Fly Tying: "Tying" The Paracord Survival Fly

Via the YouTube channel of Tex Grebner Outdoors, here is a quick tutorial on tying a fly using paracord, a hook, and some heat.

It looks like it should work, although I might try to scale it down using cord with a smaller diameter and smaller hooks.

It certainly reminds me of a cased caddis with a trailing shuck. Well sort of.  You could pretty much make unlimited colors. Would you fish this?  Do you think it would work on trout?

Tying the Mop Fly

Wherein we cry out "Cheater!" and proceed to borrow one from our buddy.

101 Uses for my Ex-Wife's Wedding Dress

Wedding dress as wader changing mat?

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it when Kevin Cotter emailed me and asked me if I would have an interest in seeing his new book "101 uses for my ex-wife's wedding dress". Being a fly fisherman / trash fly fan, my mind immediately went to the tying bench and I began picturing all the flies I could make out of a whole gosh darned wedding dress. Veil winged adams, Veil parachute adams, veil body adams, and so on....

However, when the book arrived on my doorstep, I was shocked to find that only one of the 101 uses was related to fly tying and the remainder were far more creative and entertaining than expected. The book, which launched on the 25th of this month, is a comical look at taking lemons and making lemonade when faced with divorce. What is a guy to do when his wife walks out and leaves him with a pristine wedding dress?

"A little while after my ex-wife dumped me and her dress an idea was born. Over dinner with my parents and brother and sister-in-law I explained that I had her dress and that I did not know what I should do with it. A few creative suggestions were made and we agreed it would be fun to come up with a list of all the ways a wedding dress could be used. Not all of the applications on the original list were put into action."

Aside from me applying my own fly fishing bend to everything in the book, Mr. Cotter includes photos of himself doing some pretty amazing and inventive things with his ex wife's wedding dress. Here are but a few that caught our eye:

51. Fly Tying Material
53. Fishing Net
55. Shower Curtain
57. Kennel Liner (litter box)
70. MC Hammer Pants
97. Surrender flag

Check out Kevin's website and blog for more of the 101uses for an ex wife's wedding dress. Spoiler alert: The book has a happy ending and would be excellent therapy for any one happily married, divorced, or otherwise.

PS. Even the Editorial Trophy wife found this book to be great reading material. Not sure what I should read into that though...

Brad Sprinkle's Trash Flies

FlyfishMagazine's friend Brad Sprinkle is famous for re purposing found and abandoned items for fly tying. His website, www.TrashFlies.com has lots of tips for the angler who wants to keep our landfills a bit less crowded while saving a buck or two. Brad also wrote an excellent article for us on the subject. Note the bugger above with a cone head made from a hollow point .177 caliber pellet.

TrashFlies: Sprinkle's Poptart Wrapper Midge

FlyfishMagazine's Editor of fly tying with found items, Brad Sprinkle just sent us this beautiful example of his art.


This is a simple one material fly. It was an idea that came one day when I was waiting for a long while in the Jeep and tying to pass the time. I hadn't taken very many materials and had tied as many as I wanted of what I had planned. I found a Pop Tart wrapper in the floor that my son had finished off earlier. Well what could be done with this thin silver material crossed my mind. Here's what came of it.

Hook: #18 Tiemco Scud
Abdomen: Pop Tart Wrapper cut to thin strips.
Rib: Black tying thread
Head: Black tying thread
Note: All coated with head cement, super glue, or Sally Hansens clear polish.

See Brad's previous article "Trash Flies" to get some insight on his inspiration and what he can do with the stuff most of us throw away.

You can also follow Brad on twitter @teachrtec (also, while you are at it, feel free to follow us as well @flyfishmagazine)