A lot of the posts on the BB got me to thinking about when I first started to tie flies. Now I am by no means a good tier, in fact I am not even what you would call fair but I tie so therefore I am. I really enjoy it. People at work ask me about tying as do my boys. All this combined got me to thinking and if I am wrong here all of you good tiers correct me please. When I first started to tie my flies looked really bad. I went up fishing with a friend of mine to one of the local lakes and there was a guy by looks ( he had all the right gear) fly fishing. Got to talking about what they were hitting on and tyieng. He looked at my flies and made it a point in a very very polite way to tell me all my errors. He was nice about it not trying to be mean or anything like I sad they looked very bad. He did say you will not catch anything on them here are a couple they are hitting on that you have there but this is how they are supposed to look. Use one for fishing and the other for a patern so you can tie them right. Went out in the tubes with this guy aqnd started catching fish right away. When I had caught about 10 to his one he said hey give me back my fly. I did. It was not on my leader it was in my box. I gave him back both flies he had given me. my ugly fly was catching fish and what a rush that was.
When I asked my boys why they didn't tie they said " I am a perfectionist and mine don't come out perfect" Now my tip and what this story is about. THE PERFECT FLY IS THE ONE THE FISH ARE HITTING ON!
Take your time tying and do your best. Try them out on the fish if they like them hey it is a perfect fly. Talk to other tiers refer to this site for info and instructions next thing you know you will be tyieng like a old pro. Most important if you like it don't give up. Join some swaps they are fun and test your abilities. Just my 2 cents and hope I did not offend anyone.