Not all good flies have to be complicated....Some of my best patterns are very simple to ties. Yes it sure is fun to sit behind the vice with a good whiskey for a couple of hours and tie a big articulated fly. But when it comes to the crunch, a simple fly that is quickly tied, doesn't use 20€ of materials , that you can cast all day without the need of painkillers is a good fly in my books. Especially when it fools fish over and over.
It's also a great fly for beginners. Many newcomers to the sport are fueled by social media and Youtube, and in all fairness i was the same, as usually there's not much information available elsewhere. Big flies, wiggle tails, dragon tails are all the rage at the moment, and they are good flies, but most of my time catching flies ( around 70%) i catch pike on flies that are not bigger than 20cm. Match the hatch is not only applicable to trout fishing...
So this is why the tisel tosser deserves a place in my top five pike flies. As usual, play with flash colors to suit the conditions and with the weight at the front, some days pike will chase something that glides, and others it's only a sharp jigging action that will induce a take.
