Even though flies are mass produced, they are not
assembly line products like cars where a given person
has responsibility for just one component. Fly tiers
have no one to blame but themselves if their product
is inferior since every step of the finished fly is
completed by the same person. When you get right down
to it, the quality of every fly is determined by just
two factors: the materials used in the fly and the manner
in which they are attached. What else is there? The tier
truly has total control over his work yet inferior flies
continue to be pushed onto the market. The reasons for
cheap flies are many: scrimping on quality materials to
lower cost, cutting corners in construction to reduce the
time it takes to tie each fly, practicing improper tying
techniques for lack of knowing there is a better way, and
a lack of understanding about what the fly represents and
how it should perform which leads to flies which don’t
function as they were designed.
Fly quality is obviously not regulated by an independent agency;
hence, the only oversight of the product reaching the market is
the fly tier or the owner of the business. I believe quality
control should be top priority in the fly business. Not everyone
agrees with me as evidenced by the flies being peddled today.
Years ago, few industry professionals would argue that the very
best quality control, and therefore the best flies, came from
the English speaking countries. Flies tied in Taiwan or Hong
Kong were generally dismissed as cheap imitations suitable for
kids and others that knew nothing of the proper proportions and
materials that the fly originators intended. All that is changing
now.
Today there are some excellent flies being imported from far
away places even though junk still finds its way here as well.
I believe some of the American fly companies which have overseas
factories have much tighter quality control than many products
created by American tiers. Commercial flies are brought in from
Mexico, China, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Taiwan, Sri
Lanka, and other exotic places. The cost of human labor is the
greatest factor in fly expense and labor costs outside the U.S.
are a fraction of what they are here. With a host of tiers
trained in the same specific techniques and all using identical
materials, a quality product which remains consistent over
thousands of dozens of flies can be maintained. My first
exposure to this mass production technique came from watching
Dan Bailey’s girls tie at his shop in Montana. I was a young
kid visiting Montana (and assumed I was in heaven) when I got
to visit Dan’s famed shop as a side trip to Yellowstone Park.
Bailey’s Wall of Fame with all its magnificent trout, to me,
was like a hallowed religious shrine to which a fly fisher
paid homage. I’d never seen a woman tie flies before; I was
naive and childish to think back then that flies had to be
tied by fishermen. Helen Shaw not withstanding, I was caught
off guard to see rows of tables and hundreds of dozens of flies
being produced at a rapid pace by these skilled ladies. I remember
wondering to myself whether any of them had ever been fishing or
had the slightest idea what their creations represented.
Discerning fly quality can be a little like looking at a group
of people and deciding who is fit. There are a number of outward
appearances or signs that give clues as to how well the tier did
his or her job. But you must first know what to look for and
understand what the fly originator intended for a particular
pattern. Just as an example, patterns which simulate a mayfly
dun (the adult floating stage) should look just like the real
mayfly dun when it rides or sits on the water surface. Mayflies
are delicate, fairly thin creatures with long legs, wings and
tails. The famed Catskill (NY) style of dry fly dressing paid
particular attention to sparseness of materials, proper color
match of body, tail, wing and hackle, and fly part proportions
that allowed the fly to rest at an angle resembling that of the
mayfly dun. Unfortunately, you can walk into a tackle shop almost
anywhere today and pick up a mayfly imitation, the Blue Dun for
example, which sports a bright blue body, large thick clump of
a tail which is too short, hackle which is too thick and too
long for the hook size, wings nothing like the original is
supposed to have and a thick black thread head. Is this really
a Blue Dun? Are you able to recognize the reasons why this dry
fly can retail for less than a dollar?
Here are some of the clues or things one looks at to discern fly
quality. Since every pattern has unique material combinations or
tying techniques it’s a little dangerous to generalize but I will
attempt to point out what I believe are the key indicators of
quality:
Use of proper materials given the fly pattern. Flies can be tied
successfully out of many, many different tying materials, but each
pattern’s dressing calls for a material which will aid in that
pattern’s effectiveness. For example: the body of an Adams dry
fly is supposed to be tied with dubbed muskrat fur. Many cheap
fly imitations substitute gray wool yarn on the Adams’ body
because it’s less expensive and faster to tie in. There are
at least three problems with this substitution. Most gray yarns
aren’t the correct color (muskrat gray has a blue tint to it),
yarn bodies generally end up being too thick and bulky by the
time one ties in and off the yarn, and finally, dry fly bodies
should be dubbed with the fur of a water animal (there are natural
oils in the fur which repel water and help to float the fly better.)
Fur of beaver, otter, muskrat, nutria, etc is preferable to that
of land animals like sheep (wool), fox, coyote, etc which tend
to hold moisture.Use of high quality hackle. One of the most telling signs of
quality in a dry fly is the type of hackle used including the
tail and wing material. High quality genetic dry fly necks are
many times the cost of a cheap imported or domestic cape. Quality
hackle is very stiff with a minimum of web on the barbs and each
feather is very long with a soft quill when compared with the
imported necks so often used in lesser quality flies. Good hackle
means a fly will float higher, repel water better, last longer
and contain less bulk than a fly which sports a poor quality
hackle. Genetic hackle costs more, but all the best flies today
incorporate their use.Materials which are not compromised because of cost or availability.
