How Fishing Flies Are Tied — and Why the Pattern Matters.
A hand-tied fly is built to match what fish are actually eating in a specific body of water at a specific time of year. Ferris Meurer ties every pattern at his own vise in Mequon, Wisconsin — selecting hook sizes, materials, and proportions based on the hatches, baitfish, and invertebrates he finds in the waters he fishes. No factory shortcuts. No assembly line. Each fly is a specific answer to a specific question: what are the fish eating right now, and how close can I get?
Proven Patterns
These are some of Ferris's signature patterns that are almost always in stock. Stop back by for an easy repurchase.
Don't see the pattern you're after? Ferris ties custom orders to your exact specifications — hook size, color, material, and target species. Tell him what you're fishing and he'll build it. Lead time is 1–2 weeks.
Elk Hair Caddis
Woolly Bugger
Pheasant Tail
Adams Dry Fly
During a caddis hatch, trout lock in on the emerging insect and become incredibly selective. The Elk Hair Caddis rides high in the film with its buoyant elk hair wing, sitting exactly where feeding fish expect to find it. Ferris ties this pattern in sizes 12 through 16 for brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout on fast water rivers and riffles throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
HOOK: #12-16 / WING: Bleached Elk Hair / BODY: Rabbit Ear Dubbing / HABITAT: Fast Water & Rifles
If there's one fly every Midwest angler should carry, it's a Woolly Bugger. The marabou tail pulses with every current change, mimicking a wounded baitfish, leech, or large nymph — whichever the fish have decided they're eating. Available in olive, black, and brown, this pattern covers smallmouth bass in rocky rivers, brown trout in deep pools, and salmon in Lake Michigan tributaries.
HOOK: #6-10 / TAIL: Marabou / BODY: Chenille with Palmers Hackle / HABITAT: Lakes & Slow Streams
Most feeding trout on most days are eating subsurface — and most of the time, they're eating something that looks like a Pheasant Tail. Natural pheasant tail fibers create the lifelike segmentation trout key in on in the boulder runs and deep riffles of Wisconsin rivers. Fish it dead-drift, add a slight twitch, or run it as a dropper under a dry. Sizes 14 through 18 cover the range of mayfly nymphs from ice-out through late fall.
HOOK: #14-18 / MATERIAL: Natural Pheasant Tail / RIB: Copper Wire / HABITAT: Boulders & Deep Runs
When you don't know exactly what the trout are rising to, tie on an Adams. Its grey muskrat body and mixed grizzly hackle wings suggest enough different mayfly species that fish take it even between hatches — which is why it's been a staple on American trout streams for over a century. Ferris ties this in sizes 12 through 18 for any water where fish are looking up.
HOOK: #12-18 / BODY: Grey Muskrat Dubbing / WINGS: Grizzly Hackle / HABITAT: Calm Surface Feeders