How Fast? How Many?

[Allan]

Okay, for those of you interested in 'speed tying', here's a quiz and see if you can guess the number of flies tyed by the winner. Oh, this is based on an actual tying contest and the results. I'll post the answer sometime Sunday.
Situation & criteria:
Done during a large tying show, indoors, well lit and with people milling around. There are 12 tyers stationed around 3, 8' picnic tables that are end-to-end. 1 hour is on the clock. You use your own tools. These materials are supplied to you immediately prior to the beginning of tying: Olive 6/0 thread (you use your own bobbin, or none), a box(100) of size 12 Mustad 3399 hooks, peacock herl, and a dun hen neck. You are tying a soft hackle with this as the recipe:
tail - none
abdomen - thread
thorax - herl
hackle - wound dun
All the tyers are allowed to thread their bobbins and then are given a sample fly. In 10 seconds the clock begins and the hour of tying begins.Flies need to be tyed so that they are considered 'saleable' by the judges. How many flies do you think the winner tyed? How many do you think you would have been able to tye?

Allan

[sandfly]

winner-37 meaning myself
me-37 since you say "YOU" in the quiz, meaning I am in the compition..

[herefishy]

I'll bet he could tie close to 2 a minute - say 115. Me, maybe 30.

[DUB]

He/She 82

Me....25

[ScottP]

I'd guess the winner emptied the hook box; me, maybe mid-upper 20's. After watching Charlie Craven bang out a pheasant tail nymph in 1:35, I gave it a shot and worked my best time down to just over 2 minutes. When I had the materials prepped for multiples (were the contestants allowed to do this?) I could do 1/2 dozen in under 18 minutes and they were relatively uniform in appearance, definitely not something you'd see in shop bins but a fish might eat them.

Regards,
Scott

[DG]

Shrugs. The only contest in flyfishing for me is between me and the fish. And they always win in the end.

[Allan]

When I had the materials prepped for multiples (were the contestants allowed to do this?).
Regards,
Scott

Scott - No prep time. Materials were provided, a sample fly given, and the clock started in about 10 seconds.

DG - Yes, completely agree that the only contest in "fly fishing" is between the fly fisher and the fish. This however, was 'fly tying'. Not the same. Wouldn't you agree?

I'll post the actual contest results tonight. In the meantime, I will tell you that the name of the winner was Edwin Rist (anyone recognize this?) and the show was in '06 or '07.

[hap]

Scott - No prep time. Materials were provided, a sample fly given, and the clock started in about 10 seconds.

DG - Yes, completely agree that the only contest in "fly fishing" is between the fly fisher and the fish. This however, was 'fly tying'. Not the same. Wouldn't you agree?

I'll post the actual contest results tonight. In the meantime, I will tell you that the name of the winner was Edwin Rist (anyone recognize this?) and the show was in '06 or '07.

Sounds like a slight of hand artist!

Once upon a time I could pile flies very fast and sold many thousands. Would still think I might be a contender in something like this. Way back then I tied winged Adams in 90 seconds.

[lastchance]

I'd guess about 90 since I think I might be able to do 30 in and hour.

[Allan]

Well, time to give the results.
I want to reiterate that no one knew what the fly would be prior to the judges placing the set of materials in front of each tyer. There was no prep time. The audience was walking around the tying area and often would ask the tyers questions. Anyway, I tyed 46 of those critters in the 60 minutes. All of which were judged to be 'saleable'. I actually thought I did really well considering I didn't have to re-thread a bobbin because I didn't break a thread, I didn't fumble material, go for a drink or go to the bathroom, and I didn't get too many questions from the 'peanut gallery'. However, the winner of the contest, Edwin Rist, somehow managed to tye 68 flies (yes, I said 68!) in that hour. In essence he tyed 1-1/2 times faster then I did and how he did that I have no idea. As I said, I went at it at a very good clip. At any rate, he did. He won a McKenzie tying lamp for his efforts and we all received some tying stuff from the sponsors.

Allan