Beautiful flies vs. Not So Beautiful

I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well tied,
but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted. I
recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly, but they were
near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never fished with
beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a difference in
appearance to trout?
-tom

Tom Nakashima wrote:
I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well tied,
but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted. I
recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly, but they were
near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never fished with
beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a difference in
appearance to trout?
-tom


Less important than its looks are how it performs in the water. What I
mean is, do the dry flies float? Are their wings upright in the correct
position? Do the streamers sink properly, right side up, and retain
that attitude when stripped in, rather than spinning? Do the nymphs
sink right side up? Do they sink at the proper rate? Are the hooks
strong and sharp? Can the fly take many strikes before falling apart?
You can have a ratty looking fly that catches them fine.

Peter Collin

Tom Nakashima wrote:
I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well tied,
but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted. I
recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly, but they were
near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never fished with
beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a difference in
appearance to trout?

I'm not quite sure how a fly could be both aesthetically
lacking and well tied at the same time. But having said
that I've tied some awful looking things that caught fish.
A lot depends on how picky the fish are at the time you're
fishing for them. Sometimes they'll take just about anything,
other times they want exactly the right size and color.

In a commercial tie one way to judge quality is by how long
the fly lasts. If one fish trashes it so bad it becomes unusable
it doesn't take long for the 55 cent flies to become more
expensive than the buck/buck fifty flies I usually buy. If I
spend $2.80 for a fly I'll put it under glass and frame it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
. net...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well
tied, but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly,
which I thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I
wanted. I recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly,
but they were near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never
fished with beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a
difference in appearance to trout?

I'm not quite sure how a fly could be both aesthetically
lacking and well tied at the same time. But having said
that I've tied some awful looking things that caught fish.
A lot depends on how picky the fish are at the time you're
fishing for them. Sometimes they'll take just about anything,
other times they want exactly the right size and color.

In a commercial tie one way to judge quality is by how long
the fly lasts. If one fish trashes it so bad it becomes unusable
it doesn't take long for the 55 cent flies to become more
expensive than the buck/buck fifty flies I usually buy. If I
spend $2.80 for a fly I'll put it under glass and frame it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ken, I think Peter gave me a lot to think about when he wrote:

Less important than its looks are how it performs in the water. What I
mean is, do the dry flies float? Are their wings upright in the correct
position? Do the streamers sink properly, right side up, and retain
that attitude when stripped in, rather than spinning? Do the nymphs
sink right side up? Do they sink at the proper rate? Are the hooks
strong and sharp? Can the fly take many strikes before falling apart?
You can have a ratty looking fly that catches them fine.
Peter Collin

Ken to answer your question about how your quite not sure how a fly could be
aesthetically lacking and well tied at the same time. The flies I purchased
are well tied in that they won't come apart when I cast, but as I said they
look good enough to match the pattern, but they're not aesthetically
pleasing as in the $2.80 flies that I've seen. Peter brought up a good
point when he mentioned, can the fly take many strikes before falling apart?
I am looking forward to finding out.
-tom

Peter A. Collin wrote:
Tom Nakashima wrote:

I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well
tied, but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly,
which I thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the
patterns I wanted. I recently saw some very nice tied patterns at
$2.80 per fly, but they were near perfect and very aesthetically
pleasing. I've never fished with beautiful flies before, but was
wondering if they do make a difference in appearance to trout?
-tom

Less important than its looks are how it performs in the water. What I
mean is, do the dry flies float? Are their wings upright in the correct
position? Do the streamers sink properly, right side up, and retain
that attitude when stripped in, rather than spinning? Do the nymphs
sink right side up? Do they sink at the proper rate? Are the hooks
strong and sharp? Can the fly take many strikes before falling apart?
You can have a ratty looking fly that catches them fine.

Peter Collin

Exactly. I've bought my share of cheap flies, and with few exceptions,
they were not worth the money I supposedly saved. Hoppers didn't float.
Traditional dries didn't float, or ride on their sides. Some nymphs
would just fall apart. I now have a small handful of places I order
flies from. Price varies, but I can get a good quality fly for around a
buck. Anything in the 50 cent range, I don't bother with anymore.

