Newbie Question: How many fly sizes & colors to tie for next season?
 

I originally posted this in the ROFF group, but maybe it belongs here
instead:

This is my first season of fly fishing and fly tying.
I'm beginning to put together a list of flies to
tie over the winter, for next season. So far I have a list of 25
patterns that I'd like to fish next year. This is a lot compared with
what I tied for my first season this year (I had about 10 patterns
that a local fisherman recommended for my area, and they were very
effective for me). For this past season, I tied roughly two sizes and
two colors of most of these patterns, and tried to tie 6-12 of each
variation.

I realize this is a general question and that patterns may vary the
answer - but - in general, how many sizes of a given pattern should I
tie? An example would be an adult midge pattern in sizes 20-28 or a
given nymph in sizes 16 to 28 -- how many sizes would be adequate to
populate my boxes for the season? I did the math and about stroked
out at the number of flies I would have to tie to do ALL of the sizes
for ALL of the 25 flies. Especially since I am a slow tier at this
point in my experience .... I think I'd die of old age before I got em
all tied :-)

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me on this.

- Dave K.

Newbie Question: How many fly sizes & colors to tie for next season?
 

The ROFF newsgroup answered this for me, so no need for anyone to
reply here. Thanks.

Newbie Question: How many fly sizes & colors to tie for next season?
 

On Oct 11, 10:09 am, mdk77 wrote:
I originally posted this in the ROFF group, but maybe it belongs here
instead:

This is my first season of fly fishing and fly tying.
I'm beginning to put together a list of flies to
tie over the winter, for next season. So far I have a list of 25
patterns that I'd like to fish next year. This is a lot compared with
what I tied for my first season this year (I had about 10 patterns
that a local fisherman recommended for my area, and they were very
effective for me). For this past season, I tied roughly two sizes and
two colors of most of these patterns, and tried to tie 6-12 of each
variation.

I realize this is a general question and that patterns may vary the
answer - but - in general, how many sizes of a given pattern should I
tie? An example would be an adult midge pattern in sizes 20-28 or a
given nymph in sizes 16 to 28 -- how many sizes would be adequate to
populate my boxes for the season? I did the math and about stroked
out at the number of flies I would have to tie to do ALL of the sizes
for ALL of the 25 flies. Especially since I am a slow tier at this
point in my experience .... I think I'd die of old age before I got em
all tied :-)

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me on this.

- Dave K.

Dave , The first thing I would do is get hold of a hatch chart for
your area.I use mostly nymphs. I them in brown olive or black As for
dry flies I use Roberts Drakes parachute in 10 12 14. I also use elk
hair caddis in size 12 to 16. Any thing smaller then that my eye balls
click, but then I'm old. Remember all the streams have local patterns
that are not tied any where else. I hope this helps you. Good luck
with your tying.
.....Dave....