What people tie, and what it's standing in for.

Mayfly · nymph

Hook12–22

A slender swimming or clinging mayfly nymph with a dark wing case.

Dead-drifted near the bottom; the copper rib and thorax bulge read as gills and wing pads.

• pheasant brown
• copper

Mayfly · nymphgeneralist

Hook10–18

A generalised scruffy nymph — mayfly first, but deliberately unspecific.

Dead-drifted. The picked-out guard hairs suggest legs and gills without committing to a species.

• hare's mask
• gold

Mayfly · subimagogeneralist

Hook12–22

A dun sitting in the film with upright wings — the most non-committal mayfly dry there is.

Dead-drifted on the surface. The parachute post sits the body in the film rather than on it.

• dun grey
• grizzle

Mayfly · subimago

Hook14–22

A dun flush in the film with a deer-hair wing standing in for a drying wing.

Dead-drifted in flat water where a hackled fly's footprint is too heavy.

• olive
• dun
• cream

Mayfly · subimago

Hook16–24

A mayfly caught between nymph and dun, still trailing its shuck.

Fished in or just under the film. Deliberately ambiguous about which stage it is.

• grey
• olive
• black

Mayfly · spinner

Hook14–22

A dead spinner lying flush with wings flat to both sides.

Dead-drifted at dusk in slack seams and eddies where spent insects collect.

• rusty brown
• olive
• clear

Caddisfly · adult

Hook12–20

An adult caddis at rest with its wing tented over the body.

Dead-drifted, or twitched and skated to suggest egg-laying movement.

• tan
• olive
• brown

Caddisfly · pupa

Hook14–20

An emerging caddis still hung in its trailing shuck.

Fished in the film. The trailing shuck is the whole point of the pattern.

• olive
• tan

Caddisfly · pupa

Hook12–18

A rising caddis pupa carrying a gas bubble under its pupal skin.

Swung or lifted through the last of the water column rather than dead-drifted.

• olive
• amber
• brown

Caddisfly · larva

Hook12–18

A free-living caddis larva tumbling loose in the drift.

Dead-drifted on the bottom. Tied curved to suggest the larva's natural hook shape.

• bright green
• olive

Caddisfly · larva

Hook10–16

A cased caddis larva with head and legs protruding from the case.

Dead-drifted heavy and low. The dubbed case and bright thorax are the two halves of the idea.

• hare's mask
• green
• amber

Stonefly · nymph

Hook4–12

A large stonefly nymph crawling among cobble.

Dead-drifted deep and slow. Weight matters more than profile because the natural does not swim.

• black
• brown
• coffee

Stonefly · nymphgeneralist

Hook8–14

A medium stonefly nymph, with enough scruff to double as a large mayfly nymph.

Dead-drifted as an anchor fly. Deliberately broad in what it suggests.

• brown
• peacock
• gold

Stonefly · adult

Hook6–14

An adult stonefly on the surface with wings held flat along the body.

Dead-drifted or skittered against the bank where adults fall in.

• orange
• yellow
• gold

Stonefly · adult

Hook14–18

One of the small dark winter stoneflies.

Dead-drifted tight to the bank on cold bright days.

• black
• dark dun

Midge (non-biting) · larva

Hook16–24

A chironomid larva — thread body, wire rib, bead head, nothing else.

Dead-drifted deep, often as the trailing fly. Its whole argument is size and slimness.

• black
• red
• olive
• silver

Midge (non-biting) · larva

Hook16–22

A haemoglobin-bearing chironomid larva from low-oxygen sediment.

Dead-drifted near the bottom, particularly in slow silted water.

• blood red
• claret

Midge (non-biting) · adult

Hook18–24

A cluster of adult midges rafted together on the film, more than a single fly.

Dead-drifted on flat water. Reads as a mass rather than an individual.

• peacock
• grizzle

Midge (non-biting) · pupa

Hook18–24

A midge pupa hanging vertically under the film with a pale gill tuft.

