Keep the fly or toss it?

[Eight Thumbs]

Hey Folks,

I've been doing a little soul searching tonight as I'm getting ready for a fishing trip on Friday. I'm taking the flies from my fly patch that I used from the previous trip and deciding whether or not to return them to my fly boxes. Some are almost like new and, of course, go back to the box without much thought. Others are really beat up and even with a lot of grooming are going to look pretty ragged. My dilemma concerns these flies. Use them until they deteriorate further or chuck them? Being a fairly proficient tier, I'm often tempted to throw out beat up flies before they are fully used up. What do you guys do-----fish the flies as long as there are a few molecules of hackle and dubbing left or toss them as soon as there's a hackle out of place? Does tying your own flies or not tying your own flies influence this choice. Just wondering? 8T

[JohnScott]

I keep fishing a fly as long as it floats, for a dry, and as long as it closely resembles the original pattern as I tied it. I've had any number of flies that I have fished on multiple outings before I sent them to salvage. By that, I mean I don't throw the fly away as long as the hook is good - a quick slice or two with a sharp razor blade and I'm ready to replace the fly with the same hook. The exception would be hooks that have been heavily weighted. I usually do just throw those out when the fly is no longer fishable.

The fact that I tie my own flies influences both the length of time I'll fish a given fly and how I approach salvaging hooks. Scottish in all things fly tying.

John

[ducksterman]

Once that session of fishing is over....the mojo is gone...I will start over....of course it may be the same new fly the next time...

[Kerry Stratton]

I have no real connection to flies and fish them to the point of nothing left. This can and does have draw backs. I fished one particular steelhead fly for seveal years and caught a few fish on it. It was pretty beat up but still fished. The last fish I hooked on it was a decent 10 or 12 pound steelhead. After getting the fish up close both my fishing partner and I were trying to see if it was a hatchery fish and if so I would keep it. Before we could make that determination the fish got loose and swam thru my fishing partner's legs, back into the river. I always check my flies and tippet after hooking a fish and when I looked at this fly I seen that the fish didn't get off the hook but the hook had broken. I had never seen this before with this particular brand of hooks and kept the fly for further investigation as to why it broke. Later that day I took the fly out and removed what was left of the materials on it and found that the hook had not broke as much as it had rusted through. After getting wet numerous times and put back in the box without complete drying it rusted. I now dry my used flies before returning to the box.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I have fished flies that had hackle stems trailing along the side, wings that were badly beat up, missing tails and the darn things still caught fish. I don't really care what other fisherman think, those fish seem to like them a bit beat up. Yes, I do tie my own, and mostly fish the flies I don't think are good enough to give to friends.

REE

[Fishin' Jimmy]

When fishin'; let the fish tell you when to pitch the fly! The fish are the important ones on this point,not Orvis or the Fly Police!

Don't quit fishin' until the fish tell you too!!

Fishin' Jimmy

[bspitt]

the fish dont want it no mo!!

Look at the fly in this pic:


The hackle completely came loose on this parachute. It was the 1st para dry fly I ever tied (and a very poorly tied one, I must say). I could not believe it but I caught several other tiny rainbows on this fly even after the hackle came loose and it would not float upright. I know these little fish were hungry and this would not work in a technical or pressured stream, but sure was fun catching these little guys on that tore up fly!
Here is a close up of how bad it really was:


Brannon

[Eight Thumbs]

I have fished flies that had hackle stems trailing along the side, wings that were badly beat up, missing tails and the darn things still caught fish.

REE

The success that we have with old, beat-up, absolutely mangled flies makes you wonder why we agonize so over the tying process. Proportion, stray hackle, missing components and loose ends don't seem to make much difference.


John,

I absolutely hate scraping flies down to the bare hook. Even when I'm careful, the finish always seems to be damaged and the new flies are highly prone to rust. 8T

[fritz]

hey bspitt: so much for the theory of "Selective Trout"

[JohnScott]

John,

I absolutely hate scraping flies down to the bare hook. Even when I'm careful, the finish always seems to be damaged and the new flies are highly prone to rust. 8T

8T -

Can't recall ever having a hook break because of rust, or throwing out more than a handful because they were rusted. Must be something in the water out your way - and I don't mean the fishies.

John