Landon Mayer's Guide Flies: Easy-to-Tie Patterns for Tough Trout

By Landon Mayer

When you spend as much time on the water as guide Landon Mayer, you need simple, easy-to-tie patterns that get the job done, day in and day out. In this fly-tying book, Mayer shares 20 of his top patterns for trophy trout that have been perfected on rivers and still waters in the Rockies and across the globe. These flies include twelve of Mayer’s own designs as well as eight of his favorite flies by, Arlo Townsend, Angus Drummond, Phil Tereyla, Walt Mueller, Jr., Michael Burgess, Dave Hoover, Kevan Davidson, and Ken Walwrath. Instructions for each fly are covered in over 200 detailed step-by-step photos, each chapter includes fishing and rigging tips, and the book includes seven rigging illustrations by Dave Hall. Patterns in this book include the Tails Up Trico, Mayer’s Mini Leech, Titan Tube Midge, Mini Leech Jig Damsel, and many more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RowmanLittlefield
• Release date: Dec 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9780811769792

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Igrew up in Colorado Springs, at the base of Pikes Peak, and was fortunate to be exposed at a young age to the fishing opportunities on the nearby South Platte River drainage. As a child I would cast lures to the trout with a spinning rod and watch other anglers as they cast their fly line. Amazed by how cool it looked and how many fish these anglers landed, I became obsessed.

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I love tying flies for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it keeps me connected to the water. I’ve always tied a dozen flies for the next day’s trip. Match that to 200-plus days on the water and I am producing over 2,000 flies a year. After 23 years of guiding, that’s close to 50,000 flies! JAKOB BURLESON PHOTO

After a few summers in Elevenmile, Cheeseman Canyon, Dream Stream, and Deckers with my older brother, Sean, we decided to start pursuing the stillwaters we had heard so much about. At the time, many anglers were fishing from boats and belly boats. I will always remember the first time I went to Spinney Reservoir and saw what looked like a bunch of Cheerios floating in the water. I was nervous at first, but after sliding on the fins over my boots, I kicked out and soon I was hooked. Watching trout jump higher than the seated anglers’ heads are visuals I still see today when thinking back to the beginning. Just like my river encounters, I raced back to the fly shop and was introduced to Denny Rickards’s book Fly-Fishing Still-waters for Trophy Trout. That summer I quickly learned what great potential for large trout Elevenmile, Spinney, and Antero Reservoirs provided.

I began researching the art of fly fishing in my local school and at the Pikes Peak public library. My favorite teacher, Barbara Pangrac, even took my brother and I out for a fly fishing and backpacking adventure. My learning curve really improved when I found out about the Anglers Covey, which back in those days was located in Old Colorado City. I remember walking into the Covey for the first time and seeing all the different fly-tying materials spread throughout the store and perusing the VHS tapes about fishing local and exotic destinations. This is when I discovered the Mastery Series from Scientific Anglers and the teachings of Doug Swisher, Gary Borger, Lefty Kreh, Dave Whitlock, and Jack Dennis. I will never forget receiving a phone call from Jim Allman from the store, complaining that I had failed to return the VHS tapes for three months, and that other people were interested in viewing them.

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Just like Egan’s Frenchie, sometimes all you need is a hot thread collar. This was the ticket for John and Katie Demuth. DEMUTH PHOTOGRAPHY

With my passion for the sport growing, and my knowledge starting to expand, I knew I needed to learn more about the flies and what they imitated. The hatches in Elevenmile Canyon would fill the sky like clouds and cover the water like a blanket. Dave Whitlock’s Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods became my bug bible and led me to so many more successful days. After meeting Dave and Emily in person at the Furimsky’s Fly Fishing Show, I thanked Dave for his guidance and wonderful artwork that to this day comes to my thoughts whenever I think of midge, caddis, BWO, Trico, PMD, and Yellow Sally hatches. I did not know it then, but that is what helped me over

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Watching this giant male cuttbow slide through the heavy waves to nail an orange and black Mini Leech Jig Radiant still gives me goosebumps. Watching great people like Michael Lincoln develop into anglers that can battle these trout is truly awesome.

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When John Barr opens a box to decide what fly to fish, prepare to be amazed. His designs all serve a specific purpose and were designed from lots of experience. This will always be an inspiration for me. John taught me that in fly design it’s not enough to create a fly that looks great in the shop bins, but that the fly must produce day in and day out. JAY NICHOLS PHOTO

the years with my evolution of fly design. I can now see why Dave, John Barr, Mike Mercer, Mike Lawson, and so many other great fly designers feel the need to create their own designs for angling success.

I decided to throw newspapers on a few local street routes to fund some of my gear. This also helped me convince my mom to take me into Elevenmile Canyon to fish on the weekends if I could chip in for gas. When I turned 13, my brother Sean opened the door for camping and fishing adventures to rivers such as the Taylor, Frying Pan, and San Juan, and the high alpine lakes and creeks I dreamed about but had not experienced.

One day after returning from nearly getting skunked in Elevenmile Canyon, my brother and I stopped by the Anglers Covey to look through the fly bins and try to figure out what flies might work. I’ll never forget when Greg Blessing, a great teacher who has been guiding the South Platte for over 30 years, and his client came through the front door. His client was excited about the day, happy about the numbers of fish, the hatches; I remember watching his expression as he shared the stories. Greg’s client mentioned to Gary Alameda that he was looking forward to the next week’s fly-tying class. That’s when my eyes lit up like silver dollars.

