I was thinking that it teaches you a few more different things that you will use and other flies down the road, not just that it catches, but that it challenges you and helps you move along in your process. When I worked in a fly shop, the woolly bugger was always the intro fly because you learned things there that came up in other even smaller flies.
There can be depending on which patterns you pick and how you tie them. For at least hundreds of years people tied using materials they could harvest themselves or trade for with friends. There were no fly shops with 10,000 materials less than a hundred years ago.
It's nice to have a wide range of materials and selection of colors to play with but you can fish with a pretty limited selection of materials.
Hell there's at least a half dozen pheasant tail nymphs variants that can be tied with the same half dozen materials.
I can think of more than 50 patterns you can tie with just 13 materials if you learn to make functional substitutions, but you'll need a fairly wide range of tying skills to do it.
90% of what I fish are from the game I take and they rarely disappoint. You don't need 10000 different materials just shoot like 20 different things. All you need to buy is thread, lead, wire, and flash. (Having a peacock also helps)
My go to is Zebra Midges. Important skills there and learning to build a smoothly tapered thread body is super useful as you progress in tying.
A good San Juan worm is an easy win for new tyers too, and both patterns catch.
My usual recommendation is San Juan worm (I like Charlie Craven's version for this) for a quick confidence builder, Zebra Midge, Gold Ribbed Hare'e Ear (with and without bead head), Pheasant Tail Nymph (plenty of variants to play with on this one too), Sexy Walt's or a Blowtorch, Woolly Bugger, Elk Hair Caddis.
If you can tie three in a row of each of those patterns in appropriate sizes that look identical snd don't move around when you give em some twist, you're proficient in basic tying.
In this order: zebra midge, sexy waltz or pink squirrel, frenchie, hares ear, pheasant tail, elk hair caddis, adams
Materials (can be done cheap and with a lot of overlap): hooks, black and olive thread, 3/32 gold beads, copper wire, grey dubbing, pink dubbing, pheasant tail, peacock hurl, deer hair, cheap brown rooster cape
I’ll always recommend dry flies if you’re new to fly fishing. Adams is a great place to start (non-parachute) and the X-Caddis. The Elk Hair Caddis gets recommended a lot but it actually has a lot of steps for a beginner. They all involve core skills, so it’s still good for learning. I think the X-Caddis is better for the absolute beginner.
The book builds on skills from start to fishing. Each fly is useful and the skill to tie it builds on what was learned from the previous fly.
I got it when I first started tying and it was great. I still refer to it while tying. YouTube videos are great to learn, but having a book in front of you is helpful as a reference.
As a lot of people have suggested it probably depends on where you live and what you want to fish for. I live in Scotland and for Scottish waters always recommend starting with a black pennel fly. It will teach you the basics and you can then build from there. A pheasant tailed nymph is also a great ‘first’ fly that will catch a trout on most rivers in the world.
I’d really recommend finding a good YouTube channel that you find clear and helpful. My go to is always Davie McPhail. Enjoy!
Thread frenchie might be the most versatile and simple - every color imaginable with just that semperfli March Brown 0.2mm wire color - olive, brown (personal fav), black, red etc.. and man do they fish.
The MGT Perdigon is another one from Dakota Angler and outfitter. Body material is used as the thread and within seconds you have an incredibly great fish catcher that again, can be tied in tons of colors.
Depends on what you're fishing for, but I started out learning to tie clousers. It's got to be the easiest pattern out there to tie and fish with. And you can make them as complicated and diverse as you want to.
I just started and I’ve found pats rubber legs and chubby chernobyls pretty simple to tie. Just pick 2 or 3 patterns you use a lot and order the stuff to tie a bunch of them.
Kelly Galloup says the woolly bugger, and tie it 10-12 times until you got it cold. To be sure a zebra midge would likely be easier, but I ain’t about to question Kelly friggin Galloup.
I did the Venture Fly Company beginner series on YouTube that had about 12 flies and progressively built skills. Starts with a San Juan Worm and zebra midge. Includes a wooly bugger and others that have been mentioned here.
