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Why do you tie flies?
I wrote this for a blog entry a few days ago. I've never heard anyone
else make this point, so I thought it was worth posting. ===== Why make flies and lures? Like a lot of fly tyers I started when I was about 12 or so. I had to tie flies in order to fish. Good flies were hard to find and too expensive to buy back then. But I'm almost 60 now and good high-quality flies are cheap to buy and easy to find. Rather than a threat to creative fly tying, however, I see that as a great benefit. I don't need to tie any more Elk Hair Caddis, Woolly Buggers or Royal Wulffs, because I can buy those flies for not too much more than it would cost to buy the materials. That means I can spend all my time fiddling with new designs--tying odd-ball specialty flies I can't buy at any price. It also means I don't have to worry about tying time efficiency. Because I buy most of the flies I actually fish with, it suddenly becomes perfectly sensible to tie flies that take a half an hour or more each to make. Now that I think about it, worrying about production efficiency can take the fun out of almost anything. I used to work think and fret about new and ever faster ways to build driftboats. Now I pride myself in taking longer than some of the first time boat builders I sell my boat blueprints to. Time is money. The more time it takes the more valuable it is. And my fly boxes are filled with powerful, valuable, good-looking flies nobody else has. |
Why do you tie flies?
wrote Time is money. The more time it takes the more valuable it is. And my fly boxes are filled with powerful, valuable, good-looking flies nobody else has. That comes pretty close to my feelings, too. I've never tied to save money ( I've probably been tying 20 years, fly fishing 35++ ) but unlike Sandy I almost never buy a fly ... even standards I hate to tie ( Royal Wulff ) .... I either tie my own, or fish a different pattern ... it's more stubbornness than economy with me G I don't have a very creative nature, but the few patterns that I have developed give me great pleasure to fish ... and I must say, catch fish pretty damn well in the problem situations they were designed to solve. Often something as simple as "sparser" than what's in the bin at the fly shop can make a big difference. With most things in life it's not the big differences that set quality aside from the common, rather it is a combination of little, subtle ones. Often 'my version' of a pattern would be hard for others to pick out of a bin full, but I could easily, and I could explain the 'why' of the suble differences from the rest of the fake bugs in the bin. I don't honestly remember why I started to tie ( this thread's header ) but many years later I can say that THE single thing that has most improved my fly fishing is fly tying. But not so much the flies I tie, themselves. Rather, its the study and observation that has led me to "my version" of a pattern that has improved my appreciation of the sport. I'd never tie if I didn't fish, and at this point I doubt that I'd enjoy fishing enough to continue, if I didn't tie. P.S. I'm a crappy tier :-( I recently started taking digital macro photos of "my versions" thinking I'd waste some time expanding my website to include a 'my flybox' section. When I see them in such photos I find it difficult to believe how sloppy some are ... such photography is proving to be a great motivator for better effort and I recommend it as a way to see your ties in a new light. |
Why do you tie flies?
wrote in message oups.com... Why make flies and lures? I made my first attempt at fly tying somewhere around the age of ten. I had somehow gotten hold of a book or magazine that contained instructions, and managed to cobble together what I presumably thought at the time was a suitable approximation of the materials called for. I secured a hook in my father's workshop bench vise and after a couple of hours of bemused twisting, wrapping, tying, unwrapping, etc., ended up with something that looked, even to relatively uncritical ten year old eyes, like a pretty distant relative of the thing pictured in the book. All of this is a rather vague memory, and I don't recall for sure whether I ever actually tried to use the fly, but I think probably not. Most likely it languished for years in a little steel lock box in which I stored other important mementos until it disappeared a long time ago. A vague memory, I said, but it nevertheless stuck with me. Twenty-five years later I happened to fall in with of group of guys who were avid fishermen....fly fishers as a matter of fact.....and one of them (the oft mentioned Malignant Dwarf) was also an exceptional fly tier. Over the course of a few months I learned a LOT about how to make bugs in exchange for being a source of very cheap labor. For the next ten years or so I tied flies like a demon, both to support my own habit and to earn money to.....well, support my own habit. These days I don't do very much tying.....just enough to keep myself inadequately supplied with the few patterns I use regularly. But every once in a while I sit down at the bench for half an hour or so of twisting, wrapping and tying, at the end of which I hold up a beautiful little bundle of fur, feathers and steel......and a little boy's eyes light up with glee. :) Wolfgang |
Why do you tie flies?
