FLY TYING
When the days begin to grow short my thoughts turn toward tying flies. After nearly a half of a century of fly fishing and fly tying I hardly need to add to my personal collection of flies, but I always see some new pattern or a variation on some old pattern that I would like to add to my collection. In the last couple winters I have not had an opportunity to set down at the bench for more than a few minutes, but I still enjoy creating things out of fur and feathers.
My love of fly tying goes back to my earliest days as a fly fisher. Like most beginning fly flingers I bought flies when I first started fly fishing, but soon my more frugal side convinced me that I could tie flies cheaper than I could buy them. [First result of wrongheaded thinking] In addition, I could tie flies that were more like the naturals that I was seeing. How hard could that be? Well, several thousands of dollars later, more fly tying stuff than I could possibly use in two lifetimes, fly boxes stuffed with more flies than any one man could ever use, I think I have learned a few valuable lessons that may be of value to anyone thinking of taking up the hobby of fly tying.
First, fly tying is an enjoyable hobby. Tying your own flies adds a special dimension to the total fly fishing experience, and it does allow you to experiment with creating your own patterns that are more suited to your own special angling situations. However, unless you are prepared to confine your fly tying to a relatively small number of patterns using a limit number of materials it is unlikely that you will save money by tying your own flies.
The first thing that a beginning fly tier needs is tools. The number one tool is a vice. My first good vice was a Thompson A, but over the years I have used a number of vices but for many years my workhorse vice has been an Inex Regal that I bought when they first came on the market. For most of my fly tying it has proved adequate. For flies smaller than 22’s I have some small jaws that I picked up many years ago. They are really a small vice head that I can clamp in my Regal vice jaws and they allow me to tie flies down to size 28.
While I have found the Regal adequate for my use there are many excellent vices available. For the beginning fly tier I believe that the Thompson A Vice is hard to beat. I still have my original Thompson A vice and it works as well today as it did the day I first started using it. It will handle a variety of hooks, it’s reasonably priced, and there are different jaws that will allow the user to tie small flies and large salt water flies.
A pair of quality fly tying scissors is the next most important fly tying tool on the fly tiers bench. This is one piece of fly tying equipment that where you should not skimp on quality. A good pair of fly tying scissors should be made of quality steel and the blades should taper to a fine point. Most fly tiers will have two or more pairs of scissors to handle the various materials used for tying flies. You should have one pair that is used only for trimming hackle, cutting fly tying thread and other delicate tasks and one more substantial model for cutting wire, tinsel and similar materials.
Once a vice and fly tying scissors have been selected there a few other tools that the fly tier needs. Most fly tiers use a bobbin to hold their fly tying thread. When I started tying flies I learned to tie flies without a bobbin. I hung a pair of hackle pliers on my fly tying thread when I needed to allow the thread to hang. A bobbin makes handling the fly tying thread much easier. The Rite™ Bobbin is a quality bobbin. You can check them out at https://www.ritebobbin.com.
There are many other tools that a fly tier can add to their collection, but for a number of years my only tools consisted of a couple pairs of hackle pliers, fly tying scissors, and a bodkin. I think that the beginning fly tier should learn to tie flies with as few tools as necessary. Each tool you add to your collection means learning how to use that tool, and the beginning fly tier has enough to learn without the added learning that is necessary when using a new tool. With a quality vice, a good pair of scissors, a bobbin, hackle pliers and a bodkin I can tie any type of fly that I need for my fishing.
The big downfall for most fly tiers is not equipment but materials, and I speak from experience. There was a time when all my “fly tying stuff” would fit in a shoe box. Then the shoe box became a fly tying chest that was about 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high. That contained the stuff I needed to tie flies when I was traveling and when I was teaching fly tying. [Yes, by that time I had graduated to tying and teaching] The rest of my fly tying material was stored in a variety of places, each one abounding with moth balls. Currently my fly tying material resides in two cabinets, a fly tying desk, a foot locker, and a large collection of plastic bins. I have a catalogue of my fly tying material so that I know where each item is located. In addition, I have a rather voluminous collection of fly tying books that take up several shelves in my fly tying library.
It may be impossible for the beginner to keep their material acquisition desires in check. There are so many kinds of materials that we seem to need. There are feathers – oh there are feathers. Then there are yarns, dubbings, tinsels, wires, threads, and a plethora of other things that one can wrap on a hook. And yes, there are hooks – standard dry fly hooks, streamer hooks, short shanked, long shanked, barbless, fine and stout, short and long. My best advice for the beginning fly tier is to go slowly. Only purchase the material that you need for the type of flies that you normally use where you do most of your fishing. It makes little sense to buy material for tying salt water flies if you do most of your fishing in a farm pond in Iowa. Even if you plan to fish the salt “someday,” if that salt water fishing adventure is only a onetime thing it will be cheaper and probably more productive to buy your flies from a local fly tier or fly shop than to buy the material and tie your own for a one time trip.
Once you have assembled all your tools and materials it’s time to actually tie some flies. If you are fortunate enough to live near someone that ties flies they may be willing to teach you. When I started to learn how to tie flies I did not have that luxury so I purchased a book – a book by Helen Shaw that had step by step black and white photographs that illustrated the various fly tying techniques. Today there are many sources of fly tying information and you will find many excellent “how-to” articles on FAOL in the archives. There are many videos on “You Tube” that illustrate all aspects of fly tying plus the many excellent books that are available. [See the sponsor of the week article this week on Amato Press]
As any fly tier will tell you it’s a kick to catch a fish on a fly that you have tied yourself. Fly tying is a lifetime hobby that is not only fun but practical. You can tie your own flies to fit your style of fishing and the places that you fish. If you’re like most of us it will not save you any money but it will enhance your enjoyment of sport. Enjoy.