I have recently undertaken the construction of a few projects that are a bit out of my normal range of stuff. Most recently it has been to make some fly tying step-by-step videos. I have my first one finished and would like to know what you all think as this is only the first of a long list of flies I am supposed to make videos of. So let me know and you don’t have to say this is great as I know it isn’t I think it’s ok and have a few ideas of my own… just don’t make me cry please.
By the way the fly is called a Headstand and is my absolute go to fly for carp and in many situations it can be an absolute killer for gills and crappie. I tie it in sizes 12-2 and in ever color combination I can find dubbing for. Sorry I posted and gave you a cool fly and no info on the fly itself just ranting about the video… my bad
I think it would be better to show the recipe at the beginning, and at the end. Also, it would help ( me ) if you took a couple seconds to show the dubbing packaging more clearly, and the “source” of the rubber legs.
Do you recommend using a scissors to cut your wire / lead ?? If not, and most don’t, I wouldn’t use it for that purpose in the presentation.
Speaking of presentaton - how about a few words about when, where, and how you fish this fly ??
Steve,
I think you did a good job. Your audio is nice and clear, easy to understand. Nine minutes stretches my patience a bit, but for a new fly I can stay that long. I agree with John, I like to see the recipe at the start. Then it wouldn’t be necessary to flash the dubbing package, you could just say, “Olive Hareline Dubbing”.
The white tee shirt makes a good back drop, focus good, interesting fly. Good job.
Rex
Thanks for the ideas there guys… as far as the dubbing goes I really hate to say “use this one specific dubbing” it just breaks a lot of my own rules that say use what you want. Now as for a reference that particular fly is tied with hareline caddis green and hare-tron ginger #18. The rubber legs are spinnerbait skirt, silicone skirt layer, or square rubber whatever it is that you call it but I also agree that yes I should have gone into a bit more detail with that. I was also trying to work on the time constraint… my first video was over 17 minutes and thatreally not going to work. As far as when and where to fish it I really like throw it up in the s#@t give it a couple twitches and et it back out for big gills and crappie, because it will stand on it’s head it doesn’t snag to easily. When fishing carp we’ll find them cruising the flats and twitcch this right in front of their face and they can never resist, we’ve taken carp in excess of 15lbs with this fly.
I enjoyed your video well enough to watch it twice and I will whip up a couple of Headstands right after I finish this post since I fish for brim all the time. I would actually rate your filming as very good and your vocal as excellent. You did ask for constructive criticism. (1) When you were tying on the eyes on your fingers were in the way much of the time. It didn’t bother me because I use bead chain eyes all the time but for a newbie, it would look like some magic process going on behind the magic curtain (fingers) and suddenly the eyes are in place. (2) Hold up your packets of material longer so that the viewer can read the vital information such as brand name and color or don’t show them at all. It’s frustrating to have them fly by at the speed of an F-18 with full after-burners. I wouldn’t worry about the length of the video. Nine minutes may bother some experienced tyers but the new tyer needs a slow step by step video.
I was somewhat surprised when you mentioned that the fly didn’t hold together well. This should be one tough fly even with the damage that brim can inflict. I would suggest that you might want to Zap-A-Gap or epoxy your beadchain eyes, bind your lead wrap down securely with tying thread and roll your dubbing more tightly on your thread (an then pick it out to make it buggy). Also, as you suggest, counter-wrap the hackle. The fly should still be fishable in the year 2525.
Thanks for the video Steve. I did enjoy it very much. 8T
When I said it falls apart I should have added the fact that it is usually after 30+ fish… most often I tend to snag it up and break it off first. and thanks for the thoughts that is exactly why I made this post.
I suspected that you were referring to heavy use before the fly came apart. I would still recommend Zap-A-Gap on the eyes and binding your lead wire with thread. I tie a very similar fly for some brim/crappie fishermen and they refer to my flies “as the good ones” because they hold together so well. At $ 1.50 a fly, I want to keep them happy. As I said on the previous post, nice job on the video. 8T
You do a very good job with the instruction. The comments by the others pretty much cover the tying aspects. From a production standpoint, you need to work on your lighting. There are quite a few shadows as you are tying and some softer lighting would help that. Also, the color is a little shifted and I can tell you’re using a fluorescent light source. I would suggest using a tan or light blue shirt to avoid the camera trying to white balance against a white t-shirt.
You might consider starting the beginning with an introduction of yourself and the fly, showing a finished version so we know where you’re going. You could also talk briefly about the materials there.Then zoom in on the tying part. Take a look at videos by TopFlyMan on YouTube to see what I mean.
Lastly, you should make the video more ‘findable’ on YouTube by adding something to the title like “Tying the Handstand Fly” or something similar. Make sure you include in your key works fly tying. You got fly covered but not tying. Many people will search on this specific term.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to more videos. I’m subscribing today (I’m FlyFishVideo on YouTube)
Nice job, Steve!