After tying a dozen of each, I feel like I have the basic skills to build from.
Do you have a type of water and/or species you are targeting or want to target? If it's streams and smaller trout, then small nymphs are a good idea. If it's stillwater or larger water with larger trout (beaver ponds for example), look at woolly buggers. If it's bass or other larger warm water fish, look at clousers.
For me, I was fishing inshore a lot when I learned, so a basic minnow pattern like a deceiver was the first fly I felt proud of.
What are you fishing: if it is fresh, probably a wooly bugger, fairly simple, even a poorly tied one will probably fish well if it has a lot of fluff for action.
Great suggestions. I’ll second what’s already listed, but consider wooly worm, wooly bugger, hares ear nymph, and elk hair caddis.
Focus on proportions and material placement. Try using a generic hook like a Mustad 94840 or Tiemco 100. Nothing smaller than a 12. It’s not about size right now, it’s about technique (insert joke here!)
A dozen of each should cover 90% of tying techniques, don’t require a lot of diverse materials and will save money. Example, all of those can be tied with black thread.
Feel free to DM me for other suggestions
Also, I don’t see where you are located or where you will be fishing. That might create some more freedom or other pattern suggestions.
1 black wooly bugger 2 olive wolly bugger
this is the way
Totally agree: a pattern that catches fish even if it's not tied very well.
I was thinking that it teaches you a few more different things that you will use and other flies down the road, not just that it catches, but that it challenges you and helps you move along in your process. When I worked in a fly shop, the woolly bugger was always the intro fly because you learned things there that came up in other even smaller flies.
Zebra midge is definitely easier - blowtorches can get a bit more complicated (especially if you do a cdc collar) and require more materials.
I started with zebra midges and egg patterns
Thanks! I’ll most likely end up doing that as well.
Was hoping there might be some overlap in materials for the first couple patterns but I figured there wouldn’t be lol
There can be depending on which patterns you pick and how you tie them. For at least hundreds of years people tied using materials they could harvest themselves or trade for with friends. There were no fly shops with 10,000 materials less than a hundred years ago.
It's nice to have a wide range of materials and selection of colors to play with but you can fish with a pretty limited selection of materials.
Hell there's at least a half dozen pheasant tail nymphs variants that can be tied with the same half dozen materials.
I can think of more than 50 patterns you can tie with just 13 materials if you learn to make functional substitutions, but you'll need a fairly wide range of tying skills to do it.
90% of what I fish are from the game I take and they rarely disappoint. You don't need 10000 different materials just shoot like 20 different things. All you need to buy is thread, lead, wire, and flash. (Having a peacock also helps)
Pick a simple fly you fish a lot. Learn that one. Pick another. Learn that one…
This right here.
My go to is Zebra Midges. Important skills there and learning to build a smoothly tapered thread body is super useful as you progress in tying.
A good San Juan worm is an easy win for new tyers too, and both patterns catch.
My usual recommendation is San Juan worm (I like Charlie Craven's version for this) for a quick confidence builder, Zebra Midge, Gold Ribbed Hare'e Ear (with and without bead head), Pheasant Tail Nymph (plenty of variants to play with on this one too), Sexy Walt's or a Blowtorch, Woolly Bugger, Elk Hair Caddis.
If you can tie three in a row of each of those patterns in appropriate sizes that look identical snd don't move around when you give em some twist, you're proficient in basic tying.
Thanks man
Waltz
I think pheasant tails are great places to start. I just went to Tim Flaglers videos and went down the list, adding material and technique.
Great way to get going
In this order: zebra midge, sexy waltz or pink squirrel, frenchie, hares ear, pheasant tail, elk hair caddis, adams
Materials (can be done cheap and with a lot of overlap): hooks, black and olive thread, 3/32 gold beads, copper wire, grey dubbing, pink dubbing, pheasant tail, peacock hurl, deer hair, cheap brown rooster cape
I’ll always recommend dry flies if you’re new to fly fishing. Adams is a great place to start (non-parachute) and the X-Caddis. The Elk Hair Caddis gets recommended a lot but it actually has a lot of steps for a beginner. They all involve core skills, so it’s still good for learning. I think the X-Caddis is better for the absolute beginner.
