Poorly Tied Flies That Sometimes Catch Fish

This weekend I finally got around to digging out the fly tying kit and replenished my fly box of some of the patterns I use regularly. I am not the best fly tier so I try to limit myself to simple patterns that I have modified to meet my needs. They may not be pretty enough to catch anglers but I do know that they will catch fish. The first pattern I tied is a different variation of the wooly bugger. My version is tied on a size 16 long shank nymph hook with a tungsten bead and several wraps of lead wire to make it super heavy. The body is olive ostrich herl and the tail is marabou. I sometimes put a rib of holographic tinsel through the body just to add a bit more flash. The tail of the fly is about two times longer than it actually should be for the size hook on which it is tied, but I have found that this is necessary to give the fly a nice swimming action. I tie these in black, olive and yellow.

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The next fly that I tied was a quick and easy midge nymph or maybe its a micro caddis imitation. I tied these on a size 20 hook with a tungsten bead and a body that consists of a few wraps of olive larva lace. As you can see I don't always get the nice tapered body but I am thinking they will still work and they only take about one to two minutes to tie.