Actually new to both fly fishing and fly tying. I think I might have the hang of switching from spin to fly fishing. I bought a cheap and simple kit on-line to learn so basics for fly tying. I went to Orvis for a basic "My first fly" class, and learned to tie wooly bugger. Searching on the InterWebs for fly tying lessons get really overwhelming. What flies do the community suggest as types to start learning on that helps with teaching tie flying skills?

I�d tie flies that work for the fish you want to catch. What do you want to catch?

Woolly Buggers are great, all purpose, freshwater flies. You can up and down size them as needed. Teaches a valuable skill of wrapping hackle forward, sometimes called palmered hackle. Other flies use palmered hackle.

Spinning deer body and belly hair is useful in making hair bass bugs, muddler minnows, sliders, etc. My personal favorite LM bass pattern is a dahlberg type diver made from spun deer hair. Steve potter has a good SBS video of how to.

Clouser deep minnows work in fresh and saltwater. There�s tons of SBS online. Lots of patterns use bucktail. The clouser is but one. Little bucktail streamers like a black nosed dace is another all purpose fly.

I rate flies by are they easy enough to cast, do they catch fish, especially the fish I want, and are they fun to fish.

In freshwater water for bass, Crappie, catfish and sunfish, I like woolly buggers, Balanced Leeches, deer hair divers, and little foam spiders.

In Texas inshore saltwater, I like a shrimp pattern, redfish crack, and occasionally a clouser and a few other assorted things.

My shrimp and the Balanced Leech are made with fibers put into a dubbing loop. Lots of flies, including a lot of trout flies, have fibers dubbed on. Dubbing lets you form bodies of many flies.

Bigger flies tend to be easier than real small flies.

Really the sky is the limit. Most, many tiers go off script and add variations to named patterns. The fish don�t care if the fly has a name. Many of the most successful flies are suggestive of some prey species, but not necessarily an exact replica of an organism.

What is a clouser deep minnow? A clump of deer tail hair, a little flash and a positioned weight. It suggests maybe a little prey fish, perhaps, and it gets in the zone where fish feed. A parachute Adams looks something like a mayfly sitting on the water, but it isn�t an exact replica of anything that lives. A foam spider, rectangle of foam, a few rubber legs, maybe a little marabou. Suggests something good to eat.

If you buy a fly and it works, see if you can reverse engineer it or find some online instructions. That�s how I got into deer hair divers. I got some as a gift and by gosh they worked and they were fun to fish. So I reversed engineered them and went online a found a few SBS YouTubes and picked my favorite. My divers work better where I fish than the original ones I got as a gift. I changed the hooks and sizing and added some colors. I don�t follow all of the SBS steps and add in my own.

Fly tying is about solutions to specific wants and needs. Sometimes, starting out, it�s hard to know what you want and need. Buy a few known and effective patterns and see what works and what you like then get the materials to tie your own. Just an idea.

Thanks Karstopo. I am still learning what works in the area. I am primarily a freshwater fisherman, rarely do I do saltwater, and when I do I am not in a position where I can fly fish. The largest fish I have caught on a fly here in Dallas area has been a 2.5 largemouth bass on a copper john. That was a serious shocker, especially since I only had 6x tippet. I have a few more ideas on how I want to do my wooly buggers, and I want to make a few of those craft-foam flies.

Pardon the pun, but I am hooked.

It looks like you are in the Plano area. Several members of the Dallas Fly Fishers tie flies at the Allen Cabela's every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. They would be happy to help you learn more about tying. Just bring your vise and grab a chair at the table.

Thanks RexW. I will try and pencil in someone for one of those days. More likely a Saturday. Around what time?

I'm not positive about Saturday, but I think it is basically, from the time they open the doors until everyone starts getting hungry and heads off to lunch.

Wednesdays start about 5:30 to 6:00 until about closing time.