I would highly recommend picking up Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying.
The book builds on skills from start to fishing. Each fly is useful and the skill to tie it builds on what was learned from the previous fly.
I got it when I first started tying and it was great. I still refer to it while tying. YouTube videos are great to learn, but having a book in front of you is helpful as a reference.
Like to second on Cravens book must have on a beginner bench!!
As a lot of people have suggested it probably depends on where you live and what you want to fish for. I live in Scotland and for Scottish waters always recommend starting with a black pennel fly. It will teach you the basics and you can then build from there. A pheasant tailed nymph is also a great ‘first’ fly that will catch a trout on most rivers in the world. I’d really recommend finding a good YouTube channel that you find clear and helpful. My go to is always Davie McPhail. Enjoy!
Zebra midge, wooly worm, gray or brown hackle peacock
Thread frenchie might be the most versatile and simple - every color imaginable with just that semperfli March Brown 0.2mm wire color - olive, brown (personal fav), black, red etc.. and man do they fish.
The MGT Perdigon is another one from Dakota Angler and outfitter. Body material is used as the thread and within seconds you have an incredibly great fish catcher that again, can be tied in tons of colors.
Try a size 24 black hackled midge.
Ok…that’s just cruel 🤣🤣
Depends on what you're fishing for, but I started out learning to tie clousers. It's got to be the easiest pattern out there to tie and fish with. And you can make them as complicated and diverse as you want to.
Buzzers and nymphs are good for beginners
I just started and I’ve found pats rubber legs and chubby chernobyls pretty simple to tie. Just pick 2 or 3 patterns you use a lot and order the stuff to tie a bunch of them.
Waltz Worm, Caddis Pupa, Copper Johns. If someone thinks a PT is easy when starting off. They don’t tie much lol.
Pheasant tail nymph or gold ribbed hare’s ear. Buy the materials and a 50 pack of size 14 hooks.
Ah, the venerable zebra midge… The gateway fly for countless addicts err I mean fly tiers….
Brad head prince nymph. Easy to tie. Requires basic materials all flytyers should have and is highly effective.
Kelly Galloup says the woolly bugger, and tie it 10-12 times until you got it cold. To be sure a zebra midge would likely be easier, but I ain’t about to question Kelly friggin Galloup.
Pheasant tail nymph is a great pattern to learn or hares ear nymph
I did the Venture Fly Company beginner series on YouTube that had about 12 flies and progressively built skills. Starts with a San Juan Worm and zebra midge. Includes a wooly bugger and others that have been mentioned here.
After tying a dozen of each, I feel like I have the basic skills to build from.
Do you have a type of water and/or species you are targeting or want to target? If it's streams and smaller trout, then small nymphs are a good idea. If it's stillwater or larger water with larger trout (beaver ponds for example), look at woolly buggers. If it's bass or other larger warm water fish, look at clousers.
For me, I was fishing inshore a lot when I learned, so a basic minnow pattern like a deceiver was the first fly I felt proud of.
What are you fishing: if it is fresh, probably a wooly bugger, fairly simple, even a poorly tied one will probably fish well if it has a lot of fluff for action.
Great suggestions. I’ll second what’s already listed, but consider wooly worm, wooly bugger, hares ear nymph, and elk hair caddis.
Focus on proportions and material placement. Try using a generic hook like a Mustad 94840 or Tiemco 100. Nothing smaller than a 12. It’s not about size right now, it’s about technique (insert joke here!)
A dozen of each should cover 90% of tying techniques, don’t require a lot of diverse materials and will save money. Example, all of those can be tied with black thread.
Feel free to DM me for other suggestions
Also, I don’t see where you are located or where you will be fishing. That might create some more freedom or other pattern suggestions.
Welcome to the bench!