After tying my own flies for about four and a half years, I've learned a few things. Mostly, what flies work for me when and where and for what kind of trout ( and whitefish ). Every time I prepare a fly box for a given day at a given stream / river, I run across bunches of flies that have never been in / on the water, much less caught a fish. Stuff I tied because I thought a particular pattern was neat or might work or was a challenge that might improve my fly tying skills.

So I got to thinking - why don't I just start over ??

This is a great time to do it. With the mountain and stream seasons coming to a close shortly for all practical purposes, my fishing will be pretty much limited to the South Fork and the Henry's Fork of the Snake. That means mostly streamer fishing and large nymphs. I have a couple streamers I fish, and a couple variations on a big stonefly nymph pattern that works really well.

So I got to thinking - why not just take all the flies I have ( excepting the streamers and stonefly nymphs and the very few other fishable flies I have in patterns that I regularly use ), scrape them down with a razor blade to salvage the hooks and beads, and start over ??

Have you ever thought about doing that ?? or actually done it ??

John