An old codger's rant

[Donald Nicolson]

Just a grumble from an old codger.
Why do people post a picture of an excellent fly
but do not give a recipe.
There seems to be a tendency to do this lately.
I thought that the point of the 'Fly Tying' Forum
was to show flies and give information on those flies,
for example the recipe and any special techniques required.
An odd fly is one thing, but there are a lot with minimum info
at the best, but the majority with nill.
At least a recipe would not be difficult.

[51BC]

I share your frustration, Donald!

[tlerm]

I agree Donald. Furthermore, when the recipe is not included in the original post, the very next post usually is someone like me asking for them to post the recipe. Seems like it would save a whole lot of trouble to post it in the first place. Then the discussion can be about the fly pattern rather than just "Hey, what's the recipe for that fly?"

[Uncle Jesse]

Why do people post a picture of an excellent fly but do not give a recipe.:

Donald,

I think I may have found the fly in the ointment. Excellency, while a quality we all desire to achieve is something we may be hestitate to claim on our own. I am at best an average tyer and was raised by my mother to be modest. Therefore, if I post a pattern I would appreciate your comments on how to improve it, thank you for any compliments but may not presume that you would want to know how to build it or I may think it is obvious or its a well known pattern. That said, I have seen several patterns lately that I would have appreciated having the recipe posted. I saw a pattern on another website that I liked the looks of and found out it had a twisted silver wire body, a little dubbing and a soft hackle of deer body hair. I tied one last night with twisted copper wire, when I get one done good enough to photo I will post it, with the recipe.

[WarrenP]

Not only would a recipe be nice, but, why not take it up one more step and submit it to FAOL as a FOTW and then we could have the recipe plus a step-by-step tying procedure? I know that taking the time to take pictures of each tying step is time consuming, but, it sure would be nice. I can remember when you hardly ever saw a picture of a fly posted, but, we had many flies posted with step-by-step pictures on FOTW. There are many new tyers that a picture of a completed fly with a recipe is not enough information. I have also seen a step-by-step posted on the "Fly Tying" board but not submitted to FOTW. If that trend keeps getting larger, we could possibly lose the FOTW feature and that would be a great loss. People need to understand that it is not "show and tell" but "show and SHARE".

Just my opinion and nothing more.....

[Donald Nicolson]

I agree with the points made by Uncle Jesse and WarrenP,
but just because the fly is not a new fly, is no reason not give the recipe and
acknowledgement of it's origins.
If the recipe is given, it only takes a few words for the originator.
There are a lot of older patterns, half forgotten, and a note of the
modern variations contributed by the poster (postee?) does not take long.

[Featherbender]

I think the big difference here is that while some (including the posters here) are approaching tying as a 'craft', and viewing it from a technical aspect, others see it more as an 'art' and view it from a artistic/design aspect. Neither view is wrong or right, just a difference in opinion. While a recipe would be nice, I feel the picture is the key. Given a choice of a recipe & instructions or a picture, i'm going for the picture every time. Usually an experienced tyer can decipher what materials are in use (at least as far as natural materials), and how to tie up any typical pattern as well.

Again, recipes and step-by-steps are nice, and if someone wants to make a FOTW, great, but I don't think it should be seen as any sort of a 'requirement', as that would likely result in even less sharing. Sometimes you just want to post a picture of what you've been working on, and I think you should be able to do that without feeling like you need to do any more. It may not take long, but doing a mini-research project when you really would just rather post some pics...well its a pain in the butt, and it's something that anyone can do on their own time if they really want to know.

As far as FOTW, I know that me personally, am unlikely to ever submit a pattern for two reasons: 1) I visit the forum here way more often than the fotw section, which I've only ever really checked out once or twice, and 2) I'm a blogger, and if I'm generating content, I'm publishing it myself, not donating it to another site. Not trying to sound self-centered, but if I do the work of making up a tutorial, I don't really want to turn around and give it to someone else to display.

Just presenting a counterpoint.

[DaveMac]

Points and Counterpoints respected. If someone is proud enough to post a photo, the next step could also be a proud one. It only takes a minute: ( Hook: Thread: Body: Wing: Head ) Just my opinion.