Fly-fishermen use artificial flies to imitate any one of thousands of insects that tempt fish to feed.

As any insect grows to maturity through various stages, the number of possible imitations runs to the hundreds of thousands. In addition, the factors that tempt fish to feed change with place and time of year.

Flies used to be constructed only from natural materials such as fur and feathers, but lately there's been a large increase in the number of patterns being made using many of the new man made products that have been introduced the last few years. Many people take up fly tying as the next step in their progression to being a more well rounded fly fisher and never venture out on a trip without a portable tying kit.

Over the years, many patterns have been submitted to the Osprey Flybox. These are patterns which have proven to be successful in BC waters. These have been compartmentalized into ten different groups.