Writing about fishing flies was indeed a spontaneous decision on my part. I solemnly hope that this was a wise decision that I had made.

A Featured fishing flies Article
Southern Fresh Water Total Fishing Tips

My trip into the south to uncover the best techniques for catching catfish has yielded some unusual yet astounding results. I first arrived in a small town called Belton in the great state of Texas. I asked some of the locals where a good place to catch catfish would be.

I was directed to Lake Belton only about 15 minutes from where I was. Boat in tow, with a bucket of minnows, and a box of night crawlers I headed out to see what kind of success I would have.
I ended up going to about four different spots spending roughly two hours only to have my bait stolen off the hook.

I started getting discouraged until I spotted an elderly man about three hundred yards away fishing from the bank. I noticed this gentleman pulling his stringer from the water and to my surprise he had two full stringers of channel cat catfish ranging in weight from about two and half to fifteen pounds!

I asked him what he was doing to be so successful and he said the first stringer came from trot lines he had set up over night. When I asked what he was using for bait I was completely astounded by his answer. He pulled a small bag from his tackle box and revealed to me about a dozen small cut up pieces of ivory soap. I couldn't believe it, I was dumbfounded. I asked how it worked, and the old timer simply said "I don't know, my grandfather taught me this over forty years ago".

When I asked about his second and soon to be third stringer of catfish, he pulled his bait bucket from the water and showed me little creatures I have never seen or heard before. Helgamites was the name of the odd insects. Small shrimp like insects with an armor plated exoskeleton and huge ant like pinchers on their heads.

These creatures can draw blood and it hurts when they latch on to your finger, so use caution. These insects can be found in rocks close to the banks of rivers and fresh water lakes. The old man told me he always uses them along with another secret fishing tip. When the lake water drops a little the old man goes out and digs a hole about twenty to thirty feet off the bank, and drops a foul smelling brick of maze into the hole. The smell attracts the catfish in droves, and they hang around all day.

The old timer told me he catches about thirty to forty keepers every time he fishes. That day the old man and I caught fifty three catfish. As far as fresh water fishing for catfish is concerned, the old timer provided me with the ultimate total fishing tips.

Shane Brooks is a self employeed writer who simply enjoys living life one day at a time. More fascinating fishing articles can be found here along with total fishing tips.

Short Review on fishing flies
Pale Morning Dun, Sparkle


Similar to the Comparadun, the Sparkle Pale Morning Dun pattern covers the stage of a mayfly hatch just before complete emergence of the dun. At this vulnerable stage mayflies are irresistable to rising trout. Every angler should carry these flies in appropriate sizes and colors for fishing the beginning stages of mayfly hatches.


Price: 1.25



Dr. Slick 3" Titanium Bobbin TBOB3


Dr. Slick 3” Titanium Bobbin


Price: 15.00



Bunny Leech, Brown


A large profile leech pattern, this brown bunny leech fly will get attention from a distance. Cross cut and Zonker style rabbit strips give this fly a lifelike pulsating action proven to stimulate strikes from trout, salmon, bass, and a variety of other species.


Price: 1.25



Adams, Irresistible


The Irresistible Adams Fly is an older variation of the most famous American dry fly but continues to be among the top multi-purpose dry flies available to the fly fisherman. The clipped deer hair body keeps this irresistible trout fly buoyant and visible. It works as both a mayfly and searching pattern for swift rivers or smaller freestone streams where fly fishing in pocket water is effective.


Price: 1.25



fishing flies Items For Viewing
For the Love of Fishing

For the Love of Fishing
Stories from the author's 30 years of commercial fishing in Alaskan waters.

Nymphs Tying and Fishing

Nymphs Tying and Fishing
Ninety percent of a trout's feeding is done subsurface, on nymphs or nymph-like foods, so nymphing anglers have a decided advantage. In this book Larry Tullis arms you with all the information you need to become a successful fisherman in this exciting branch of the sport. Tullis covers: the essential tools, basic nymph tying materials, techniques, hooks, knots, theories on the different imitation types, the most effective flies and their recipes, and much more. Tullis has been successsfully fishing this technique for years, this all encompassing book will make you a success too.

The Year of the Angler and the Year of the Trout: Tales of Fly Fishing, Rivers, the Environment, and Life

The Year of the Angler and the Year of the Trout: Tales of Fly Fishing, Rivers, the Environment, and Life

The Year of the Angler and The Year of the Trout have long been underground classics, the kind of books used-book sellers can’t keep in stock, the ones its owners won’t loan out. Now they’re back in print, under one cover.

Arnold Gingrich, the fly-fishing maven and editor of Esquire, ranked Steve Raymond with the great fishing writers, and Gingrich knew writers and good writing. So great is its reputation, that a copy of The Year of the Angler was presented to the White House by the American Booksellers Association.

Raymond fishes Western waters, particularly the Northwest. Here are accounts of adventures on the Hoh, the Duwamish, the North Fork of the Stillaguamish, the Hanford Reach of the Columbia, Pass Lake, and Columbia Basin Pond. Here, too, are affectionate portraits of the great fish of those waters, the sea-run cutthroat, salmon, steelhead, rainbow, and brown trout.
And solid advice on catching them. Raymond tells stories, too, of men like John Huelsdonk, the Iron Man of the Hoh, who killed one hundred cougars.

As much as it is a book about fish and rivers, it is also a book about life, about the passage of time, the seasons, man and his place in the environment, family, pain and pleasure. Truly a classic, The Year of the Angler and the Year of the Trout will find a place on every serious angler’s shelf, if only to replace one imprudently loaned to a friend.


The Year of the Angler and The Year of the Trout have long been underground classics, the kind of books used-book sellers can't keep in stock, the ones its owners won't loan out. Now they're back in print, under one cover.
Raymond fishes Western waters, particularly in the Northwest. The pages of this book are filled with accounts of his adventures on various bodies of water in this region, including the Duwamish, the Stillaguamish, the Columbia, and Pass Lake. Here, too, are affectionate portraits of the great fish of those waters, and solid advice on catching them. Raymond also tells stories of men like John Huelsdonk, the "Iron Man" of the Hoh, who killed one hundred cougars.
Arnold Gingrich, the fly-fishing maven and editor of Esquire, ranked Steve Raymond with the great fishing writers, and Gingrich knew writers and good writing. So great is its reputation that a copy of The Year of the Angler was presented to the White House by the American Booksellers Association.
As much as this is a book about fish and rivers, it is also a book about life, about the passage of time, the seasons, man's place in the environment, and family. Truly a classic, The Year of the Angler and the Year of the Trout will find a place on every serious angler's shelf, if only to replace one imprudently loaned to a friend.

Headlines on fishing flies
U.N. Study: Bottom Trawling Hurts Underwater Ecological Systems

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:05:37 GMT
… fishing when there's nothing to protect." The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition on Tuesday called opposition within the European Union the most significant obstacle to the moratorium. "Opposition flies in the …

Road Trip

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:42:35 GMT
Hunting and fishing within two hours of downtown. If you can't bear the thought of early holiday shopping in the city, sitting through a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert or trying not to get run down by ...

Trout season starts in New Jersey with a gleam and a splash - Sparta Independent

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:05:59 GMT

Trout season starts in New Jersey with a gleam and a splash Sparta Independent - 3 hours ago Someone shrills a whistle, a cheer rises that echoes down the river in Lafayette, then comes the whirr of reels and the splash of lures and flies hitting ...