Two simple fly patterns for beginners

Tonight I went out to one of our local Trout Unlimited chapter’s monthly fly tying nights. Always nice to get out and tie together with some folks for a couple hours!

We had a couple new fly tyers come tonight, so I demo’d two simple patterns for beginners that fish well in the winter: Utah Killer Bugs and Eggs.

Both are simple patterns that only take two materials (wire and yarn, or a bead and egg yarn) plus thread and allow you to practice the basics: Tying materials on with thread, keeping tension as you wrap both thread and yarn, and whip finishing.

If you are just starting out and want to try these patterns, here are the two videos where I originally learned to tie them:

The only differences with the egg are that I opted to use orange EZ Egg yarn because the wild trout in our watershed are primarily brown trout (their eggs are orange), and I decided not to tie a hotspot to keep things simple. Once you have the basics down, then you can add more to it.

Here is tonight’s crew (minus me taking the photo) hard at work:

After tying a few killer bugs, the two beginners were getting the hang of it. We only had time to tie one egg together, but their first attempt was decent enough to fish. They are quick learners. I sent them home with some extra yarn for both killer bugs and eggs so they can practice some more.