Beautiful flies vs. Not So Beautiful

"Tom Nakashima" wrote in
:


"Vaghan Hurry" wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima wrote:

The answer is, and this may sound funny, but It's pretty hard for me
to sit in one place for a long period of time. This is what I do at
work, which is why I practice my casting on my break and at lunch. I
think I would go nuts learning the craft of tying, although I'm very
much interested in the aquatic side of fly-fishing and can recite
fly-patterns in my sleep..."guess I'm hooked". Pretty sad when your
wife asked you the next morning what a parachute adams is? When I
do see perfectly hand tied flies, I'm in envy. Perhaps one of these
days I'll start tying, but after I retire.

Tom,
I also thought I would never tie flies - fingers are too clumsy and
too short tempered but the wife bought me a basic kit for my birthday
several years ago and I took to it immediately. I don't say I am good
at it but I enjoy tying flies very much, not as much as fishing them
but it is still a decent excuse for a hobby, especially in the
winter. It wont save you money though, I now have a room full of
stuff and routinely carry more flies than any sane man needs. Still,
give it a try, you might be surprised.

/Vaughan


Good one Vaughan, I enjoyed reading.
I'm also going to forward this one over to my wife...
I think if a fly-tying kit was there, I would use it, just hard right
at this moment to justify buying one.
-tom




A fly tying kit can be a wonderful introduction to the hobby, valuable in
and of itself, but often the kit ends up entirely replaced before too
long. The typical advice is to get a reasonable vise, scissors, and
materials to tie the two or three first flies you'd like to tie-- Wooly
Bugger, Adams, and gold-ribbed Hare's Ear would prove a nice starting
point, but YMMV.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Tom Nakashima typed:
"Vaghan Hurry" wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima wrote:

The answer is, and this may sound funny, but It's pretty hard for
me to sit in one place for a long period of time. This is what I do
at work, which is why I practice my casting on my break and at
lunch. I think I would go nuts learning the craft of tying,
although I'm very much interested in the aquatic side of
fly-fishing and can recite fly-patterns in my sleep..."guess I'm
hooked". Pretty sad when your wife asked you the next morning what
a parachute adams is? When I do see perfectly hand tied flies, I'm
in envy. Perhaps one of these days I'll start tying, but after I
retire.

Tom,
I also thought I would never tie flies - fingers are too clumsy and
too short tempered but the wife bought me a basic kit for my
birthday several years ago and I took to it immediately. I don't say
I am good at it but I enjoy tying flies very much, not as much as
fishing them but it is still a decent excuse for a hobby, especially
in the winter. It wont save you money though, I now have a room full
of stuff and routinely carry more flies than any sane man needs.
Still, give it a try, you might be surprised.

Good one Vaughan, I enjoyed reading.
I'm also going to forward this one over to my wife...
I think if a fly-tying kit was there, I would use it, just hard right
at this moment to justify buying one.

As Vaughn said, there's really no way to cost-justify getting into tying.
The hobby becomes soothing and satisfying after you get past that
break-every-feather-and-thread phase. Now I work with a combination of flies
I've tied, flies I've bought, and swap flies. For the most part, the ones I
buy and get in swaps are much better looking than the self-made flies,
although I surprise myself from time to time.
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima typed:
"Vaghan Hurry" wrote in message
...

Tom,
I also thought I would never tie flies - fingers are too clumsy and
too short tempered but the wife bought me a basic kit for my
birthday several years ago and I took to it immediately. I don't say
I am good at it but I enjoy tying flies very much, not as much as
fishing them but it is still a decent excuse for a hobby, especially
in the winter. It wont save you money though, I now have a room full
of stuff and routinely carry more flies than any sane man needs.
Still, give it a try, you might be surprised.

Good one Vaughan, I enjoyed reading.
I'm also going to forward this one over to my wife...
I think if a fly-tying kit was there, I would use it, just hard right
at this moment to justify buying one.

As Vaughn said, there's really no way to cost-justify getting into tying.
The hobby becomes soothing and satisfying after you get past that
break-every-feather-and-thread phase. Now I work with a combination of
flies I've tied, flies I've bought, and swap flies. For the most part, the
ones I buy and get in swaps are much better looking than the self-made
flies, although I surprise myself from time to time.
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.
I know everyone's dexterity and hand to eye coordination is different,
but on the average, how long before you feel comfortable tying flies?
Has anyone ever said; They don't want to tie flies anymore?
-tom

I would suggest starting with one pattern. The advantage is to
minimize the material you buy. Lots of tyers have boxes and boxes of
crap they never use. If you have a vise, three baggies of feathers
and a couple of spools of thread you can tie a couple anywhere. If you
master a half dozen patterns you should take care of 90% of your
fishing.

Tom Nakashima wrote:
"Larry L" wrote in message
oups.com...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted.
-tom

Tom,
I suggest you take up fly tying. It will cost you a LOT more for
flies, so don't think otherwise G and there's a good chance your
flies will be pretty shoddy at first :-), but tying is what changed
"another way to fish" into a true passion for me, personally..

