Arkansas Fly Fishers

05/27/2026

Fly of the month for June is the Blowtorch - Size 16 - 14

The Blowtorch is a perdigon pattern that really doesn’t need much introduction. It's a tag-style nymph that Devin Olson developed in the Czech Republic in 2014, during the World Fly Fishing Championship. In fact, he credits this pattern as being instrumental to his 2nd and 1st place finishes during that competition.

Widely known in euro-nymphing circles as a reliable fish catcher, it has a good mix of buggy features, and a bright hotspot to help get fish to eat it. With a heavy tungsten bead, it will sink quickly and get down into feeding zones fast.

Olsen fishes the Blowtorch by itself, or on the point of a two-fly Euro-nymph rig with the dropper tag fly about 20 inches above. He uses the thinnest tippet he can get away with to increase sink rate and decrease drag. He is adamant that the Blowtorch is also a great dropper pattern under a dry fly.

The Blowtorch is an easy pattern to tie, and the color variations are at your whim. This fly will catch you a ton of fish all over the world, so it’s a no-brainer to have a dozen or so in your fly box.

We'll be tying the Blowtorch at our next Sipping and Tying night on Tuesday, June 2, at 6:00. Larry Maas will be our featured tyer, leading us through all the steps to tie this very popular pattern.

As usual, we'll supply all the materials you'll need to tie two of these proven fish catchers. Black thread can used for this pattern, and colored thread in orange or fire red is commonly used to created the 'hot spot' behind the bead. So if you have thread in those colors, bring them with you.

Come join us this coming Tuesday, June 2, at the Draft+Table Restuarant, 301 N Main St, North Little Rock. The fun starts at 6:00.

Join Devin Olsen as he ties and talks about the Hare's Ear Blowtorchhttps://www.umpqua.com/blow-torch/

04/29/2026

Fly of the Month for May is the Cormorant - Size 8 -10

This month's fly selection was going to be Jack Gartsides' Pheasant Caddis, but as I tied a few of them, I found that the wing was somewhat difficult to get just right, and would be even more difficult to do in our Sipping and Tying venue, especially for those who've never tied that syle of wing before. Besides that, when I field-tested the fly in my pond, I found it caught fish just fine, but after catching only one or two fish, the fly got torn up so bad that it was ruined.

So, rather than stay with a pattern that was difficult to tie, and not at all durable, I decided to switch to the Cormorant, which is a much easier pattern to tie, very durable, and very effective when fishing for any species. It's particularly effective in the spring, when trout. bass, and crappie are keyed-in on newly hatched baitfish and minnows.

The Cormorant fly is a simple, but deadly trout pattern, often used as part of a team of flies to imitate small aquatic insects, buzzers, or emerging midges. Originally designed in the UK for reservoir and competition fishing, it is now used worldwide.

Despite its minimal design, it’s one of the most effective modern stillwater flies — subtle, versatile, and adaptable to almost any fishing condition. It's a small, slim wet fly with a dark, understated body and soft movement.

It’s not a flashy fly, but instead, it suggests life: a buzzer, midge pupa, or tiny baitfish. The Cormorant can be tied in many different colors and body variations to match virtually any local fishing condition. YouTube has an almost endless video selection of different variations of this fly.

When I'm fishing it in my pond, I find them very effective for my finicky Crappie when fished as a baitfish. It's often described as a “nothing fly" that imitates everything.

We'll be tying the Cormorant at our next Sipping and Tying night, this coming Tuesday, May 5, at 6:00. Larry Maas will be our featured tyer, leading us through all the steps to tie two variations of the Cormorant.

As usual, we'll supply all the materials you'll need to tie two Cormorant flies. Black thread is commonly used for this pattern, but colored thread in orange or fire red is also used to add a 'hot spot' to the head, so if you have thread in those colors, bring them with you.

Come join us this coming Tuesday, May 5, at the Draft+Table Restuarant, 301 N Main St, North Little Rock. The fun starts at 6:00.

1K likes, 83 comments. "How to tie a Competition Special Cormorant "

04/21/2026

We’ve had some folks ask if we knew what the big silver tanks were….