"Wolfgang" wrote in message ... wrote in message oups.com... Why make flies and lures? Most likely it languished for years in a little steel lock box Interesting, I too have a metal lock box with childhood memories. In the box are items that will never be used again, however it's always fun to look back at the content and think about what each item represents. One item in the box is an old metal Perrin fly box with some of my first ties (from about the age of 11 or 12), most are probably not worthy of ever seeing the light of day but fun to look at. Since our last move, I haven't seen the metal lock box, I'll have to dig through the pile of boxes in the basement tonight in hopes of finding it. I hope mine has not gotten lost too... JT |
Why do you tie flies?
Wolfgang typed:
wrote in message oups.com... Why make flies and lures? I made my first attempt at fly tying somewhere around the age of ten. I had somehow gotten hold of a book or magazine that contained instructions, and managed to cobble together what I presumably thought at the time was a suitable approximation of the materials called for. I secured a hook in my father's workshop bench vise and after a couple of hours of bemused twisting, wrapping, tying, unwrapping, etc., ended up with something that looked, even to relatively uncritical ten year old eyes, like a pretty distant relative of the thing pictured in the book. All of this is a rather vague memory, and I don't recall for sure whether I ever actually tried to use the fly, but I think probably not. Most likely it languished for years in a little steel lock box in which I stored other important mementos until it disappeared a long time ago. A vague memory, I said, but it nevertheless stuck with me. Twenty-five years later I happened to fall in with of group of guys who were avid fishermen....fly fishers as a matter of fact.....and one of them (the oft mentioned Malignant Dwarf) was also an exceptional fly tier. Over the course of a few months I learned a LOT about how to make bugs in exchange for being a source of very cheap labor. For the next ten years or so I tied flies like a demon, both to support my own habit and to earn money to.....well, support my own habit. These days I don't do very much tying.....just enough to keep myself inadequately supplied with the few patterns I use regularly. But every once in a while I sit down at the bench for half an hour or so of twisting, wrapping and tying, at the end of which I hold up a beautiful little bundle of fur, feathers and steel......and a little boy's eyes light up with glee. :) I like that end part - nice. That about sums it up for me, too, although I didn't start tying until just a few years ago. I will probably always remember when I caught my first fish on a fly I tied. According to my calculations, I'll have to live to 128 years old to break even on the tying stuff. It's the tying itself that rewards now, especially since I rarely follow a recipe these days. I just see something in my mind's eye I'd like to tie and get busy. -- TL, Tim ------------------------- http://css.sbcma.com/timj |
Why do you tie flies?
On Thu, 9 Mar 2006 14:50:35 -0500, "Tim J."
wrote: According to my calculations, I'll have to live to 128 years old to break even on the tying stuff. It's the tying itself that rewards now, especially since I rarely follow a recipe these days. I just see something in my mind's eye I'd like to tie and get busy. If I used the money I have tied up in vises, tools, hooks, materials, hackles/feathers, dubbing boxes, lights, magazines/books on the subject, etc, etc, etc, I'd have enough money to buy flies for everyone in this thread for ten years. I imagine every fly I tie costs me about $100. d;o( But, like Sandy, I enjoy experimenting with different ties. About ten years ago I tied a green rock worm caddis larva patterned after one that was pumped out of the stomach of a land locked salmon. There was no tie like it (as far as I know), and my first iteration of it caught more fish on the Rapid than any other fly I've ever fished. The next iteration used v rib, then stretchy tubing, then yarn, then green goose biots. They all took fish, but the first two are the best. Some will say I was foolish to share it, but I did with folks I didn't even know. Now the guides use the GRW and Lakewood Camps have them for sale in their fly shop. I am now experimenting with CDC rope after finding the perfect color CDC feathers. Bruce Hopper (found occasionally on roff) introduced me to very small (20 - 26) nymphs. I experiment all the time with these ties, made simply out of tying thread for the body and ribbing and a bit of dubbing for the head. I once tied a caddis emerger (can't remember what recipe I used), but I modified it by "hiding" a small cylindrical clear glass bead on the bottom of the fly (hook) to mimic the air bubble caddis use when going to the surface. It was meant to be a fly used primarily with the Leisenring Lift, and it worked like a charm, but ONLY with the L. Lift. I still use it occasionally, but hate to tie it. I think I have two left. I've babbled on..... sorry. Interesting subject, Sandy. Dave |
Why do you tie flies?