Luckily, my mother was paying attention and secretly purchased a class for me for Christmas. I remember how excited and nervous I was, wondering how long it would take and if I truly could tie flies effectively. But Gary walked me through every step of the process of tying. We started out with midges, advanced to Hare’s Ears, moved on to Parachute Adams, and finally to the Muddler Minnow and spinning deer hair. Everybody in the class received a beer at graduation while I had to settle for a soda.

Before leaving the Covey, Gary recommended I purchase a copy of The Basic Manual of Fly-Tying: Fundamentals of Imitation by Paul N. Fling and Donald Puterbaugh, which was filled with old-school, simple illustrations that taught tying techniques clearly. I still love flipping through the pages of this book with my son River and seeing just how much knowledge these two gentlemen had. To this day, the Puterbaugh Caddis is my go-to caddis dry fly!

I continued to tie through my beginning years of guiding, evolving into teaching fly-tying and casting classes in the early 2000s through the Peak Fly Shop, which was owned by Brad, Bill, and Sherry Tomlinson. The shop would host tying seminars where people could learn tips and tricks from top fly tiers in Colorado. This is where I met longtime friends Eric Mon-dragon, Matt Wilkerson, Greg Shelley, Matt Bynum, and ultimately, my wife, Michelle. Guiding exposed me to some of the best fly tiers I’ve ever known, individuals that, over the years, I spent long days with on the water. Some of my favorite memories in my late teens and early 20s are of driving all night, checking into a hotel, fishing, then staying up all night drinking beer and eating pizza while cranking out dozens of patterns for the next day. This is when I learned how to do production tying while paying attention to the details that Gary had taught me in my early years. I believe that it’s very important to be quick enough to produce numbers while still paying attention to the details. I still do the same thing 23 years later.

An important phase in fly tying for me was when I began fishing for species other than trout. Brad Befus’s Carp on the Fly and Barry Reynolds’s books Pike on the Fly and Mastering Pike on the Fly inspired me—and many other anglers—to look at other amazing fishing opportunities nearby. My friend Matt Wilkerson and I would hunt trout for a portion of the day and then go after other species. I had a lot of knowledge understanding proportions and flies up to 2 to 3 inches, but up to that date, I had not broken into the world of flies exceeding 3 inches. Learning how to tie streamers for pike allowed me a chance to explore other fly designs, which in turn helped me prepare for saltwater trips: Mexico with the Peak Fly Shop, fishing with Michael and Jean Williams for rooster fish, chasing tarpon with Matt Bynum in Florida, chasing peacock bass with Gary Bulla, David Cannon, and Michael Williams of Nomadic Waters, and this year golden dorado in Argentina with Set Fly Fishing and good friends.

In 2004, at the Fly Fishing Show with the Peak Fly Shop, I met John Barr, which was another turning point for me. John Barr came into Peak and discussed some of the techniques for the Copper John, which had exploded onto the scene in the mid-to late 1990s and, quite honestly, would become one of the ultimate flies ever designed and tied by an angler. For the following two years, I fished the Copper John. Not only did this fly help lead me to some amazing results with clients, but it was also the reason I landed one of my personal best brown trout, just over 12 pounds, on a September day on the South Platte River.

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I love the thrill of helping anglers become successful on the water. The therapy that a day on the river can provide will make anyone smile. Here, friend Drew Allman, owner of Tie Craft (custom fly-tying desks), steers a quality rainbow over to the river’s edge for the scoop. DOUGLAS HENSEL PHOTO

The photo taken that day ended up making its way to the great Charlie Meyers at the Denver Post. He posted the picture, which just happened to be taken by another angler who watched the fight without me even knowing. It was exciting to see the reward of that brown, and remember the battle and the whole adventure. At high flows over 250 cfs, it was an epic battle, but more importantly it launched my career in fly fishing. If I would not have caught that fish, I most likely would not have formed my friendship with my mentor, John Barr, and I would still be teaching on my local waters. But when you meet someone with John’s vision and angling talents, you learn more than you could on your own. This is also true for friendships and connections to other people who influence the sport of fly fishing. In many ways John opened a door with opportunities behind it, and I never turned down the chance to better myself as an angler and develop a career.

In the coming years, my friendship with John blossomed into something great. Quite frankly, he gave me opportunities I would’ve never seen without his generosity. What’s unique about John is that in all our travels together he is the only person I’ve met who literally fishes only his flies, whether on the banks of the South Platte River in Colorado, chasing largemouth bass on farm ponds in Houston, Texas, or drifting down the Kvichak River in Alaska.

In 2008 I submitted my first imitation to Bruce Olsen at Umpqua Feather Merchants. Bruce played a key role in developing the Umpqua Signature Fly Design Program and helped pave the way for a lot of great flies in the fly-fishing industry. I considered it a true honor to have my Mayer’s Mini Leech, Tube Midge, and Mayer’s Mysis accepted by someone who reviewed thousands of fly patterns each year. This was an exciting time for me because the Tube Midge was the first imitation I came up with where the design suddenly hit me one night. Over the next seven years, I tried different designs and had a chance to fine-tune them on the water. Following the Tube Midge came the Mayer’s Mysis and the Mayer’s Mini Leech. By 2014 I had four imitations that were working well, and consistently, on the water. Following the Titan Tube Midge and the Tails Up Trico was the Mini Leech Jig series, including the Mini Leech Jig, Mini Leech Jig Radiant, and Mini Leech Jig Damsel.

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Sharing vise time with my son, River, takes me back to the days that started my passion. Learning to tie flies is one of the best ways to improve your angling and stay connected to the water.

As a full-time guide, I need to be able to come home after a long day of guiding and tie