04/03/2026

We have SOLD OUT again this year! But, it's not too late to get in on our raffle--you don't need to be present to win!! We have TEN guide trips up for grabs along with thousands of dollars’ worth of prizes when AFF and Fish On Custom Rods bring back The Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) to central Arkansas’ CALS Ron Robinson Theater on April 4! We have guide trips from some of Arkansas’s best guides including Jordan Case with Rouse Fly Fishing, Steve Dally with , Kim Dollin’s Ryder's Run Guide Service, Drew Friday's , Cody Griffin’s Fin & Feather Fly Fishing, Casey Hughes’ , Matt Milliner’s Rising River Guides, John Pineda’s , Evan Smedley’s Ouachita Fly Anglers Co. , and Mike Winkler’s Little Red River Guide Service. Other prizes include Lowell Myers leather goods, a beautiful net from Ethan Iglehart’s , art from Jamison Mosley (who will be painting live before the show), a , PLUS items from FishOn! Custom Rods, Yeti, Scientific Anglers, Orvis (including a sweet boat bag), Yeti, Costa sunglasses, Rambler tying tools, Yakoda, Benchmade knives, Flytime Fishing, an Airlite Rod, Rambler, Restoreline, Richardson, Stranahan, TroutRoutes, Fishpond, and more! AFF will direct profits from this event to programs and efforts that do just that. We already directly support programs for veterans, youth, cancer survivors, conservation, and more. Tickets are available online at https://arkansasflyfishers.com/pages/filmtour.

04/02/2026

Fly of the Month for April is the Walt's Worm - Size 16-14

Sometimes the most plain and simple patterns have always outfished the almost limitless variet intricate, life-like imitaions available to the modern day fly fisher, and the Walts Worm is just that kind of simple, easy-to-tie fly pattern.

Walt’s Worm was developed by Walt Young of Altoona, PA, in the mid 1980s. Mr. Young, a talented and renowned fly tier, is best known for one of the simplest flies ever developed. Walt’s Worm began showing up in fly shop bins in the late-1980s and early-90s around Centre County, PA. It is also likely that the pattern was first sold in Fly Fisher’s Paradise, a full-service fly shop located in State College, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Young was an employee around that time.

Supposedly, Walt Young first developed this pattern to imitate the large crane fly larvae, a creature that uncannily resembles miniature sausage stuffed cabbage, that are a year-round food source in Central PA limestone creeks.

The original Walt’s Worm was a large fly, tied on a #12 standard nymph hook, that included a lead wire underbody, a dubbed cigar-shaped over-body of natural hare’smask and a small black thread head. That’s all. Nevertheless, Walt’s Worm is now one of the most versatile nymph patters fished anywhere at any time for all species of trout all over the world.

In recent years, Walt’s Worm has been adapted as a Euro nymph commonly tied on a jig-style hook with a tungsten bead. Being an avid Euro nympher, I naturally gravitated to this pattern and often place it at the top of my “confidence flies.” It works everywhere, and I believe there are four principle reasons why this pattern belongs in every Euro nympher’s fly box.

We'll be tying the Walt's Worm at our next Sipping and Tying night, this coming Tuesday, April 7, at 6:00. Gina Fullmer will be our featured tyer, leading us through all the steps to tie the original Walt's Worm and the suped-up Sexy Walt's.
We'll supply, as usual, all the materials needed to tie two of these bad boys.

Come join us this coming Tuesday, April 7, at the Draft+Table Restuarant, 301 N Main St, North Little Rock. The fun starts at 6:00.

Detailed instructions for tying both Walt's Worm and the Sexy Walt's.Recipes:Walt's WormHook: Trout Legend J, size 14.Bead: Trout Legend TS silver tungsten b...

04/02/2026

The Arkansas Fly Fishers & presenting sponsor Fish On Custom Rods will bring the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) to central Arkansas’ CALS Ron Robinson Theater THIS Saturday, April 4!!! THIS IS THE FLY FISHING EVENT OF THE YEAR IN CENTRAL ARKANSAS! One of the films we are STOKED for this year is ‘The Mayfly Project’…. The Mayfly Project --which got its start right here in Arkansas--is one of AFF’s favorite partners and one that many of our members volunteer with and support. TMP’s work reaching foster kids through fly fishing is fantastic! Don’t forget we have a great preshow mixer starting at 4 where you can meet guides, reps from a whole variety of outdoor groups, and other outdoors & fly fishing enthusiasts—including TMP reps. PLUS we have one of the best raffles anywhere. We direct our direct profits to programs and efforts that make our community better & already directly support programs for veterans, youth (including TMP), cancer survivors, conservation, and more. Get tickets and more details at https://arkansasflyfishers.com/pages/filmtour