fly tying

Shown are the Fish Skull Articulated Shanks with sizes listed beside them and a Gamechanger Streamer Fly on a white background

Fly Tying Tip: Tying with the Next Generation Articulated Shanks

(Updated: )Jeff
Revolutionizing Fly Tying: Fish Skull’s Next-Generation Articulated Shanks For fly tyers who demand innovation, durability, and versatility, Fish Skull’s next-generation articulated shanks represent [...]
Murray's Hellgrammite Article Flyfishing Magazine December 1985

Harry’s Article “Murray’s Hellgrammite”

(Updated: )Jeff
A good friend, Dave, from Anchorage, AK recently came across the December 1985 Issue of Flyfishing Magazine while cleaning out a file cabinet. [...]
Dry Fly Necks for Fly Tying

Dry Fly Necks

(Updated: )Harry
How many top grade dry fly hackle necks does one need? When I started tying dry flies for trout I could afford only [...]
Cleaning My Fly Box Blog by Harry Murray

Cleaning My Fly Box

Harry
House Cleaning My Fly Box Cleaning my fly box out is something I like to do in the winter months when the fly [...]
Design a Fly

Designing Flies Podcast

(Updated: )Harry
Designing Flies Podcast by Harry Murray January 2018 Happy New Year! Since the weather is so cold at this time of the year, [...]
Three men participating in a fly tying workshop, with one man demonstrating techniques at a table.

Five Tips for Tying Durable Flies

(Updated: )Harry
Five Tips for Tying Durable Flies Blog- Murray’s Fly Shop Here is Five Tips for Tying Durable Flies: (1) I keep my diluted [...]

Bargain Hunting

Harry
Stop by a yard sale or garage sale and purchase a used food blender for several dollars. These are wonderful for blending your [...]

Small Flies

(Updated: )Harry
In order to tie small delicate trout flies I hold the number of thread wraps to a minimum. The firmness of the wraps [...]

Durable Flies

(Updated: )Harry
In order to improve the durability of my flies when I tie them, I like to place a mini-drop of head cement at [...]

Penetrating Cement

(Updated: )Harry
For me fly tying cement has two main purposes. One is to hold the fly together and the second is to coat a [...]

Streamer Flash

(Updated: )Harry
I often add a few strands of rainbow color accent flash in the wings and tails of streamers. These strands in with marabou, [...]

Natural Animal Fur Dubbing Materials

(Updated: )Harry
For very small nymphs I often use natural furs right off the skin after removing the guard hairs. These furs produce flies with [...]

Dubbing for Fly Bodies

(Updated: )Harry
For dry flies I like to use a very fine poly blend of dubbing material such as Fly Rite 34 on the left [...]

Hen Saddles

(Updated: )Harry
Speckled Indian Hen Saddles are great for hackleing nymphs and soft hackles. They are dyed in many different colors, are inexpensive and you [...]

Effective Streamers

(Updated: )Harry
When you are designing a new streamer to match a specific minnow it is great to tie one that looks so much like [...]

Hackle Cape and Saddle

(Updated: )Harry
This photo shows the difference between a Metz Grade 1 Light Ginger Rooster Neck Cape and a Metz Grade 1 Brown Rooster Saddle. [...]

Murray’s Hellgrammite

(Updated: )Harry
It is hard to fix it if you do not know what is broken. That is where I was when I started fly [...]

Deer Hair Bass Bugs

(Updated: )Harry
Deer Hair Bass Surface Bugs are easy to tie and are very effective to fish. Here are some tips which help beginning fly [...]

Ruffled Grouse

(Updated: )Harry
Ruffled Grouse Body Feathers are some of my favorite materials for hackling nymphs and soft hackle flies. These feathers are easy to use [...]

Hen Hackle

(Updated: )Harry
The Grizzly Hen Hackle tips you see here is one of my favorite dry fly winging material when I want to show distinct [...]
One Pound of Ostrich Plumes for Fly Tying

Ostrich Plume

(Updated: )Harry
This pound of Ostrich will tie enough flies to catch many thousand fish. Ostrich Plume is used to tie streamers, Murray’s Pearl Marauder [...]

Fly Tying Video – Tying the Shenk’s White Streamer

(Updated: )Jeff
Fly Tying Video – Tying the Shenk’s White Streamer In this Fly Tying Video Jordan demonstrates how to tie the Shenk’s White Streamer. [...]

Simple Flies

(Updated: )Harry
Several years ago I stopped in a fly shop in Montana which was owned by a good friend. One of his employees was [...]

Fly Tying – Deluxe Dubbing Twister Set Review

(Updated: )Jeff
Fly Tying – Deluxe Dubbing Twister Set Review Both beginner and advanced fly tiers in our classes often have difficulty with the “spinning” [...]

Poly Yarn

(Updated: )Harry
This is the second in my series on winging material. For those just starting to tie dry flies many find poly yarn the [...]

Wood Duck Flank

(Updated: )Harry
This is part one of three parts on dry fly winging material.  The woodduck flank feathers you see here are one of my [...]

Calf Tail

(Updated: )Harry
Calf (Kip) Tail is a very useful material with many applications in tying dry flies, streamers and bass bugs. The yellow calf tail [...]

Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker Streamer Fly Tying Kit

(Updated: )Harry
In the forties and fifties, smallmouth bait fishermen on the Shenandoah River who were after the largest bass used live Hog Suckers for [...]

Dying Fly Tying Materials

(Updated: )Harry
When I can’t locate the exact color of natural dubbing fur I need to tie  a specific pattern, I dye some of the [...]

Tying a Deer Hair Bass Bug

(Updated: )Harry
When I teach my winter fly tying classes, the beginning fly tyers are amazed how quickly they learn to tie great deer hair [...]

Fly Tying Tip: Finishing your Flies with a Whip Finish – Murray’s Fly Shop

(Updated: )Jeff
Fly Tying Tip: Finishing your Flies with a Whip Finish – Murray’s Fly Shop Learn to tie flies, give us a call to [...]

Light Pattern

(Updated: )Harry
I had taken eight trout in the last several pools on my Murray’s Flying Beetle so when I spotted a nice trout feeding [...]

Do you want to Learn to Tie your own Flies?

(Updated: )Jeff
Do you want to learn to tie flies? You can as soon as tomorrow! We’re getting ready for tomorrow’s Fly Tying Class – [...]

Fly Tying Tip: Strong Thread

(Updated: )Harry
Murray’s Red Head If you have trouble breaking your tying thread when you are spinning the hair on you deer hair bass bugs [...]

Sharp Hooks but not too big

(Updated: )Harry
If you tie your own nymphs and streamers take a lesson from the late Charlie Brooks as I did many years ago. The [...]

Mini Drop of Cement

(Updated: )Harry
When I’m tying flies I find it very easy to apply a small drop of head cement at each tie-in and tie-off spot [...]

Advanced Fly Tying Class February 26, 2011

(Updated: )Jeff
We will have two separate Advanced Fly Tying Classes over the next two weekends. Saturday February 26, 2011 and Saturday March 5, 2011. [...]

Dry Hackle

Harry
In fly tying, I believe the quality of the dry fly hackle is more important in floating the fly and catching the trout [...]

Winter Fishing

(Updated: )Jeff
Winter seems to have settled in around the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Â The North and South Fork of the Shenandoah both have [...]

Fly Parts.. 1000 Dumbbell Eyes!

(Updated: )Jeff
These eyes will soon find a home on one of the thousands of Murray’s Hellgrammites or Marauders that our USA based fly tiers [...]