whatever floats your boat
whatever floats your boat
Or floats your dry fly
If it swims and eats, it'll eat a fly.
If everyone tied classic flies only, that would be all we would have and we would be fishing with the same dozen flies as Sir. Izaak Walton. It is great to tie proven winners, I try that often usually falling somewhat short. I have developed the almost line of flies, the "Almost a Adams", the "Almost a BWO", etc. Sometimes they catch fish and sometimes they don't. But I remember the words of Don Bartlett, I may have the last name wrong, who help establish the trout fishery in Georgia, "You are trying to make a fly that looks like a bug the fish eat, not someone else's fly."
Want to hear God laugh? Tell him Your plans!!!
whatever floats your boat
I'm glad we all freely share patterns, cuz I doubt on my own I could every have come up with more than a handful of "odd-looking junk tied to a hook" things that would actually fool a fish or three. There's been so many "OH! YEAH, that's INGENIOUS!" moments in my plodding progression as a fly tyer, when I see what others have done. Has there ever been a tyer that didn't substitute materials and/or colors at some point?
Even when I start out and TRY to tie a replica of someone else's pattern, there's always.."shoot, I don't have the shade of hackle, or that size of hook, or that type/color of dubbing".
You end up with something that may look similar, and hope the fish think it looks similar to something they like to eat.
There's the whole gamut of patterns out there...from realistics, to fancy artistics, to accurate silhouettes, to butt-ugly fish-catchers. Tie what interests you.
Its fun to try to duplicate interesting patterns created by others. Its also fun to try to come up with something new that your local fish want sooo bad they will chase it onto dry land!!
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
Not withstanding your note abour hair color, I would remind you that mink tail hair makes excellent dry fly tailing.
Greg H.
I have also tied several thousand flies, I have been tying for 10 years now.
I tie all year round and enjoy it alot.
I also experiment with all kinds of material and have my own patterns that I use for trout.
Sometimes you just want to go the easy way or start with something "proven" or just find out how this material is usually used.
Sometimes you just want to get new ideas that you have not thought of yourself.
Different material work differently and some patterns require special materials, the author could have experimented with many materials before showing the rest of the world his pattern.
So it matters which material you use and I was maybe asking for such comments.
Anyhow I'm going to tye some zonker patterns and maybe try the mink on pattern from Oliver Edwards.
I could have googled some more, I could have bought a book.
But I like this web and always get good answers to my questions.
Sometimes you just want to say: "Guys, how do you do this?" without thinking much before, just letting it go.
Well I always google before I ask!
What is the reason for a BB like this?
Should you only ask when you have googled and gone through you local library?
Should I ask a professional in the field before asking here?
What is the protocol, please let me know!
Thorarinn
ps.
Glad you got my name right it's as you typed Thorarinn, not Thorarinna (my username) which stands for Thorarinn Andresson.
Nice post, Thorarinn.
It's an intensely subjective spectrum, where a tyer stands between 'strict adherence to the established pattern' and 'many variations on one base recipe'. On the former extreme you have guys that insist that you not call your Lady Caroline a Lady Caroline unless it's genuine heron hackle, and on the other end you have guys that argue that a copper john is essentially the same fly as a hare's ear, except with several variations and substitutions. The vast majority of us, however, lie somewhere in between. I think the important part is to recognize the matter for being as subjective as it is, and simply move on respectful of others' opinions without trying to force our own view of it on others.
For my part, I feel that the 'strict adherence' is a pretty untenable position in the world of fly tying, as even classic established patterns change over time, or materials are, by and large, viewed as perfectly interchangeable in some cases. For example: the original Adams dry fly used 2 golden pheasant tippet fibers for its tail. How many guys today tie it to the original spec? Along the same lines, only the most pedantic would argue that using gray superfine would make your fly 'not an adams' because it didn't use muskrat. Where you'll lose more is if you argue that you can tie an adams with only grizzly hackle, then dab it with a brown marker.
On the other hand, I think the 'endless variations' viewpoint is somewhat of a dumbing down of the thing as well, and equally untenable as a practical MO in the world of fly fishing. It simply doesn't offer enough precision of description in concise terms.
"What are you tying there?" "Mayfly nymph." "Oh..."
or
"What are you tying there?" "Mayfly nymph with pheasant tail fiber tail, fox squirrel abdomen dyed red, gold extra small wire ribbing, ozark turkey tail fiber wing case...wait...where are you going?"
Just my two cents.
My goal is always to imitate a living thing. If I'm tying a fly that imitates something I'm not real familiar with I try to stick to the pattern as much as possible as I don't know what's important. On things I know better I substitute freely sometimes influenced as much by what's allready out and lying on the table as anything else. As an example I find in my flybox Hex dun patterns tied with yarn, dubbing, bleached elk main, and deer hair bodies. All fit my criteria for a hex pattern though some emphasize floatation while others are more durable or alllow more versatile presentation by being easily made into spinners.
I can think of few acts more selfish than refusing a vaccination.
I guess all flies begin by tying stuff on a hook. However I think they also evolve when better materials come along. Some of the classic patterns use the materials they do not just because of the colours but because one material floats well, or sinks easily etc etc.
Best regards and tight lines
Mick Porter
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