I agree with Rex that a white shirt might help with the background and 8T about your fingers. Other than that, maybe a little bit more lighting and maybe move the camera in just a bit closer.
I liked it! Good job!
Joe
Excellent video–well presented, The only thing I would do is have a brighter light to show more detail. I had difficulty seeing the dark fly when your beard was the background. Looking forward to more of your videos, I do find them helpful as I am a new tier.
Richard
As for the lighting I tied this one sitting in my living room with no other light source that the cfls in the ceiling fan and had my entire set up on a tv dinner tray (kinda kills it for ya huh). I have a new set up at my desk with a background built to sit on my side of the vise so that you cannot see me at all and I have a huge Ott Light on my desk for lighting. I really would have liked to talk about the fly more but this was my fourth attempt at this video and I still had to edit this one for time I took out a short section with more detail about the materials from the ending of the video. I really apppreciate all the thoughts ideas and comments on this it makes me feel like I reallly didn’t miss much on my first go round and all of the things you guys have said I honestly was working on a fix for… so I feeel much better about myself now thanks to you all and if anyone else has anything let me know please.
I wouldn’t worry about the length (other than keeping it under the 10 minute YouTube length). A fly you can tie in 4-5 minutes takes at least twice that time to teach. The videos are teaching tools, not a demonstration of your ability to tie flies quickly. Take a look at videos by AK Best and others. They take longer than 10 minutes per fly because they do an excellent job of explaining the steps and materials.
Editing is key. One place you could have shortened it if needed was during the dubbing section. Sometimes you’ll find you’re looking for seconds just to keep the video under 10 minutes. Edit out the redundant material and keep the critical stuff. Great start and I look forward to more in your new location.\
I’ll echo what Tex said…edit out most of the dubbing sequence…you could also skip most of the tying in the bead chain…not so much to save time, but to keep your viewers interested…after the first few wraps of thread, it’s pretty clear what you are doing there, no ned for us to see you do it ‘all’.
Like you, I don’t think it maters which dubbing you use, either.
As others said, the recipe and a finished fly ‘first’ would be helpful…
I’d also advise against any ‘who I am’ or such…I know that when I look at a fly tying video like this, I’m there for the fly…I could care less who’s tying it or what motivates him/her. Use that time, if you feel like it, to give some fishing the fly tips…more helpful, at least to me.
I had no problems with the lighting or video quality…I could see plainly what you were doing and, best of all, you told ‘why’ you were doing it (many fly videos show steps without telling you why they are doing them).
Nice job, Steve!
I agree with most of the others about the recipe and the lighting, but it sounds like you’ll have the lighting corrected in your next one.
As far as the editing comments, I think you need to decide what level of tier you’re targeting. If it is the advanced tier, then you could begin with the bead eyes already attached to the hook and just say that step has been done, and then edit out most of the dubbing. However, if you are targeting the beginner then I don’t think you should edit out anything. Showing how to attach the eyes and how to dub would be important steps to the beginner. Speed up your process a bit, but if the beginner is who you’re going after then leave out nothing.
Joe
I agree with most of the comments. I also really like that pattern.
I also like the idea of naming the video with the words tying and fly in the title. I went to the related contedt, hoping to find more fly tying stuff, and all I found were Yoga videos. I should be out of traction in a week, but the Doctors say I’ll never be quite the same again.
Serously, I like the general feel of the video, but I agree it could be helped a bit with some editing. I think you do a really nice job of keeping the boring repetitive parts of the fly (Dubbing) interesting by talking about materials, what you like about the fly, and explaining your reasons for tying it the way you do. You have a fly that you could tie in about 5 minutes, but you have ten minutes worth of information, tips and tricks to give the viewer. You do a great job of keeping it interesting and informative.
One thing that might help a bit would be tipping the fly towards the viewer a couple of times. (Just by rotating the vise) You do this a bit, but sometimes the perfect side view prevents the watcher from seeing exactly what is going on. (The ginger dubbing going on over the eyes is a good example)
These are minor details, though. Overall, it is far better than most of the non-professional videos, and even some of the professional instruction out there. I will tie a few of these up as soon as I am done with my swaps. I will also keep my eyes open for any other videos you produce.
Thanks for that one Dave I never really thought about the turning the fly towards the camera but will for sure keep that in mind for the next one (hopefully next week now that my mom finished sewing up my new backdrop… since the wife messed up the first two). Again thanks to all that have beeen helping me progress with this I am really excited to do this next fly (spudler grub) which is a hybrid creation of my own.
As for the adding to the search criteria… I’ve updated it about 4-5 times now and I really don’t know what to say it still doesn’t work quite right so hopefully we’ll do better on the next one
Dave I’m very sorry to hear about your yoga mishap and I reallly hope all works out in the end for you but if not let me know and I’ll give you my addy so you can send me your fly tying and fishing stuff, stricktly for storage purposes that is…