Fished in the surface film, static. The hang is the behaviour being imitated.

• grey
• black
• white

Hellgrammite · larva

Hook2–8

A large dark aquatic larva dislodged from under a rock.

Fished deep and slow along the bottom, or dead-drifted then swung up at the end.

• black
• dark olive
• brown

Scud / Amphipod · larva

Hook12–18

A freshwater amphipod — a crustacean, not an insect and not a hatch.

Dead-drifted or twitched through weed and leaf pack. Tied curved, with a shellback over the top.

• olive
• grey
• tan
• orange

Terrestrials (ants, beetles, hoppers) · adult

Hook8–14

A grasshopper that fell, not something that hatched here.

Dropped on the bank edge and twitched. The legs and the bulk are the tell.

• yellow
• tan
• brown

Terrestrials (ants, beetles, hoppers) · adult

Hook16–22

A pinched-waist ant on the film — flying ants after a still, humid afternoon.

Dead-drifted in the film. The waist is the structure being imitated.

• black
• cinnamon

Terrestrials (ants, beetles, hoppers) · adult

Hook14–18

A hard-backed beetle sitting in the film, not an aquatic emergence.

Dead-drifted along the bank. The silhouette is a round back, not a wing.

• black
• peacock

Damselfly / Dragonfly · nymph

Hook10–16

A slender damselfly nymph with leaf-like gills at the tail, not three filaments.

Slow-stripped through weeds. The pause is when a damsel nymph actually moves.

• olive
• tan

Damselfly / Dragonfly · nymph

Hook4–10

A stout dragonfly nymph — the mask is the structure, the bulk is the rest.

Crawled along the bottom or stripped in short hops off weed edges.

• olive
• brown
• mottled

Aquatic beetles · adult

Hook12–16

A diving beetle or a drowned terrestrial with hard wing covers.

Swung or dead-drifted in the film. An air bubble is the living animal's tell.

• black
• peacock

Baitfish / forage silhouette · adultgeneralist

Hook2–6

A small baitfish swimming down and across — the eyes and the jig are the read.

Stripped with pauses so it dives. A school is not an insect.

• chartreuse
• white
• olive

Baitfish / forage silhouette · adultgeneralist

Hook1/0–4

A slender forage fish of no particular species — the shape, not the name.

Long strips. Size is the only specific claim.

• white
• olive
• blue

Crayfish · adult

Hook4–10

A crayfish backing under a rock — claws in front, tail fan behind.

Hopped along the bottom. The flick backwards is the behaviour.

• olive
• rust
• brown

Leech · adult

Hook4–10

A leech — a sucker at each end, nothing else needed.

Slow strips with long pauses. Pulsing material does the undulation.

• black
• olive
• maroon

Aquatic sowbug · adult

Hook14–18

An aquatic isopod, flattened top to bottom — it lies flat in a palm.

Dead-drifted tight to the bottom. The flattening axis is the tell from a scud.

• grey
• tan
• olive

Shrimp (grass and penaeid) · adult

Hook4–8

A small shrimp on the sand — legs and antennae, no claws that count as pincers.

Short strips over sand and turtle grass. The pause is when it sits.

• tan
• pink
• white

Sand lance (sand eel) · adult

Hook2–6

A sand lance — long, thin, eel-like, no pelvic fins.

Fast strips through the wash, then a pause. They vanish into sand.

• olive
• white

Silversides · adult

Hook1–4

A silverside — translucent body, a hard lateral line, a forked tail.

Swung or stripped in schools. One is rarely the picture.

• olive
• silver
• white

Inshore squid · adult

Hook2/0–2

An inshore squid — eight arms, two tentacles, a mantle that changes colour.

Erratic strips with pauses. Jetting backwards is the living animal.

• white
• pink
• olive

Shrimp (grass and penaeid) · adultgeneralist

Hook2–6

A shrimp or baitfish struggling in the film — noise and a bubble, not a hatch.

Short pops on the surface. The wake is the claim.

• tan
• white
• chartreuse