The Fly Box for Tampa Bay

Captain Bryon Chamberlin ties all the flies for his fly fishing clients. Captain Bryon prides himself on tying only top quality flies and uses his own patterns and variations that have become proven producers for him in the Tampa Bay area.

Captain Bryon likes to share his knowledge of fly fishing to local fly anglers, and he is a regular featured fly tyer at the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club.

Here are a few of his favorite fly patterns for Tampa Bay with more to come soon!

Rusty Dubbed Bendback:

Great fly for redfish and snook in off colored water. Very useful in the tannic colored water in the rivers that feed Tampa Bay in the summertime. The bendback design allows one to cast this fly into the mangroves without getting hung up all the time.

Tan & White Clouser Minnow:

One of my go to flies when sight fishing for redfish and trout in sandy potholes on the flats. This fly is very versatile because it can be fished in the water column simulating a baitfish or hopped on the bottom making the fly look like a shrimp trying to escape. 

Olive & Gold Bendback:

Good choice to tie on when fishing for trout, redfish, and snook in clear water over a grass bottom. In these conditions, I like this fly because it is more subtle but has enough flash to get a fish's attention. It also lands nice and soft and is a good choice for sight fishing.

Tan Dubbed Snapping Shrimp:

Originally tied as a bonefish fly by Steve Bailey with a wing composed of black bear hair. I have changed the recipe just a bit, I use tan kip tail because I had problems finding blonder black bear hair. This fly is great for tailing redfish and laid up snook in ultra skinny water. It lands whisper quiet and has enough flash and action to interest the fish.

As a bonefish fly, I caught my first one on this exact pattern.

Bryon's Beach Bendback:

Bendback patterns work great due to their inherent weedless nature. This particular fly works great for snook in the surf along the west central gulf coast when floating grass is present. Tied small, this fly is a perfect representation of the inch and a half long sardines found in the surf during the summer months.

Grass Minnow:

This fly was first tied by friend and fellow guide Capt. Rick Grassett for catching snook under the dock lights at night. I tried this fly once and fell in love with it. It is a perfect representation of the tiny baitfish and shrimp that get attracted to the lights. Snook, trout and ladyfish just pounce on this fly.

Bryon's Simple Anchovy:

This is a good all around fly pattern when bay anchovies are on the menu for mackerel, jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish. The craftfur body stands up well to these toothy critters. Plus, this fly can be tied in just a minute or two.

Bryon's Black & Blue Beach Tarpon Streamer:

This pattern produced some great eats for me along our local beaches and tarpon went out of their way to chase it down at Location X in the Florida panhandle.

Purple & Chartreuse EP Tarpon Streamer:

When it comes to tarpon, you can't go wrong with purple and chartreuse, so I decided to combine the two.

Brown & Orange EP Tarpon Streamer:

This color pattern works well when tarpon are feeding on shrimp. The orange collar enables the angler and guide to see the fly in relation to the fish.

Lemon & Lime EP Tarpon Streamer:

This is my version of a classic color pattern for tarpon. I throw this pattern a lot over sandy, light colored bottom.

Rick Redd's Black Death Tarpon Streamer:

Rick Redd has been fly fishing for tarpon along our gulf coast since the late 60's, so I guess that makes him somewhat of a local expert on the species. He started tying streamer patterns out of EP Fibers a few years ago and had great success. This is my version in traditional black death colors.

Black & Purple EP Tarpon Streamer:

This color pattern was the number one producer during the 2008 tarpon season. Need I say more.

Black & Purple Tarpon Toad:

This is usually the fly that I start the day with when pursuing first light tarpon. These tarpon are usually laid up and happy. Drop this guy near them and it is hard for them to resist. This dark fly presents a nice silhouette for the fish to see in the low, early morning light.

Tan & Purple Tarpon Toad:

I use this fly once the sun gets up for a more subtle presentation to wary tarpon. I started tying in the purple collar to give the fly the same color scheme as a pass crab, one of the tarpon's favorite foods along the Gulf coast.

Red & Yellow Tarpon Bunny:

This is a great color combination for wherever tarpon swim. The bunny fur really comes alive with every strip of this fly. Great for bright, high sun conditions. The red collar also assists the angler and guide in knowing where the fly is in relation to the fish.

Black & Purple Tarpon Bunny:

One of my favorite flies to throw at tarpon, especially schools on the move. A little trick that will add to your hook up ratio is to wrap the shank of the hook with lead wire and then palmer over the lead with the cross cut bunny. This gets the fly down in the fish's face in a hurry without changing the fly's action.

Tan Craft Fur Slider:

Tim Borski showed me this fly and it is a great shrimp imitation. With the bead chain eyes, this fly lands very softly and is a great choice for fish in skinny, clear water. One can use brass or lead eyes to work deeper areas.

Skinny Water Brown Shrimp:

It is basically a slider without the weighted eyes. This fly works great for tailers since it lands whisper quiet and sinks very slowly. Weed guards are a must since this fly rides hook point down.

Tan Fluffy Crab:

This pattern works great in skinny water where visibility is an issue. It's bulky body pushes water to help the fish find the fly and it's bead chain eyes allow for a slow sink rate so the fly doesn't get lost in the seagrass.

Black & Chartreuse Redfish Toad:

I use this fly when I find redfish in close proximity to oyster bars. Most of their prey items, such as mud crabs, are dark brown or black in color, and this fly gives off a nice crabby look. The chartreuse thread and silly legs make the fly "pop" in off colored water.

Olive & Natural Redfish Toad:

This fly gets the call for redfish in clear water and sand holes on the flats. It is a little more subtle, but has some flash and orange thread to grab the fish's eye. Besides redfish, I've caught some nice snook by sight casting with this particular pattern.

Tan Toad:

This pattern works for redfish, but this pattern just happens to be one of my favorite go to flies for Florida Keys bonefish.

Brown & Olive Redfish Toad:

This toad color pattern gets the call for redfish feeding over the grass beds in Tampa Bay. When you have clear water conditions and spooky redfish, this more subtle fly will produce.

Chartreuse & White Clouser Minnow:

This fly should be a mainstay fly in everyone's saltwater fly box. I use this fly almost exclusively for speckled trout. Speckled trout just love chartreuse. Add a little pearl flash and you have a deadly offering for just about everything that swims.

Chartreuse & White Clouser Minnow (craft fur variant):

I like using this craft fur clouser variant because it is much more durable than the buck tail original. Plus, the sink rate is much faster than that of a clouser tied with natural materials. The only down side is that the craftfur will sometimes foul.

Stained Water Clouser Minnow:

This clouser works great around the coastal rivers that flow into Tampa Bay. The waters in these rivers is tannic colored, but clear. This dark color pattern stands out well and the root beer flash catches the fish's eye.

Silly Legs Snapping Shrimp:

Another good tailing pattern for spooky fish. It lands softly and doesn't foul with weeds too much. A little bit of lead wire attached to the hook shank under the dubbed body helps the fly ride hook up.

Glades Gurgler:

Too elicit a surface strike from a hungry snook, there is no better fly. This is a great fly to throw around mangroves since it is fairly weedless. This fly also works great for feeding redfish in skinny water, though they may miss it a few times until they zero in on this morsel.