All of us from time to time manage to tie a fly that even we just can not place into our fly boxes.
Some days we just are not going to turn out a great fly, but, we don't really need to throw them
away either.
Often times our marginal flies will take fish as well and perhaps better than our best ones. This
is particularly true when a hatch is really heavy, and many offerings are competing for the fish's
attention. During these times the fly with a bent or improperly tied wing may well be taken as a
cripple by the fish, thus getting the attention that 95% of the naturals may never receive.
Have you ever seen it recommended that you intentionally tie in the wings so that the fly lands
upon the water with one sticking straight up, while the other actually rests in the surface film?
The object here is to make the fly look vulnerable, just like many of the naturals, which have
not fully or properly emerged.
So, as we see, sometimes we need not be too terribly hard on ourselves when we do a bad job with a fly.
There are however occasions when we just can not seem to get a fly even close. There are the
times when a component comes un-raveled, and just can not be salvaged. Often we just toss
these into the trash can and start anew with another attempt.
In the beginning many, many rejects hit the trash can here. But, then came the time when it dawned
on me that I had thrown away more than a full box of hooks over a fairly short period of time. At ten
cents or more each that was more than ten dollars. Too much to be throwing away!
Deane Orr at the Fish In at State College regaled several attendees with his tales of bad flies and
Bernz-O-Matics. One can only imagine the scene. It seems he took some joy in incinerating the
offending pile of feather and fur right there in the vice.
At the end of the season when it comes time to be indoors through the long cold nights of winter,
we often tie flies. Sometimes we feel like doing something mundane, but related none the less to
fishing. Like stripping our lines from the reels etc.
Each time you tie a bad fly, remove it from the vice and put it into a container to be dealt with later.
By the time winter arrives, you will have a few of them saved up.
Now, when you want to do something related to fishing, without the level of concentration
necessary to tie, put them back into the vice. Carefully with a single edge razor blade or a very
sharp knife "fillet" the material from the hook and place it back into the hook box.
Besides recouping your money you will also learn a lot about how well your flies are constructed
at the same time.
If you have any tips or techniques, send them along, most of this
material has been stolen from somebody, might as well steal your ideas
too! ~ George E. Emanuel
(Chat Room Host Muddler)
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