High quality peacock herl is called for in many fly patterns but
finding good herl is becoming more and more difficult. Did the
tier use the hard-to-find herl with long thick fibers or just
make do with the usual short fibered variety that most retailers
stock? What about the hook brand? Was the hook a quality imported
version like Daiichi or Tiemco or was a much less expensive version
substituted? How about the quality of the marabou, the quill
section, or the stacked deer or elk hair? Nearly every natural
material used in fly manufacture comes in various grades of
quality although often the price is the same across the spectrum.
Ask the question: did the tyer of this fly go out of his way to
make sure he incorporated the best materials available?Fly proportion is extremely important. Maybe the easiest way
to tell a cheap fly is to recognize that it’s proportions are
wrong. Experienced fly tiers and fishermen can instantly tell
if a hackle is too long for the hook size, or a body is to large
or a tail too short. The poor fly not only looks wrong, but it’s
effectiveness will be severely hampered because it’s function
will suffer as a result. Dry flies with improper proportions
will not float well or with the right attitude on the water.
Does your fly often land on it’s head with the tail sticking
straight up toward the sky? Wet flies, nymphs, and streamers
of poor proportion will look all wrong for the creature they’re
imitating and will probably not swim properly under the surface.
Proportion is very, very critical to fly “fishability” and has
to be correct. [For a visual representation of proportion, please
refer to this Steves’s site section entitled
“The Perfect Fly.”]Notice how the fly is tied off. It’s surprising what clues the
fly head can give away about the tier of the pattern. Large bulky
heads, especially on dry flies and nymphs, signal one of several
things, all bad: the fly components were crowded at the head
meaning the proportions are wrong, the tier tried to cover up
a mistake with lots of thread, the tier broke his thread and
tied off the mistake then started over and had to tie off a
second time, or too large a diameter thread was used adding
extra bulk to the fly. Also check the head to see if it was
cemented (a step that is sometimes avoided to save time.) Is
the cement haphazardously slopped on the hackle too or does
it plug the hook eye? The best tiers are very careful, detail
oriented, and aware of the little steps which add to a flies’
attractiveness.Look for extreme consistency among both patterns and sizes.
Look at all the fly bins in a store which contain a particular
pattern, say a Royal Wulff. Are the materials used in each size
the same? Do all the different flies, say from sizes 8-18, look
identical except for their size? They should be. Avoid flies
where the size of the #12, #14, and #16 patterns are all the
same except that the hook size is different. Finally, look at
all the flies in one bin. Are they hard to tell apart? If you
don’t see any variation in color, size or pattern, chances are
the tier was a good one.Pay particular attention to the smallest sizes of each pattern.
Tying errors and shortcuts are most noticeable in the tiny sizes.
It’s harder to tie a proper size 20 fly than the same pattern in
a size 12. Small fly hackle is harder to find and most tyer’s
fingers aren’t as nimble around the smaller flies. Does quality
drop off as the fly size decreases? Often cover-ups of mistakes
are more glaring the smaller the fly size.Can you tell that there is minimal use of dyed materials? Trout
flies of quality will have very few, if any, dyed materials used
in their construction. Poor quality flies will often exhibit
colors which don’t naturally occur in nature (bright blues,
red, yellows and greens.) Dyes are tricky to work with (to
obtain correct colors) and were seldom used by the original
pattern developers. A good example is blue dun hackle. A good
dun neck is quite expensive and hard to find (except in the
genetic version) so a white cape is often dyed dun color as
a substitute. The trouble is, white capes are generally of
poor quality and most dyeing jobs will not look like the
natural. Quality flies don’t generally incorporate substitute
materials.Look closely at deer, elk and moose hair components. Quality
flies which have wings or tails of hair should exhibit no fuzz
undergrowth, no bent, errant, or cut off hair, and a length
which ends in the tips of every hair being equal. Stacked and
trimmed hair (for example, the body of an Irresistible or the
head of a Muddler) should be dense, tightly compacted and
trimmed to a proper round or oval shape. It is easy to tell
a good hair fly from a poor one as the quality patterns will
show an attention to detail that the poor ones bypass.Trimmed hackle, wings or tail. I almost hesitate to include
this clue as it is so obvious to the observer that it goes
without saying; yet I am amazed at the frequency with which
trimmed hackle appears on trout flies. Rather than choosing
the proper size of hackle or the correct fiber length for
ings or tails, some tiers just snip off the fibers in an
effort to achieve correct length. Avoid any pattern which
has clipped hackle rather than the natural fiber tips.This may sound weird, but look closely at the method of
display given to the flies. Shops that stock the high end
flies are usually careful about how they are presented. The
concept is similar to the idea that an expensive painting
is rarely displayed in a cheap frame. Is the retailer proud
of his product and concerned about it’s appearance? Or is
the fly display dusty, falling apart, or poorly labeled so
that specific patterns are difficult to find? Are there
multiple patterns in a single bin suggesting that it has
been awhile since the retailer cleaned house? What if you’re
looking for flies on the internet? I would look at the web
site. Is it easy to navigate? Are there photos of the flies
so that you can get some idea of quality, or are there just
fly pattern names (which tell you nothing about the quality
of the product)? Does the owner pay attention to detail and
customer service? If not, his flies will most likely reflect
the same careless attitude. Look around . . . you’ll soon
find it’s easy to spot quality. ~ David BrownePublishers Note:
Discerning Fly Quality, might easily be combined with another article
on David’s website section which surveys some of the mistakes tiers
make which lowers the quality of their product.
[See Steve’s website
for additional article(s).]
Originally published January 28th, 2002 on Fly Anglers Online by David Browne.