Ant Fly Pattern: Signature Tyer Devin Olsen's Front End Loader Ant

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Devin Olsen's Front End Loader Ant is a dry fly pattern tied on the same platform as his famous Front End Loader Caddis pattern. Using CDC wings, Tactical Dry Fly Dubbing for the body, Ultra Dry Yarn for the post and hackle for the thorax, this pattern is extremely buoyant. It was originally designed as a dry dropper pattern to be used in the summer months when ants and other terrestrials are a common food source for trout, and it performs extremely well in that use. Whether you're using it on a euro nymphing setup, or a regular floating line dry dropper setup, it will work great. However, due to it's profile and wing shape, it also works wonderfully as a single dry flying ant imitation. No dropper needed when the fish are looking up and want to eat ants on the surface! Tie this ant fly pattern in a range of sizes and shades to cover whatever is most common for ants on the rivers you fish.

To purchase all the materials for this fly, head to our website.
US: https://www.fullingmill.com/Products-US/Front-End-Loader-Ant?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Organic%20Social&utm_campaign=FMFF%20Tying%20Materials&utm_content=2025%20Olsen%27s%20FEL%20Ant%20YouTube%20Video
UK: https://www.fullingmill.co.uk/Products-UK/Front-End-Loader-Ant-Dry?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Organic%20Social&utm_campaign=FML%20Tying%20Materials&utm_content=2025%20Olsen%27s%20FEL%20Ant%20YouTube%20Video

Devin Olsen started fly fishing at age 9. He started competing at age 19 and made Fly Fishing Team USA when he was 21 years old. He has competed in 13 consecutive World Fly Fishing Championships with Fly Fishing Team USA. He has earned a bronze individual medal and silver and bronze team medals from these championships and numerous medals from competitions in the United States. In addition to his competition experience, he's the owner of Tactical Fly Fisher. He has also produced three instructional films Modern Nymphing: European Inspired Techniques, Modern Nymphing Elevated: Beyond the Basics, and Adaptive Fly Fishing. Finally, he is the author of the book Tactical Fly Fishing: Lessons Learned from Competition for All Anglers and the soon to be released Stillwater Fly Fishing: Competition Inspired Strategies for Everyday Anglers. Devin is a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we're honored to have him as one of our Signature Tyers.

If you want to purchase Devin's Signature flies you can ask for them at your local dealer, or buy them here.
US: https://www.fullingmill.com/Products-US/Devin-Olsen-US?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Organic%20Social&utm_campaign=FMFF%20Tying%20Materials&utm_content=2025%20Olsen%27s%20FEL%20Ant%20YouTube%20Video
UK: https://www.fullingmill.co.uk/Products-UK/Devin-Olsen-UK?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Organic%20Social&utm_campaign=FML%20Tying%20Materials&utm_content=2025%20Olsen%27s%20FEL%20Ant%20YouTube%20Video

Check out Devin's YouTube channel! @tacticalflyfisher3817

Make sure to follow us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/fulling_mill/

You can also learn more about him and his business on the Tactical Fly Fisher Website: https://tacticalflyfisher.com/

Subscribe to our channel to see more videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/c/FullingMillTV?sub_confirmation=1

00:00 Introduction
00:24 Starting the fly on our FM 5050 Ultimate Dry Fly Hook
01:14 Dubbing the body with FM Tactical Dry Fly Dubbing
02:13 Adding natural CDC wings
02:56 Prepping a CDC feather for use as a dry fly wing
05:20 Adding an FM Ultra Dry Yarn sighter
06:08 Adding hackle to the thorax with FM Flex Floss
11:15 Whip finishing the fly
11:47 How to trim the Front End Loader Ant
Category
Fly Fishing
Tags
Fulling Mill, Fly Tying, Tying Flies
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