Copper John

It’s heavy, imitates nothing but looks like stoneflies and mayflies of all kinds and is very versatile in how you tie it. Like most wire wrapped flies, you can mix and match colors to fill entire boxes changing bead and hook sizes and wire colors to cover the gambit of nearly any stone or mayfly nymph. John Barr hit a home run on this fly and while he’s famous for many other patterns, deserves our gratitude as angler for developing such an influential and effective fly. Many of my patterns stem from this style of fly and the overall strategy of deep, impressionistic profile and ability to variate colors with few materials makes this a great fly to have in your box and a standard for all fly tying enthusiasts.