31 steps to tie a Copper John!

[deepcreek]

I just read his book and 31 steps is too much, please tell me you can tie a fishable CJ with less steps and time.

[kbproctor]

I just read his book and 31 steps is too much, please tell me you can tie a fishable CJ with less steps and time.

Charlie Craven does it in 28 here.

[garb72]

wow i didnt realize that there was that many steps

[chewydog]

28/31 doesn't make much difference when it only takes 2+ minutes to tie one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqXwnQahpX0
Props to Mr. Craven.

[skippy11]

Yeah, I need those skillz, it takes me that long to tie on the tail.

Rick

[oldfrat]

As Warren has posted, it can be done a lot faster if you happen to have magic skills. The Devil owns Craven's soul these days, but he sure can tie!

Bless John Barr for inventing this fly, cuz it really does work! If your tying skills are as "good" as mine, you will come to think of this as the perfect fly to tie in the winter when it is too cold to hit the water. As you tie it you KNOW it will work and can dream about the trout at the end of your line when the snow goes away. But it is going to take you several full winter afternoons to tie them up in the sizes and colors you want.

Nothing wrong with that, plus you get to keep your soul.

[Normand]

I just read his book and 31 steps is too much, please tell me you can tie a fishable CJ with less steps and time.

tie the tungsten bead copper john, its only 14 steps (page 22-23)

a lot of the steps in the book can be eliminated and arent really necessary. you dont need 4 steps to show tying in the body wire and wrapping it forward.

however, not everybody is an expert fly tyer. if the extra steps in tying the fly helps a new tyer visualize whats being tied, its ok with me.

[Steven]

The Devil owns Craven's soul these days, but he sure can tie!

Two hundred years from now, something bad will happen to Charlie's descendants.

[DG]

Oldfrat, it's never too cold to hit the water. Sometimes you bounce off of the opaque white surface, however.

You can take about ANY process and break it into as many steps as you want. That does not make it any more or less difficult, it just splits it out into however many pieces you wish.

Tie one, then tie another, then tie another, and another... By the time you have tied a couple dozen, or a couple hundred, all of those steps will have condensed back into "Tie one PT nymph".

[ScottP]

If you look at Charlie's tutorial http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/fly...fm?parentID=17 you can see that a lot of those steps are pretty simple and add about 1 second to tying time (e.g. sliding the lead, or sub, wire against the bead). To speed things up even more, I don't add the epoxy until I have at least 6 flies ready, then do them all at once - saves time and epoxy. I'm not even close to being considered an adequate tier, but I don't find the Copper John to be all that difficult, and as Oldfrat said, the fly is worth the time. Learn to tie it and you can use those skills on many other flies. Charlie's videos are fun to watch and even if you can't do one in 2:13 like him, tie enough and you'll be surprised how quickly you can crank them out.

Regards,
Scott