Stream-side Fly Tying?

[Eight Thumbs]

Hi Everyone,

I just had a (funny???) incident occur that raised an important question in my mind. Instead of restocking my fly box at my regular tying desk, I decided to enjoy the cool morning air on my screened-in back porch. With a lot of furniture shuffling, I was able to arrange a reasonably suitable tying area with the porch furniture though nowhere near as comfortable as my regular tying station. I planned to tie some Griffth Gnats in sizes #18, #20, and #22 so I carefully selected my material and laid hooks and hackle out on the porch table. In the hour or so I was tying, the morning breeze freshened a bit, and one particular strong gust caused both prepared hackles and finished flies to vanish completely from my table and take up residence in an unbelievable number of nooks and crannies on the porch. I found most of the prepared hackles but I'm still missing a number of completed Griffth Gnats.

During my ten-minute search of the porch floor several questions came to mind. My first question was whether anyone except professional writers actually carry and use a stream-side tying kit. Just setting up a new tying area on my porch was difficult and wasn't particularly comfortable. Compound this problem with slick rocks, briars, sharp sticks and fire ants (if you're from the Southeastern states) and you've got a torture chamber for a tying area. Add dropped and probably lost tools, spilled hooks, and materials suddenly and unexpectedly becoming airborne and you have total insanity. Given the weight of my fly fishing vest already, a few additional saddles hackles would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Does anyone really carry a stream-kit and use it on a regular basis?

Secondly, if you do carry a stream-side kit and use it frequently has it ever saved your fishing trip as it frequently seems to do with many of the sports writers? You know the drill. Trout were actively feeding all over the river but they ignored every fly in my box. It wasn't until I put my good eye right down at the water level that I could see that the trout were feeding on emerging #56 Blue-Arsed Triceratopses. I quickly tied half a dozen of these flies and caught every fish in the river. My ex-fishing buddy caught nothing because I refused to share my newly-tied flies with him.

Seriously Folks, do you regularly carry a stream-side fly tying kit, do you use it fairly frequently and has it ever saved the day by providing you with just the "right" fly? 8T

[DaveMac]

Good question. When I traveled for a weekend or week long fishing trip I always brought a duffle bag full of anything that I might need to imitate the bugs or shiners that I saw. I never had the urge to step out of the stream, sit down and tie a fly. The evenings were different, I tied up a storm ( inside in the coziness of a cabin or lodge ).

[DG]

I've tied once or twice on the steering wheel of the truck, when I was waiting for someone or had a little time to kill between hatches, or when I had run out of something I thought I needed, but I wouldn't lug around a kit to tie on the streambank. Almost every place I fish, I know what flies I will need, and the ones I have not visited often enough to have it down, the dozen patterns I use 99% of the time anyway seem to work well enough I don't worry about tying up a perfect match of something. I can tie after dark, no sense wasting good fishing time chasing that perfect pattern.

[Allan]

I have 'streamside kit' that I sometimes carry. All the stuff is contained in a 4"x6"x1" plastic box. Tiny zip lock bags of: a few each, 12, 14 & 16 dry , nymph & streamer(8 & 10) hooks; several dubbings; pre-selected (color and size) hackle; bobbin w/ white thread; wood duck flank; a piece of snowshoe rabbit; a piece of med color deer hair for comparaduns; a scalpel blade; some poly yarn, zelon and yarn; maybe one or two other items that'll fit. No vise. I learned that tying simple flies w/o one isn't that difficult.

Having one gives you something to do while waiting for hatch or if you need to replace your last 'whatzitcalled' that you just lost in some tree and the fish were really on to it. It's also fun.

Allan

[hairwing]

Nah.. not for me. If I don't have the right fly with me , I'll just practice my casting and live happily ever after.

[Bluegill222]

I carry a kit on the trip, but I don't tie streamside. I will tie a few that night at camp to replace what I might have lost, but that's about it. I make sure to put each fly in the box as I finish it to prevent mishaps and keep the tools and materials I bring along VERY basic.

[quivira kid]

I have a "war wagon" I take with me on trips, just for entertainment during down times or when I need to tie something. It's a pretty good sized tackle box that's set up to tie flies and jigs. Materials are rotated in and out of the main compartment, depending on what I'm doing.
To solve your wind problems, get a magnet and attach it to your vise! A friend of mine ("jiggin" on here) gave me a little magnet with a handle on it, and I use it all the time now. (It's even handy at your regular tying desk for doing the same thing!)

[flyfisher7]

I tried streamside tying many years ago, and it was a complete waste of effort. Very difficult to lay materials out and keep them intact, as the OP learned on his porch. By the time you get everything together and tie a fly to match the hatch, the hatch would likely be over. Far better to research the stream you intend to fish, and tie what you need prior to the trip. That said, I take a tying kit when I travel, but rarely use it, and all tying is done after fishing.

[ZugbugPete]

I do take a tying kit with me when I travel, or on overnighters, but the kit always resides at the cabin / cottage (or the picnic table right outside the cottages). I find that I always have a need for some fly or another when out traveling away from home, but it also goes to follow that if you DO take your tying kit, then it's just the luck that the material you need to tie that fly is what you forgot to toss into the kit... and so it goes. Still, I find great fun in fishing the day away, then coming back to the cottage for the night and thinking about what worked and what didn't, only to tweak the patterns and make new flies based on my experience. That, to me, if half of the fun of it.
Tight wraps,
-ZugbugPete

[Eight Thumbs]

Hey Folks,

Looks like we just shattered another pastoral image of the dedicated fly fisherman, pipe in mouth, happily tying half a dozen perfect flies with his thumb vise as he sits comfortably in the soft meadow grass . His day saved by these beautiful flies and his keen sense of observation, he confidently heads back into the stream. I'm afraid that the outcome of this busted myth may be a total lack of material for those sportswriters who specialize in the "problem solving" fly fishing stories. BTW, I too bring along a portable fly tying kit on most trips but it stays in the motel room or the car---not that it ever contains what I need. 8T