THREAD AGAIN
Contemplated some thread things as I was tying over the past year. I will probably get labeled as a total heretic for a few of the things that I have finally come to.
The first things are the number of spools of thread that I did not have much left on. You know that the pattern calls for tan thread so you take it off the bobbin when you are finished tying the flies. The next time you tie that pattern you put the thread back on. I did this several times with several different patterns. When I looked at my thread drawer I had numerous spools of thread that you could see the spool through the thread. Why was saving it? Why didn’t I tie a few more flies and use it up? Why didn’t I just use it on another fly pattern?
Not having good answers, or any answer for that, I decided to use up those spools. I grabbed one of them and put it on a thread bobbin and stated tying. Ran out of that one and put another on and tied more flies. I did this several more times until I finished off several thread spools. I tied more flies than I thought I would get out of those spools.
The flies were in two piles. I looked at each pattern and could not really tell much difference in them. I had to look very close to see what color thread was used on each fly. Used them this summer and the fish did not seem to mind. The color of thread to tie the fly did not seem to make much difference in how the fly worked.
I will admit that I do not tie large heads on my flies. Two or three wraps to hold the material and then the whip finish. I know that is not the conventional fly head, but they work for me.
I got some thread that was in a bargain bin. How can you pass up thread or some other materials that are in a bargain bin? There might be a reason why those materials are in the bargain bin.
I found out the reason when I used the thread. I’m not sure how the manufacturer managed to do it but I have been using two spools and there have been three places where the thread coming thru the bobbin tube was caught in a loop of thread on the spool. I pulled the thread out of the tube and out of the loop and it worked fine. It’s a pain to do this, but not large enough to throw the thread away.
I have been tying flies with several different colors of thread now. I just tied up some poppers using some pink thread. Pink thread, because it was $.50 in the bargain bin and I could not pass it up. I can’t tell what color thread is used on the hook in poppers anyway.
I did tie up some Goldie Jrs and some boa yarn flies using different colors of thread. They did not work as well as doing it by the pattern. For some reason orange works better on the Goldie Jr. Matching the boa yarn color seems to work better. The explanation might be the amount of thread used on these flies.
To tie in all the material on the Goldie Jr takes a lot of thread. I make more wraps of thread on the boa yarn flies to make them more durable. I tried fewer wraps on each and they are not as durable.
Could it be that as the amount of thread used at the front of the hook increased the color of the thread is more important? I will have to contemplate that more.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick