The following is an excerpt from the book, Opening Days, by Richard Chiaponne (Barclay Creek Press; Hardcover; 232 pages; 6×9; June 2010). It is from the chapter titled, “Perfect: A Fly Tier’s Beginnings.”

Hatches is excited to announce that we’ve created a Hatches Magazine group on Flickr.  This is an opportunity for you to share all of your fly tying and fly fishing related photographs with other readers, and oh yeah, we’ll be watching too.  Each week we’ll be on the lookout for outstanding photographs, which we’ll be sharing here on the Hatches website along with a brief bio on the photographer.
Who knows, maybe this group is where we’ll find next year’s cover shot?
Simply follow the link below and click the “Join Group”  …

The Eumer tube fly box is a simple way to store your tube flies and keep them organized. This tube fly box has 36 small tapered spikes onto which it is very easy to secure tube flies. Due to the turning rows of spikes, the flies are easily accesable for choosing. After fishing trips,the flies can be left to dry in a upright position.

Mike Smith’s Forage Fly™ combines the unique features of the Fish-Skull™ head with natural body materials and a “frantic tail” to create an incredibly authentic baitfish imitation that is as versatile as it is realistic.

It only uses 5 different materials and once mastered is quick and easy to tie. Particular attention should be paid to the dimensions of the fly and amount of materials used, but we hope the very detailed instructions below will provide everything you need.

Here at Hatches, we’re always on the lookout for interesting fly patterns. Probably the single greatest resource we have at our disposal for finding them is the Fly Pattern Database (which has grown to over 10,000 fly patterns!). No where else on the web can one find a greater archive of fly patterns, and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to it. To express our great appreciation, and to make sure “older” patterns aren’t forgotten, we have decided to highlight three fly patterns from the database each week. We’ll share the best of the best, from the past to the present.