A Fly Why ?

[Buddy Sanders]

I only fish with flies that I tie.

But if I 'bought' flies, I'd buy the cheapest ones I could find.

I disagree that the 'quality' tied flies are any 'better' for the purpose intended, the catching of the fish, than the 'cheap' ones. In fact,
I've seen lots of 'custom' or 'locally tied' flies that are no better, often obviously worse, in their construction than flies tied in mass from overseas. I firmly beleive that the best spinner of deer hair bugs in the world is probably a lady in Asia someplace, and so are the top one hundred behind her. Same with all the 'standard' patterns. Cheaper doesn't always mean 'inferior'.

Flies should be readily expendable. Like bait. Throw them where the fish are. Get them stuck. Break them off, tie on a new one. I'd not want to disturb a fishing area to 'get back' a snagged fly. It's much easier to have that attitude about a $.99 fly than a $3 fly, at least for me.

All a fly has to do is be struck by the fish. Getting the fish to do that is less about the fly itself and more about the skill of the person presenting it.

I may be missing Andy's point though. If this is about dealing with overseas/cheaper competition in the fly production business, that's an easy fix. Too long to explain here though, but many of us have to deal with such things in our business, and there is way to deal with it.

Good Luck!

Buddy

[Nighthawk]

Ugly self tied fly that caught three rainbows ( stockers) half a dozen blue gills and one 10 inch large mouth bass. The bass tore it up bad. If you think that spending piles of money on gear and flies that are peices of art then hey go ahead. It's your money. P.T. Barnum would have liked us both.

[Uncle Jesse]

Why is it that a person will buy an expensive rod, reel, fly line and leaders and tippet material and scrimp or do not care on the part of the whole outfit the catches the fish (The FLY)?

I cannot answer this question becasue my philosophy is that a well constructed fly that looks like a work of art should be fished on your outfit. Not some $0.99 fly that was found by uncle cheach at the blueberry fly website..

As many of our fellow fishermen have pointed out we fish flies we have tyed ourselves. Few of us are confident enough in our abilities to consider our work as true art, but we will let the fish judge them as the fish see fit. While we may spent more money than a non-fisherman thinks makes sense on tackle, that tackle is something we intend to use many times in the future. Flies we hope to use several times but know all are potentially disposable and almost all are eventually disposable. Dry flies are the only patterns I do not expect to eventually end up on a log in the bottom of the river, and there are always tree limbs reaching for them.

[rainbowchaser]

For fishing flies I like to think that mine show a reasonable level of craftsmanship but art is too strong a word for something cranked out by the dozen in a matter of a few minutes each. If I tie one that I don't like it may very well stay in the fly box a long time even though I'll happily fish one just like it that was torn up by a fish. When doing gift flies or swap flies I'm a bit pickier and I know that what I have learned from tying those flies has carried over to my regular tying.

[EdD]

In my case it is because that fly is going to be hanging in a tree VERY SOON!

<ding><ding><ding><ding><ding><ding><ding>
We have a winner!

I've never left a rod, reel, or line (other than leader) in a tree. I can't tell you how many flies I've left. Why "Charlie" on the Duck River alone held so many of my flies that it ended up falling into the river in the next, big rain. Just ask Jack Hise.

Ed

[shortcaster]

We're not 'cheap'. We're 'frugal'!
Part of the game, for me, is to find serviceable equipment at a reasonable price. Being on a so called fixed income The option of being extravagent is not there any more.

[PA Dave]

We're not 'cheap'. We're 'frugal'!
Part of the game, for me, is to find serviceable equipment at a reasonable price. Being on a so called fixed income The option of being extravagent is not there any more.

I think that this is something that is easily overlooked in the glare of all the high-end equipment that is available...you don't need it to enjoy fly fishing. Certainly, it adds something very real to the sport for many, and more power to them, but the secret is that you can fly fish on a budget quite nicely.

[RonT]

I've said on more than one occasion..."if I tie a (dry) fly for you, it will have wings...if I tie a fly for myself, it won't". The top view of the fly catches the fisherman the bottom view catches the fish.
IMHO, it's good practice to hold a potential purchase (or fresh tie) up to the light and see how the profile compares to what you think the fish sees.

cheers,
R

[TyroneFly]

We have to draw the line on our spending somewhere.

I generally tie my own flies and while I don't consider mine works of art, the fish seem to like them enough to strike.

[seafoam]

I've a friend who is well in his 80's and fishes less every year,
sadly and I think his favorite story is about the time his brother (who tied flys while my friend didn't) threw away a fly that didn't " swim" right. Ed picked it up and later that PM got the fish of the day on it. Like RonT I sometimes skip a step and don't hear many complaints.
Peter