Fly Tying

[fourbizz]

I suck at it.

That is all.

[Dan:]

Dude, I just went to a fly fishing show near here. You should have seen the cicada patterns some guy had. They looked 99% the same as a real cicada. It was unbelievable. Some tiers are ridiculously good. I don't even have a rod heavy enough to throw it but I still almost bought it just so I could show it to people...

I also saw a cool fly that I thought might be good for smallmouth around here:

It's got a joint in the middle and a trailer hook in the back half.

I would love to get into tying but I don't think I'd every be able to stop.

[.dsaavedra.]

i used to tie all the time and i barely fly fished. i was really good at it. then i took all my fly tying stuff off my desk, put it in a box in my closet, and put an aquarium in its place... now i airbrush on my desk. only thing i tie now are the occasional popper or wooly bugger for bluegill. i bet i could still tie some good patterns.

[Dan:]

well then get to work! I'll take two of anything that will catch a smallmouth bass that I can throw on a 5 or 6 wt ;D

[.dsaavedra.]

well then get to work! I'll take two of anything that will catch a smallmouth bass that I can throw on a 5 or 6 wt ;D

lol pm me if you're serious, i'd like to get back into it.

[Stasher1]

well then get to work! I'll take two of anything that will catch a smallmouth bass that I can throw on a 5 or 6 wt ;D

lol pm me if you're serious, i'd like to get back into it.

Or anything good for largemouth that can be thrown on a 7/8wt. 

[Branuss04]

I suck at it.

That is all.

You could always get back into painting baits  :    

[Hornytoad 10]

start out tying jigs, and work your way up from their

[Paul Roberts]

Do you like to tie? If not, drop it. Flies are relatively cheap -and bass flies are much cheaper than swimbaits.

I LOVE to tie. And that is the main reason I don't suck at it.

[fourbizz]

I'm not ready to to say that I dont like it yet. After all, I have finished 6 flies, lol.

But yeah, I'm pretty terrible.

[Paul Roberts]

Just takes practice. Lotsa process before you get to product. Can be frustrating if there's something specific you want and can't get it right -esp the night before you're heading out.

Nice thing is, there are SO many good patterns for purchase now you can usually find something to cover. I was once a DIY kinda guy -still prefer that. But then I had more time on my hands then.

If you WANT to tie, go for it. It's really satisfying and you can get EXACTLY what you need for a given fishing situation. But if you really just want to fish, buy 'em, bc tying is something unto itself, and certainly won't save you much money.

Good luck with it.

[.dsaavedra.]

dude stick with it, i'm certain EVERYBODY'S first 6  flies sucked. i know mine did. bad. most have fallen apart by now, just from being in the fly box.

[Paul Roberts]

dude stick with it, i'm certain EVERYBODY'S first 6 flies sucked.

;D Good point. Absolutely true. And this is so even after years of tying.

Professional tiers usually discard the first 3-6 flies they put out in a production run. I do almost the same, although I'm less picky. But it does take me a couple to get what I want. Then each one in a run gets better after that.

I have standard ties I use every year, and have to re-supply. Then there are ones for specific activity/emergences (or segments of emergences), waters, circumstances, or fish behaviors. I'm not 'scurred' of trying new stuff on fish and have pretty much developed my own patterns from scratch. But there are basic techniques developed the world over to jump off from. I have stacks of catalogs and books showing fly patterns for basic design ideas, and have added a few to that world myself. Over time you get to recognize how things are done and can make your own designs. You also begin to figure out what's REALLY needed in given situations -what water and fish require is rarely what many anglers might expect, just looking at a fly in hand. This creativity is what floats my boat in fly-tying. VERY cool. 8-) Love getting connected deep into the waters I fish.

Crash course in tying, to help you through the most challenging parts:

-Use the right thread size for every given fly. I like Gudebrod or flat Danville. Personally hate Uni-Thread -round and course.

-Plan the fly design ahead of time by measuring the shank. So you don't crowd the head, leave ~1/4 of the shank for the fly head. A buddy and fellow tying instructor called this the dreaded red zone. The rest of the shank, usually to the bend, is for the fly body where the tying takes place; it's a lot less of the shank then most people realize. Measure out the fly segments across this so you know where to stop the abdomen and begin the thorax. If you need to use a marker on teh shank at first, do it. Seeing the shank this way gives you the best shot at proper proportions.

