Flies That Catch Fish

I have to be completely honest and up  front here and admit that when Carl McNeil of  On The Fly Productions in New Zealand sent these DVD’s  for  review I was initially a little less than enthusiastic about  doing a  review myself.  Fly tying DVDs can, in my experience, be a little dry, even overly complex and occasionally appear  to have more to do with  model making than tying up practical,  useable fishing flies.

Now I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to spend  ½ my free time tying up complex patterns  then spend the other ½ worrying about losing them  up some bank-side tree.

If you are of a similar mind then these DVD’s are certainly for you.

Canadian Bob Wyatt has fly-fished for trout all over the world since the 1950s.  His book, Trout Hunting, was a breath of fresh air, challenging conventional thinking on  trout fly fishing. Wyatt’s philosophy is straightforward; if trout are feeding and you have a few basic patterns in your box, you will catch them if you can present the correct fly well and not spook the fish.

In over  fifty years of fly fishing Wyatt  has come up with a  few basic designs that will cover almost any fishing situation and in most cases will catch fish more reliably  than specific patterns created for so-called ‘selective trout’.

The reason these flies  work so well is because the designs are based on the most important triggers  to a trout’s feeding response; size, shape and posture in the water.

Wyatt regards his flies  as  the  ‘ammo’  he uses when hunting for trout. He combines the guile of a hunter with the eye of an artist.

I immediately found the DVD's  very useful. There are  much simplified alternative tyings of Bob’s main flies; for example the DHE, that showed me exactly why I’d been having problems  and how I had been getting the proportions wrong. This and his other patterns are incredibly simple and quick to tie once you know how.  His tying methods are unconventional the emphasise being on speed, simplicity and durability. For me and a lot of others that’s  Bob Wyatt’s flies in a nutshell.

There are two DVD’s available:

Volume One Dry Flies and Emergers features:
Wyatts' famous Deer Hair Sedge: Mayfly variant and large terrestrial variant.
Wyatt's Deer Hair Emerger - Snow Shoe Hare emerger - Dirty Duster - Red Tag - Black and Peacock - Griffiths Gnat - Spent Spinner - Chironomid Buzzer. 

Volume One Nymphs and Wets features:
Hares Ear Nymph, weighted and unweighted. Buzzer, weighted and unweighted - Partridge and Hare - Damselfly - Fur Fly - Desolation Baitfish - Rubber legs Woolly Bugger - Magnum Zonker

But these DVD’s are about more than just fly tying and include interesting interviews / bank-side chats that give an insight into the man and his fly fishing philosophy.  Grist to the mill for any fly fisher and I really did thoroughly  enjoy doing this review.

Highlyrecommended.

Runtime: (each DVD) 90 mins
Format: Universal, plays all countries (Both NTSC and PAL compatible)
Bonus Content: Includes special features: Streamside chats. Tricks, tips, retrospective and advice from a master fly angler.
FREE fly tying recipe booklet available for download

The DVD’s cost $39.95 NZ  each (currently about £20 UK) and can be ordered online directly from On The Fly Productions. http://www.onthefly.co.nz The delivery service  is fast and efficient.

Flies That Catch Fish
On The Fly ltd
P.O. Box 91
Albert Town 9344
New Zealand
http://www.onthefly.co.nz