Any interest? I need some honest input for this one.

I've been considering doing a geography swap here this fall. The premise is to get a local fly from as many of the states, provinces and other countries as possible and see how it all fills in. My concerns are: 1) There could be a LOT of tying involved (50+ flies), and 2) it would require an extended signup and long turnaround time. Is this something that you all would be interested in persuing? Any changes of format that might make things more doable? Maybe doing multiple versions by region (east/west or by timezone)?
I think this could be really cool, but I'm trying to think it through a bit before starting what could be a massive effort by everyone involved. Thanks in advance for your opinions/concerns/input. :D

Greg

Greg check PM.......Bud

i think it would be cool, so we would just tie something that is good for out state?

Yeah, I was wanting a fly that the local area uses a lot of. Some states (like mine) don't have much for trout, so warmwater might be the selection. I suppose that if you end up bringing in warmwater and coldwater variations in some of the states, things could grow even more. That is why I'm trying to get some tips or input early before things get out of hand.

Do you have a place to store all the flies that will come in? It takes a fairly good space to do that.
It would also take alot of room to sort out 50 to 70 flies at one time.
I am not throwing cold water on your idea. I have had 48 people in my 4-swaps at one time.

With all of this said I might be interested in doing it.

Rick

i think that stillwater would be the best choice, because there is stillwater in every state and privince.

Sounds good to me, but I'll bet you wind up with a bunch of Wooley Buggers (LOL).

actually, i would probobally submit a copper john... :D

I'm thinking of a few ways to break it into smaller pieces:
Region: NE, SE, midwest (plus OK and TX), West (including AZ and NM) and Canada/overseas. That would leave each US region with 11 to 14 states.
Timezones: east, central (with TN and KY), and west/mountain/AK/HI
Species: warmwater states and trout states.

Thanks to everyone so far who has spoken up. I'm trying to think my way through this as we go, and I'm getting some great ideas.

Another question: Would everyone be more or less willing to sign up if there was more tying to do, but you would get a complete set vs. tying 1 or 2 dozen, but only getting back a portion of the entire project? I personally would prefer the whole set (it would be cool to build some sort of display out of it). If it was broken up, it could be hosted by multiple people. I can handle the whole thing, I think, but if we decided to break it up, it could be fun to spread things out to each region.

Interesting.... how the heck would you do this?

That is kinda what we are trying to iron out.
I currently have 2 possible scenarios. One, everyone ties up to 60ish flies each (depending on how many enter) and sends them in like a normal swap. Then you will get a fly from every state/province/country that had an entry. Or we do the same thing, only break it into regions so that each person only has to tie a dozen or 2 at the most but only gets the flies back from their region. Both formats have their good and bad points and we will most likely lose some tyers no matter which one is picked. We will hopefully have a good set up pictures of all of the flies no matter what format we use.

Definitely interested. I currently reside in Catskill country (New York) but remain a resident of Vermont. I would be willing to represent either state.

I could easily tie up 48+ with a representative fly from my area. I would prefer the larger number I think doing it by a lot of regions would be a logistical nightmare.

You'd get old before your time , and we wouldn't want that would we?

Just a suggestion but if you split it into say 25 flys and swap East with West states(or just a assorted 25 states) then allow anyone who wanted to tye 50 to get all 50 states wouldnt the help get more involved?Just a suggestion .

Mabie, you could do the states alphebiticly(spelling is horrible) and divide it in the midpoint, or you could just do the region idea, i like that one. but, i would even participate in the usa one :)

Being a not very prolific tyer I would not be interested at this tme of the year. The limited time I steal at the vise is taken tying flies to fish with. Now if this swap took place over the winter say, January, February, I would jump right in. Being born and raised in the Adirondack foothills, I would love to tie up a bunch of either one of Bergman's flies named for one of our rivers, say the Saranac or Chateaugay, or one of Fran Betters' famous Ausable flies. Just a hint for some of you northern NYers out there. :D

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Originally Posted by ol' blue

That is kinda what we are trying to iron out.
I currently have 2 possible scenarios. One, everyone ties up to 60ish flies each (depending on how many enter) and sends them in like a normal swap. Then you will get a fly from every state/province/country that had an entry. Or we do the same thing, only break it into regions so that each person only has to tie a dozen or 2 at the most but only gets the flies back from their region. Both formats have their good and bad points and we will most likely lose some tyers no matter which one is picked. We will hopefully have a good set up pictures of all of the flies no matter what format we use.

