3 Minutes, 3-5 Minutes, 5-7 Minutes etc

This helps you gauge if you are able to tie the fly with your skill level and how long it will take you after you get the patterns basics down.

What makes a golden biot stonefly different than a pats rubberleg stonefly?  We describe the benefits of each pattern based on the materials properties so you can understand why it works and what the materials do for the fly for pros and cons.  This will make you a better tyer as you learn the properties of materials and their benefits and drawbacks.

Tying recipes are critical to planning out materials and getting set up to tie the pattern.  We provide detailed material lists in the most helpful way possible, so you can get the materials ready before you watch the video.

One unique thing that we do that others don’t tell you to tie with a Tiemco 100 dry fly hook because there are many substitutions for hooks, and what matters the most is the weight and profile of the hook.  Instead of saying Tiemco 100 dry fly, we’ll say a down eye, straight shank, dry fly hook (1x Fine) is recommended.  Now you can look at your hooks and find something that matches that as close as possible and put it on your vise.  

This is just one example of the thought we put into the fly explorer.  This service is made by fly tyers, for fly tyers and we know what sucks and what is awesome to have when you’re tying flies at the bench.