-Practice handling materials. When you cut off a hank of elk hair, hackle fibers, or quill sheet, practice handing it back ad forth between your right and left hands, keeping the clump together. I've taught fly-tying to literally hundreds of people of all ages. I never could tell by looking at someone whether they had good fine dexterity. Handing practice, just back and forth, told me what I was dealing with and gave everyone an almost instant jump on handling materials. Soon you will be able to turn materials completely around in your fingers (swap ends) without it all coming apart. You will need to swap ends to be able to measure a material against the shank for proper length of wings and tails, trim it, then swap ends to wrap it on.

-Two essential wrap techniques to know, used to initially lock a new material to the shank: the loose wrap and the pinch wrap.

The "loose wrap" is simply NOT keeping a tight line from your bobbin to start a wrap, which pushes the materials away -frustrating. Use a loose loop, make a full turn around the material, then cinch it tight. Every few wraps give a tug, to be sure your wraps are snug. Good habit, and provides proper tension to hold the materials until you get adept at proper wrapping tension. Loose wrapping, or simply good tension control, will allow you to lock down more challenging materials. The technique of spinning deer hair simply requires this.

The pinch wrap uses the same loose loop, but in between pinched fingers of your serving (materials) hand. The materials are held firmly in your fingers on the top of the shank, and those fingers are pinched down over either side of the shank. Bring the thread up between the tight fingers, over the shank, leaving slack in that line (the loose wrap) then down between the fingers on the other side of the shank. Then pull tight inside your pinched fingers and the materials are locked onto the shank, ready for you to add a couple more firm wraps to hold.

-Wrap to the shank -meaning, after each new piece has been applied, wrap a single wrap ahead of the material. This locks the piece on so it can't loosen while you get the next material piece.

-Keep control of thread twist. Twist is a thread handling nightmare. Do not let the bobbin spin when it's waiting for you to prepare materials. At times you'll need to back-spin the bobbin on purpose to alleviate twist.

-Lay a thread base first. This offers the thread and materials purchase, through friction, and results in a more durable fly. As you get better at proper tension, and for some flies --like some small dries-- you'll not need or use a base. 

-Use as few thread wraps as possible. This'll become especially important when you start tying tiny stuff. And thread allows water to soak in and adhere, sinking dry flies.

-When dubbing, in general, use very little just enough to change the thread color, and build up, rather than caking it on. For dry flies, you'll want to do this too, but not too much building up of thread. To apply dubbing, pull out strands of it between your fingers to get the fibers running in the same direction, then apply it with fibers perpendicular across the thread not parallel with it. If you have trouble you may want to use a dubbing wax. I use saliva.

-For larger flies that require dubbing, look up how to make a dubbing loop. I've made my own dubbing loop tools a simple wire with a hooked end, from a large paper clip.

-Get/make a hair stacker. Any tiny cup-shaped object will work of appropriate depth for given material: half inch deep for dry fly tails, up to several inches for streamer or jig wings.

-Get a ball-bearing whip finisher (the original was by Matarelli). Eventually you'll be faster and better by hand. Your flies will never unravel. Won't even need cement.

[Hooligan]

I tie commercially, typically in the neighborhood of 1200-1400 dozen annually.  Like fly-fishing, it's something that takes time to learn and get used to.  When it comes to spun/stacked hair, I might tie 2-3 an hour.  A stonefly nymph pattern?  1-2 dozen an hour.  It just depends on what you want to accomplish with it.

I tie all winter, fish all spring and summer.  Fish and tie in the fall.  It's a pretty good gig.

[RyneB]

Just stick with it if you enjoy it. I was terrible at it when i first started. The first 50 or so i tied have been thrown away. I found that tying little crappie and bluegill jigs on small jig heads helped me a lot. then i moved onto little bluegill spiders. When i first successfully tied a Clouser (very easy) I was so exicted that i tied at least 40 of them. The other day i attempted spinning deer hair and was semi successful at it. Im still nowhere near where I want to be, but my flies are no longer laughable.