I know you practice casting at lunch and spend WAY too much time in fly
shops G ... you just strike me as a guy that should roll his own.
FWIW, it's not the flies one ties that make the difference, it's all
the study that tying leads to and encourages that adds so very much to
the hobby of fly fishing.


Yes, I've been thinking about tying my own for quite awhile now. One of the
questions I'm usually asked in fly-fishing is; "Do you tie your own flies?"
When I answer "No" their question is followed by; "why not?"
The answer is, and this may sound funny, but It's pretty hard for me to sit
in one place for a long period of time. This is what I do at work, which is
why I practice my casting on my break and at lunch. I think I would go nuts
learning the craft of tying, although I'm very much interested in the
aquatic side of fly-fishing and can recite fly-patterns in my sleep..."guess
I'm hooked". Pretty sad when your wife asked you the next morning what a
parachute adams is? When I do see perfectly hand tied flies, I'm in envy.
Perhaps one of these days I'll start tying, but after I retire.

Agree once a week in fly-shops is excessive, especially when we don't talk
about fly-fishing. I've made some good friends in the shops and I could
tell they're happy to see me when I walk in, although I hardly ever buy
anything....go figure.
-tom

On Thu, 4 May 2006 09:05:32 -0700, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote:

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.
I know everyone's dexterity and hand to eye coordination is different,
but on the average, how long before you feel comfortable tying flies?

It depends on what you're tying, but I was able to tie 'fishable' flies after
only a few tries on a fairly simple pattern (GRHE was the first I tried, IIRC).
I'm not sure I've ever tied a beautiful fly, though.

Has anyone ever said; They don't want to tie flies anymore?

Sort of. I don't tie very many trout flies smaller than size 12 or 14 these
days, mostly due to close up vision problems as I get older. I still tie most of
my sal****er patterns and the larger freshwater ones, though.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com

Tom Nakashima wrote:

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.
I know everyone's dexterity and hand to eye coordination is different,
but on the average, how long before you feel comfortable tying flies?

Obviously, everyone's mileage will vary, and a lot dpends on the
types of flies you are tying. I'd say that I got fairly comfortable
tying flies after a couple of months at it. (Given that being
comfortable is not the same as being good at it.) But even after tying
for a few years now, I still look at some of the stuff that comes from
my vise and shudder.

One good way to improve your skills dramatically is to just
concentrate on one or two flies (or types of flies) that you know you'll
use and tie a lot of them. As you start to get better, you'll see that
the first ones you tied don't look so good. But that's what razorblades
are for.

Then enter a flyswap. You'll get pretty good when you have to tie
20+ of a particular fly that you are going to send off to strangers. :-)

Has anyone ever said; They don't want to tie flies anymore?

Yes, usually right after finishing tying the flies for a flyswap. ;-)

Seriously, tying, fishing and catching with your own flies is a
treat. I still buy some patterns (humpies, for instance; I just can't
seem to get them right), but it's nice to be able to re-stock your box
overnight, or experiment with little variations on standard patterns.


Chuck Vance

Tom Nakashima typed:
"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima typed:
"Vaghan Hurry" wrote in message
...

Tom,
I also thought I would never tie flies - fingers are too clumsy and
too short tempered but the wife bought me a basic kit for my
birthday several years ago and I took to it immediately. I don't
say I am good at it but I enjoy tying flies very much, not as much
as fishing them but it is still a decent excuse for a hobby,
especially in the winter. It wont save you money though, I now
have a room full of stuff and routinely carry more flies than any
sane man needs. Still, give it a try, you might be surprised.

Good one Vaughan, I enjoyed reading.
I'm also going to forward this one over to my wife...
I think if a fly-tying kit was there, I would use it, just hard
right at this moment to justify buying one.

As Vaughn said, there's really no way to cost-justify getting into
tying. The hobby becomes soothing and satisfying after you get past
that break-every-feather-and-thread phase. Now I work with a
combination of flies I've tied, flies I've bought, and swap flies.
For the most part, the ones I buy and get in swaps are much better
looking than the self-made flies, although I surprise myself from
time to time.

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.
I know everyone's dexterity and hand to eye coordination is different,
but on the average, how long before you feel comfortable tying flies?

Chuck has it pegged pretty well, IME.

Has anyone ever said; They don't want to tie flies anymore?

I don't tie as many as I used to, but still enjoy it when I do tie. It also
makes a good excuse to drink porto and scotch with friends.
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Thu, 4 May 2006 09:05:32 -0700, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote:

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.


turn back now .... while you still have some cash :-)
Harry

troutflies com

wrote in message
news
On Thu, 4 May 2006 09:05:32 -0700, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote:

I'm getting more interested in tying as I read these post.


turn back now .... while you still have some cash :-)
Harry


hilarious; and so altruistic, to boot.

yfitons
wayno

beauty has a similar relationship to women and girlfriends too,
don't you think:

.....not at all essential, but nice.