In preparation for some fly-fishing on the North side of the Dominican Republic, I connected with Capt Randy Rhode, the Owner of North Coast Sportfishing out of Cabrera. After some logistics planning, Capt Randy showed me a few pics of the most amazing pelagic flies – flies tied specifically for

TYING BLUE CRAB FLIES Call it “matching the hatch” or what you will, sticking close to local fly patterns will always yield reasonable results. A good majority of “tailing” fish like to pick up crustaceans off the bottom, especially in skinny water (on the flats or in the shallows). Pictured

Capt Jesse Males connected with us at Fly Mastery back in JAN 2016. After some time exchanging e-mails and photos, it was apparent he also had a passion for fly-fishing, fly-tying, and the adventure that comes with the fly-fishing lifestyle. Over the last two months I received amazing photography of

I first connected with John Roetman at the 2015 IFFF Expo in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He had quite a few folks gathered around his fly-tying bench, all of which were very interested in his display of unique creations. After some time watching John tie one of his latest local patterns,

I was leaving one of the Bass Pro Shops the other day and happen to walk out through the isle displaying all the rubber/ plastic lures. Among all the eye-candy, the replacement rubber “skirts” for spinners and jigs caught my eye. They looked so similar to the Sili and Centipede

Last month I noticed a few creative fly patterns on Instagram by Salty River Fly Company – one being their Mayan Cichlid Clouser. After connecting with Jesus Mora (Owner) via e-mail, he decided to send me a few fly patterns to post on Fly Mastery. Patterns included:   • Brush Crab

Grizzly hackle is a necessity for every saltwater fly-tying bench – really for all fly-tying benches. Whether making claws, wings, shrimp legs, or simply wrapping the hook shank, Grizzly hackle and its natural barring can’t be beat. Barring gives so much action to flies. Other great colors are available as

Tying Tarpon flies can be a great way to start fly-tying. Not only are Tarpon flies tied on a slightly larger hook, they can be tied by simply using feathers. In other words, the only materials you need for tying these flies are hooks, thread, and feathers…well that and maybe

A fish takes only a split second to decide whether to hit your fly or not. In other words, if it doesn’t take advantage of the immediate feeding opportunity, the next fish will. This means if your fly looks like the food they typically eat, acts like the typical food

A not-for-profit re-purposing program created to exchange surplus fly-tying material Fly Mastery has received an amount of comments from readers regarding the excess of fly-tying materials at the bench. An excess in relative terms I suppose – not enough to sell, but enough trade or donate to other fly-tying enthusiasts.