On the appearance subject, I would say it makes a difference. I mean why
would all these fly fisher people spend countless hours, and money,
trying to match the bugs trout eat. ;-) Example, I like narrow, tightly
dubbed(or biot)bodies on my mayfly patterns(dries). I think it gives a
better, more realistic silhouette. Compare a cheap fly, to a fly shop
quality fly, and you'll see a noticeable difference. It might not matter
to some fish, but if you run into selective fish, i'd rather have a good
imitation.

JMHO
brians

"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
Tom Nakashima wrote:
I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well
tied, but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly,
which I thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I
wanted. I recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly,
but they were near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never
fished with beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a
difference in appearance to trout?
-tom
Less important than its looks are how it performs in the water. What I
mean is, do the dry flies float? Are their wings upright in the correct
position? Do the streamers sink properly, right side up, and retain that
attitude when stripped in, rather than spinning? Do the nymphs sink right
side up? Do they sink at the proper rate? Are the hooks strong and
sharp? Can the fly take many strikes before falling apart? You can have a
ratty looking fly that catches them fine.

Peter Collin

Peter, you seem to be very knowledge about fly-ties. You made me think
about things I haven't heard before or read in a book. Never knew about
nymphs sinking right side up, thought it didn't matter. If you can think of
other valuable information about flies, I'm always willing to listen and
learn.
thanks,
-tom

Tom Nakashima wrote:
I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well tied,
but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted. I
recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly, but they were
near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never fished with
beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a difference in
appearance to trout?
-tom

What I'd be suspicious of in a 55-cent fly is the quality of the hook.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

On Tue, 2 May 2006 13:07:17 -0700, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote:

I just received my order of flies for the McCloud River that are well tied,
but not the greatest in aesthetics. I've paid 55 cents per fly, which I
thought was a pretty good price, and they do match the patterns I wanted. I
recently saw some very nice tied patterns at $2.80 per fly, but they were
near perfect and very aesthetically pleasing. I've never fished with
beautiful flies before, but was wondering if they do make a difference in
appearance to trout?
-tom


A fly shop two towns over from me went out of business several years
ago. I knew the guy that ran it and jumped at the chance to buy some
of the "realistic" flies that he had for sale. I bought a bunch of
them for about $0.75 apiece, and some Water Wisp flies for about the
same amount. I was so very pleased in my purchase of these flies and
couldn't wait to try them on my favorite stream.

Long story short: The Water Wisp flies were absolutely useless.
Never had a rise to them *all season*. The realistic flies did not
perform any better that the hack jobs that *I* tie. So, I can say
from experience that it ain't what they look like necessarily.

I believe presentation is the key to successful fly fishing,
regardless the discipline (nymphing, wets, dries, streamers).

I once caught a 20 inch land locked salmon that had a fly in its jaw.
I removed it and put it on my patch. About an hour later I tied on
that fly and took fish after fish after fish. The fly was beat up
beyond recognition at the end of that day. It became my "lucky fly",
and I only used it when I was getting skunked. It *never* failed. I
eventually lost it to a fish that beat me, and I regret to this day
that I did not reverse engineer the fly to see how it was tied. I
have tied similar ones, but nothing that had the success of that fly.

Dave

On Tue, 02 May 2006 20:43:35 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:



I'm not quite sure how a fly could be both aesthetically
lacking and well tied at the same time. But having said
that I've tied some awful looking things that caught fish.

I admit to tying a couple of really crappy files that took many fish.
They were wooly-buggers on a size 12, and I guess, in my
late-Saturday-drunken-stupor I didn't get everything quite right, and
after the first fish the hackle, then the chenille, then damn near
everything else started unravelling. But I caught about a half-dozen
nice fish.

Then tied on a beautifully tied wooly, same color, same everything,
and nada. Go figger.

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
. net...

I'm not quite sure how a fly could be both aesthetically
lacking and well tied at the same time. But having said
that I've tied some awful looking things that caught fish.....

Leading one to wonder how it is that some folks expect others to understand
what they say when they are themselves absolutely clueless.

Wolfgang