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How about this...

You delegate X-# of zones with 1 Zone Meyster, who controls say, 10 tiers including himself. ( 10 Flies so far)

Now let say you set up 4 Zones in the USA. ( 40 tiers / 400 flies now)

Now lets say Australia joins in (50 tiers / 500 flies now)

Canada wants in (60 tiers / 600 flies now)

and I don't know Cuba :lol: (70 tiers 700 flies now)

Lets say someone has to drop out...Not a problem, you can let anyone fill the spot (crossover to a different zone), but if they say, replace someone from Canada they ship there flies to Canada.... and deal with the Canadian Swap Meyster

So now you have in your "International Stars of Swap" You & 6 sub Swap Meyster's...... (7 total taking care of 10 tiers each @ a total of 70 tiers)


Now when the swap hits deadline...(up to you how long you want to run this) the 6 sub- Swap Meysters send there "Zone" to you, remember your getting 700 flies ! from all of us. Sorry Swap GOD! " If you'll have me that is :)

Now for the bad news, YOU! have to consolidate the swap among "70 Tiers" who will receive 70 different flies each.......Are you sure you want to do that?

I told you I'd help but what you really need is somebody who lives next door :lol: :lol: :lol:

Keep me posted,
Bud

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Originally Posted by Sagittarius62

Now if this swap took place over the winter say, January, February, I would jump right in.

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Understood entirely. That is part of why we are talking about it now. I think we will require a long period for signups and tying before flies are due. I was originally thinking of late September, but if a lot of the country is still fishing at that point, this can start later as needed.

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Understood entirely. That is part of why we are talking about it now. I think we will require a long period for signups and tying before flies are due. I was originally thinking of late September, but if a lot of the country is still fishing at that point, this can start later as needed.

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Alrighty! That being said, if this gets pushed into the colder months, count me in.

I'm kinda interested, but crikey moses.... anyway it will be a real nice framed piece when complete!

I am not sure what I can do... I suppose if there are any other Australian/New Zealand I could coordinate those and send on? If not maybe I could just try 50 Aussie flies...

Geez... why are we doing this LOL! (At least its winter here and not too much fishing to distract me)

i agree with miller

Count me in if you get enough interest to pull it off. Another option/idea might be to tie an old pattern from your state or area of the country. Could be a bit of a history lesson as well as a fun tying experience . . .

Joe

this is defininetly gonna be a lot of work no matter what. what im concerned is that some people will do a lot of work on there flies so that everybody only gets the best of theirs while other people just tie up a bunch of crappy ones quick just so they can join so they get a bunch of good flies from the people who did do a lot of work. im not sure how but you might wanna set up some sort of standard for the flies. but anyways i have faith in you and if you can do this im definitely in and im already working on some nice crawdads. also, would you only have one tyer for each region/state? cus my neighbor also goes on here (in fact he told me about this site) and it would be nice if we could both do one for virginia

50 flies? That's a whole order of hooks! I might be fun, though.

If you decide to do it, here in Ga., one of the most productive flies for all species is a black and yellow Chernobyle Ant. Next is a weighted olive Wooley Bugger.

Let me know if it is a go.

Semper Fi!

I honestly think it might be too big to finish off.. I mean big swaps have been done before say for the likes of charity things, in that all the flies get sent off somewhere, but to sort them all out and return, wow! Also even the small swaps seem to be plagued by endless difficulties in getting participants to complete etc... is this possible? Sorry to be a wet blanket, I don't mean to, just that issues need to be thought about. No good if half the people are doing a heap of work and then it fizzes out.

