Any fish I decide to do battle with deserves my best effort. I respect them too much to do any less. And I want them to respect me, as well. I don't want them to huddle in a group behind a rock and snicker at my flies (as they probably do about my casting).
I can't help it. Anything I do has to be my best effort. There is no such thing as 'good enough' in my mental processes. I've been that way all my life.
I think some may have misunderstood what I was getting at..I'm not talking 'fancy' flies-v-simple flies, nor am I talking about anyone's flies compared to anyone else's.
Personally, I prefer simple ties. I change lots of patterns, not to make them 'prettier' (I 'like' pretty flies, but I also prefer flies that catch fish, do their percieved 'jobs', and can be tied in a timely manner), but to make them more efficient, work better for a particular situation, or to eliminate what I see as 'unneeded' steps...I don't like to do anything on a fly unless I see a 'need' for it.
Regardless of your personal skill level, whether or not you think your flies are well or poorly tied, do you think it matters to YOU if you fish what YOU consider to be your 'best' flies? (For 'best' I really mean the ones you tied that came out the 'best' as far as proportion, construction, and your skill level allows for a particular pattern).
Or, do you not think about it or notice one way or the other either consciously or subconsciously?
I like the concept of the 'respect' factor...but is it valid for us, or is picking the pretty ones just human nature?
Buddy
It Just Doesn't Matter....
I pick the prettiest ones first because I have more confidence in the prettiest ones (rightly or wrongly).
More confidence = more fish.
Simple.
i fish with whatever fly comes out of my vise. if it has a minor deficiency in proportion, 12 wraps of thread at the head instead of 3, tails that are 1/32 inch shorten that the shank so be it. i don't go all anal about it.Originally Posted by Buddy Sanders
if i'm tying for swaps, i research the pattern and tie according to the recipe. i try not to substitute materials a recipe calls for. swap flies get my best attention.
i've been tying for close to 30 years, so i should be tying my best at all times. if it don't come out right the first time, i don't cut it off of the hook and try again. the next one out of the vise will be better.
i dont see fish holding up numbered cards from 1-10 rating my flies.
My very best flies tend to get given away, either in a swap, to some youth group another, to friends, etc.
Although I've been tying for over forty-five years and am reasonable consistent, the first few I tie of either a new pattern or one that I haven't tied in while never look right. Although they end up in my box, they definitely get chosen after all the better looking ones of that pattern are gone.
Bob
Buddy, unfortunately for me I'm a bit anal about my fly tying so I tend to give my best efforts, even untying and retying some that I don't think are right, many times to a fault. My eye always goes to the neatest and best-tied flies in my box, just seems to be my nature. I have hundreds of flies I've tied for this or that reason, yet, when they're in my box next to others that I have more confidence in - usually because they look better - these newer models seem to sit and accumulate until that day when I can't seem to figure out the bite and I start throwing some of the newer, different stuff just to see if the fish like them better than I do. I've hesitated to get into presentation tying due to my anal tendencies and worrying that a good presentation Salmon Fly would take too long because I would demand perfection. I guess we're all different in how we 'see' things. Still have some of my beginner ties and I wouldn't use them on a bet, but it's fun to look back on them and see how far I've come.
Kelly.
Tight Lines,
Kelly.
"There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."
Roderick Haig-Brown, "Fisherman's Spring"
"Fish to respect me".........
O............................................K.
Good fishing technique trumps all.....wish I had it.
BBW..
Caught that one too, but I just let it go....
Buddy
It Just Doesn't Matter....
There are more fly patterns than stars in the sky.
There are more fly patterns than stars in the sky, or so it seems!
Are the fly patterns meant for fishing at stream side, or impressing others with you bench side skills?
Depending on the local that your fishing and the time of year, and the weather conditions; the fly selection changes over a the fishing season.
I live in Minnesota, fishing starts late, as the waters do not warm up that early in the year, I start fishing in the middle of May, and I am done fishing for the year, by the end of September!
I have different fly boxes for different fishing waters, as well as fish species.
I like dressing hooks using old patterns, that for some reason still seem to be quite effective at enticing fish to take the hook!
For some of my favorite streams, I may have 4 or 5 fly boxes, dedicated to cover the whole season. Many of the flies in the boxes, are also in the other boxes, but the coloration or size maybe slightly different! It is pointless to fish a dry fly, when there is no evidence of a hatch in progress.
When there is a hatch is progress, sometimes a dry fly gets no notice by the fish, so I go with either emergers or soft-hackle wet flies (fished just below the water surface).
When fishing the Locha and Selway, while out in Idaho one September, I noticed that the October Caddis had a peculiar ritual for depositing the eggs into the water. They would slam their body down hard on the water surface, then almost immediately soar back into the sky, and repeat the operation over and over again, all within a small 10 meter area! So I retied my October Caddis patterns to mimic their ritual. I caught fish, and I released them, and I told at the Fish-In about my observations, only Montana Moose, who I had partnered up with on the waters, took my advise.
Hi,
Just to be clear, when I say aesthetically pleasing, that doesn't necessarily mean a "fancy fly". A gold ribbed hare's ear, well tied, should be "rough looking". Flymphs should also be rough and buggy looking. A partridge and orange is a simple fly. All, however, when tied well, are "pretty". A Royal Coachman, also a very good fish catcher, is much "fancier" than any of the others, but not necessarily more "aesthetically pleasing". Some things appeal because of their elegant simplicity, others because of their complexity.
Some find enjoyment from using as simple and as modest an outfit as they can. Others enjoy the high end of the options. In the end, we all enjoy our time on the water or at the vice for our own reasons. We may not even fully understand why we enjoy it, but we do.
- Jeff
Am fear a chailleas a chanain caillidh e a shaoghal. -
He who loses his language loses his world.
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