Why make flies and lures? Sandy asked, then answered his own question
eloquently. I make them because my ego makes me think I can make higher quality and make more effective flies and lures than I can buy. Although I have proved to my satisfaction that I can make better popping bugs than are commercially available, I have a small cigar box with four popping bugs that are very humbling. They look just like they were a 10 year old boy's first attempts. They were. Mine. By watching my Dad "doctor" Shannon Twin Spinner buzzbaits, I saw how he could triple or quadruple the bass strikes per cast he made compared to off-the-shelf casting lures and I wanted to improve my popping bugs. Using the commercially tied stuff as the bogie to beat has always been a fun fly-fishing challenge for me. As Stan, Frank and some of you know in recent years I've become enamored with using new synthetic materials to improve upon the old timey popping bug patterns. Some foam has lots of attractive characteristics compared to traditional cork. I've found cylindrical foam that may make freshwater big bass bangers sliding in front of huge dragon fly, damsel fly or woolly bugger nymphs. As you cast the banger the nymph is right up against the foam. In first tests the bangers suspend the nymphs and then the nymphs separate and gradually sink down in a teasing manner that could be a bass killer. As you twitch the rod, the nymph runs back up to the banger and then slowly settles again. My son and I will be testing them Sunday. About this time last year Frank put me onto Richard Kramer's Texas Bullfrogs also made out of foam cylinders. Richard made his legless only out of olive colors. I tried black, olive, leaf green and white in Southwestern Washington, with and without legs with two teenagers. Olive and leaf green worked about 5 times better than white or black and legs worked about twice as effective as without legs. But what really got me was that those boys used the green legged bullfrogs to catch LM bass, SM bass, trout, bluegill AND catfish! It was really fun to watch those boys have fun and with something that I haven't seen for sale in stores or on TV g. Maybe Sandy fly tiers have unique, the same or variations of reasons why we tie our own flies. It is a good question. My son is the master of, "Dad I'm about out of______, will you tie some up so WE can go fishing?" g Good luck! John |
Why do you tie flies?
Fun thread (no pun intended). I took up tying shortly after I started flyfishing (early 80's), just because it seemed like the right thing to do. :-) I more-or-less quit flyfishing for over 10 years (don't ask why ... it's a long story and doesn't really make any sense to me even now). Then SWMBO decided we should make a trip to Montana, and I decided I wanted to do it right, which of course involved buying rods, reels, books, waders, wading boots, lines, leaders, tippet, a vest .... you get the picture. I bought some flies as well, but then I remembered that I still had my bin of tying stuff stashed in the attic. Amazingly, most of the materials were just fine, if not exactly suited for trout fishing. So I started buying stuff to tie dry flies and such with. Being a do-it-your-selfer, it just seems natural for me to tie. Like my woodworking, there's a lot of pleasure in seeing your own creation being put to use. But to save money? Heh. Chuck Vance (who could have paid for another trip to Montana with the money he's spent on tying stuff) |
Why do you tie flies?
On 3/10/06 9:34 AM, in article , "Conan The
Librarian" wrote: Being a do-it-your-selfer, it just seems natural for me to tie. Like my woodworking, there's a lot of pleasure in seeing your own creation being put to use. I caught a nice brown using the partridge and green I sent out for the fly swap. That is a good feeling. Reason I tie flies? Easy answer: January. :-) Bill |
Why do you tie flies?
On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 09:49:23 -0500, William Claspy
wrote: Reason I tie flies? Easy answer: January. What happened to November, December, February, and March? d;o) |
Why do you tie flies?
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Why do you tie flies?
I'm evidently in the radical minority here, but I tie flies to save
money. I don't particularly enjoy it -- it's more like a chore -- but it does pass the time while listening to the radio or to CDs. Also, it's a pain in the ass to shop around for the flies I want. I'm possibly the world's most reluctant shopper. I haven't spent a fortune on tools and materials, although I have a lot of materials I'll never use. Collections of specialized tools don't interest me. My dubbing loop tool is a paper clip. I couldn't care less whether I catch a fish on my own fly or on a store-bought fly. If someone were to give me a free supply of whatever flies I wanted, I'd probably never tie another fly. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
Why do you tie flies?
You can buy flies from Kenya for $3.50 - $4.50 a dozen.
But you do, usually, have to buy 50 dozen or more at a crack. |
Why do you tie flies?
