Speaker: Tim Flagler

Topic: What Trout Like to Eat & Flies to Feed Them

4CFF is honored to have Tim Flagler as our guest speaker this month! Tim is an internationally recognized fly fisherman and fly tyer that produces superb fly tying instructional videos. This presentation is not focused on just how to tie flies, but on what trout eat and what flies imitate that food.

Tim is the owner of Tightline Productions, L.L.C., a video production company located in Califon, NJ. Although he produces video programs over a wide range of topics, his specialty is fly fishing. Tim is a well-known fly tying instructor. His YouTube videos are some of the best in the business and his YouTube channel, practicalpatterns.com currently has over 118,000 subscribers and 38 million views. Almost every week he produces a new fly tying or “how to” video which appear not only on his YouTube channel but on Midcurrent and the Orvis News fly fishing blog as well. They’re also featured on Trout Unlimited’s national website and in the Orvis Learning Center. In addition, he has a regular column “Beginner’s Masterclass with Tim Flagler” in Fly Tyer magazine, which selected Tim as their “Fly Tyer of the Year”  in their Winter 2022 issue. Many of Tim’s tying videos take the viewer well beyond just the tying of the fly and show what it looks like underwater, what natural it represents and how it can be fished.

Tim is a fixture at the Fly Fishing Shows - giving presentations, teaching classes and often as a Featured Tier. He does monthly “Tie-Off’s” with Tom Rosenbauer (Orvis) and, recently, Cheech Pierce (Fly Fish Food) as well. He enjoys guiding year round for South Branch Outfitters (formerly Shannon’s Fly & Tackle)in Califon, NJ and hosts annual trips to Patagonia in the spring and to the Kootenai River in MT in the summer. He has also started hosting several trips within the year to Spruce Creek, PA.

This presentation focuses on one of Tim's most popular topics. This video-based presentation includes incredible underwater footage of a variety of aquatic insects, bait fish, and crustaceans that trout eat in order to survive. In addition, Tim will share the fly patterns we use to best imitate the variety of bugs discussed. Instructions on how to tie the patterns shared in this presentation can be found on Tim’s YouTube channel.