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Originally Posted by Gringo

I honestly think it might be too big to finish off.. I mean big swaps have been done before say for the likes of charity things, in that all the flies get sent off somewhere, but to sort them all out and return, wow! Also even the small swaps seem to be plagued by endless difficulties in getting participants to complete etc... is this possible? Sorry to be a wet blanket, I don't mean to, just that issues need to be thought about. No good if half the people are doing a heap of work and then it fizzes out.

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It's like any other swap. If you don't think you can finish than you shouldn't join. As far as running the swap I always check to see who the Swap Meyster is. Ol'blue for instance is a good one, and has many, many swaps under his belt. I'd trust him when he says he wants to put this on, it's up to us to complete the flies on time and get them to him. And lets say for the sake of an argument that it does fizzle, whats the worst that can happen? You had excellent practice tying flies & now you have 50 -70 spares of "SanWannie Worms" :lol: :lol: ( you know somebody will want to Tye them ) :)

Bud

Good points, all of them. The A to Z I did last winter was a good one, but yep, it was a bunch of work with only 26 entries. And this will most likely nearly double that one. I'm still thinking this one over. It will be a massive project for everyone involved and I'm sure everyone will do their best attempt for this one. It might be best to go east/west, but if everyone is willing to tie all of those flies up, we can do the whole thing. It would be cool if we can pull it off.
I know some will enter lower quality flies, but I don't think they are all just trying to get some good flies for some crappy ones. I think the "lower quality" entries will more likely be from the guys who are less experienced and are just wanting to get involved. And my tying is probably in that category as well, so I really wouldn't know where to draw the line for quality standards. I think I'd rather play on the good faith principal for those involved.

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what im concerned is that some people will do a lot of work on there flies so that everybody only gets the best of theirs while other people just tie up a bunch of crappy ones quick just so they can join so they get a bunch of good flies from the people who did do a lot of work.

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I do alot of work and my flies still turn out "crappy". :? But if I tied 50 of the same pattern the last 10 or 15 would be pretty good maybe. :lol:

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Originally Posted by Sagittarius62

I do a lot of work and my flies still turn out "crappy". :? But if I tied 50 of the same pattern the last 10 or 15 would be pretty good maybe. :lol:

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See, that's the spirit!!!!!!!!!! Experienced or in-experienced, who cares everyone started out with 10 thumb. I've been tieing for a few years now and still have 5-6 thumbs left. :lol: What this swap has to have is committed tiers.( and maybe still limit the number of San Juan Worms :) )

I've been following this thread with a bit of interest.. Some very good ideas and comments have been put out there. I personally like the regional idea. Like a few other mentioned, definitely a cold weather swap. If anyone can pull this swap off it and have it be a tremendous success, it would ol'blue. I have thoroughly enjoyed every swap of his that I have participated in. I would definitely join in if anything come about from this. :lol: ...it would probably be the only swap I join for a while. It would also be good practice since my flies are all that good....except when it comes to catching fish :) .

What a great swap. I would opt for a fly from each state. either way count me in. A California Coachman might be my fly of choice.

50 states, 12 provinces = 62 flies. I have tied that many for CFR auctions and just did so for a friend on another forum who lost all of her flies. The key is to start early and MAKE time to tie. I can see that places such as North Dakota and other sparsely populated states might not have representation, but it would take only a bit of time to contact a fly shop in one of those places and get a recipe for a local popular fly. Matter of fact, I caught two 25 pound pike in Nrth Dakota many years ago on a simple streamer and I could duplicate that. So, it should be easy to find a fly to tie. I am in.
Paul

I'm going to start this swap in very short order. It will probably be open for signups through the end of November, and we'll get all of the flies in by mid February. I think I would like to try the big version. Let's do 50 states/12 provinces and a couple of open spots for international participation if need be. So everyone should count on 65 flies (at the most) for this swap, and probably less if we don't fill all of the positions.
Please wait for the official swap to get posted and sign up there to make things easy on me. This will most likely be the only swap I'm going to conduct until it is done, so everyone else will have to pick up the slack in the meantime! :lol: