how many types do you tie?

[DDRRedneck500]

A month or two ago, there was a thread on how many flies you tie in an average day. so ive got a new question. how many different types of flies do you tie? now when i say this, i dont mean that you tied up a couple of a certain type, gave up, and moved on (ive done this a couple times), but what i mean is that you tie them up frequently for consistent fishing or commercial use. So i just counted up mine, and i tie about 50 different patterns. (but since ive only been tying for about 2 years ive used about 20 of them)

[DG]

I have learned that I can catch 95% of the fish I am going to catch anyway on a handful of patterns, so the time I would otherwise spend on filling my boxes with every variation of every possible bug now goes into fishing instead.

[Bob S]

DG knows what he is talking about, that's a given.
I like to tie just to tie so I probably tie around 30 different flies to fish. Can't forget the Stimulator, bugger, ant, crawdad, streamer, leaches, caddis, soft hackles, midges, parachutes, get my bass bugs from my buddy, he makes awesome balsa wood poppers.
Bob S

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I tie up a lot of different patterns and try to fish them all. Often, I'll just tie up one or two before fishing them to see how they work out for me. Slowly, as I get familiear with different fishing locations I'm figuring out what flies work best for different waters (at least, work best for me). I like to fish different patterns just to see what else works. Sometimes, I'll switch flies after every fish caught, and tell myself I have to fish this new fly until I get at least a strike.

- Jeff

P.S. Does one count things like "partridge and orange" vs "woodcock and orange" different patterns? I would call them different patterns (so take that into consideration when reading the above), though I would say they are both the same style of fly (spiders, or soft hackles).

[Joe Valencic]

Does one count things like "partridge and orange" vs "woodcock and orange" different patterns? I would call them different patterns (so take that into consideration when reading the above), though I would say they are both the same style of fly (spiders, or soft hackles).

They are NOT a different pattern, just a color variant of the same pattern. An example of this might be a gray, brown or black suit are just color variants of the same pattern of suit. A Leisure Suit is a whole different pattern with its own color variants (mostly pastel).

Hope that clarifies it for you.

Joseph the Insightful.

[Rick Z]

I have 80 patterns that I keep in stock.
These are the ones That I have found that work for me in the pnds that I fish.
I don't use some as often as others, but they are there to use.
This does not count the different sizes they are tied in or the different colors.

I think this is part of why I rarely get skunked.

Rick

[BobC]

I have to agree with DG and Philly in that you don't need a huge number of patterns to be successful. I guess I have a little over a dozen that I tie regularly and they work well for me. I am trying to expand my skills, however, so this winter I will be tying new patterns that require me to try different things. I look them over beforehand as to whether I think they will be successful, so I think I will have some new favorites this summer. Just about everything is in the attractor fly family, so the odds of them working are good!

[Philly]

I guess I tie dozen patterns that I use on a regular basis for trout, but I always have some experiments or patterns I've see that I like in my box.
My salt water and warm water boxes are interchangeable, but there's a dozen and a half basic patterns I use.
I would think about 30 patterns across the board ranging from size 30 midges up to 10/0 bunker patterns.

[Flyguy5910]

too many to count!!!!!

[JohnScott]

I'm not much on fly tying so I spend as little time as possible at the vice and as much time as possible on the water.

I fish year round - mostly small streams and rivers for trout - and somewhere around 20 patterns, to include dries, wets, nymphs, streamers and terrestrials, cover it all.