"rw" wrote in message nk.net... I'm evidently in the radical minority here, but I tie flies to save money. I don't particularly enjoy it -- it's more like a chore -- but it does pass the time while listening to the radio or to CDs. Also, it's a pain in the ass to shop around for the flies I want. I'm possibly the world's most reluctant shopper. I haven't spent a fortune on tools and materials, although I have a lot of materials I'll never use. Collections of specialized tools don't interest me. My dubbing loop tool is a paper clip. I couldn't care less whether I catch a fish on my own fly or on a store-bought fly. If someone were to give me a free supply of whatever flies I wanted, I'd probably never tie another fly. daS, ylrut das! Op |
Why do you tie flies?
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Why do you tie flies?
Each guy cuts a different deal.
But no, not all of the same pattern. You just have to talk to them (email) and haggle. Some offer flies tied on good Japanese hooks for a slightly higher price, but most Kenyan tiers use no-name Chinese hooks. |
Why do you tie flies?
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Why do you tie flies?
RE I hope no one takes my position as censorious or critical of their
reasons for tying flies. You're off the hook mf. But wise up and be careful. This is serious stuff. |
Why do you tie flies?
What a neat thread! Thanks to everyone who contributed.
For me as I get older I realize how much of life occurs in my head. I've caught more fish in flights of fantasy at the tying table than on the water. The days all always warm, the wind calm and the fish biting. |
Why do you tie flies?
wrote in message oups.com... I wrote this for a blog entry a few days ago. I've never heard anyone else make this point, so I thought it was worth posting. ===== Why make flies and lures? Like a lot of fly tyers I started when I was about 12 or so. I had to tie flies in order to fish. Good flies were hard to find and too expensive to buy back then. But I'm almost 60 now and good high-quality flies are cheap to buy and easy to find. Rather than a threat to creative fly tying, however, I see that as a great benefit. I don't need to tie any more Elk Hair Caddis, Woolly Buggers or Royal Wulffs, because I can buy those flies for not too much more than it would cost to buy the materials. That means I can spend all my time fiddling with new designs--tying odd-ball specialty flies I can't buy at any price. It also means I don't have to worry about tying time efficiency. Because I buy most of the flies I actually fish with, it suddenly becomes perfectly sensible to tie flies that take a half an hour or more each to make. Now that I think about it, worrying about production efficiency can take the fun out of almost anything. I used to work think and fret about new and ever faster ways to build driftboats. Now I pride myself in taking longer than some of the first time boat builders I sell my boat blueprints to. Time is money. The more time it takes the more valuable it is. And my fly boxes are filled with powerful, valuable, good-looking flies nobody else has. Why do I tie flies ? .... I started tying flies about a day and a half after taking up fly fishing. My casting skills were non-existent in those early days, flies were about $1.25 each (steep for the wages a rural Montana boy could make in those days), and my fishing spots surrounded by fly shredding sagebrush and other brush. Additionally, I tied flies to fill my boxes with the sort of fish catching patterns that were more suited for the rough and tumble water I fished, instead of the lightly weighted, generic patterns available for sale in my area. Having little knowledge of what made a good fish catching fly, I read a lot of fly fishing "literature" after about the hundredth time reading something along the lines of: "Never weight your hook, a nymph with lead on the hook acts like a feathered sinker", a little light went off !!! A feathered sinker !!! that's exactly what I need. Along about the same time, some guide, turned boat builder started publishing articles in Fly Tyer magazine the reinforced by revelation, these were flies of the utmost in simplicity, and a liberal use of lead. And while I was never brave enough to copy these patterns exactly, (one material list comprised only four items; a jig hook, a split shot, a hank of grizzly hen, and a Zap a Gap glue gun !), it did influence my tying so that I created patterns for the fish and the water, and not to slavishly follow some tradition that may or may not apply to how and where I fished. So why do I still tie flies, I learned how to cast (some would disagreee), I don't have lots of free time any more, and, as it has been pointed out, from an efficiency standpoint, it's much cheaper to just buy them, I tie because no one can tie a fly, for how and where I fish, like I can. And sometimes when I am removing a soaked and chewed up fly from a fishes mouth, a little voice in my head says; "I made that." |
Why do you tie flies?
RE
.....Along about the same time, some guide, turned boat builder started publishing articles in Fly Tyer magazine....... and a Zap a Gap glue gun ! I've had a fair amount of experience with guide's who turned boat builder, and Zap a Gap and Glue Gun flies. I can tell you without hesitation not to trust anything those glue-gun-fishing-guide boat builders have to say. Theyr'e all liars. |
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