Do you keep it until it simply doesn’t float or do you try and use new ones every outing. I am almost embarrassed how old some of my flies are yet I continue to keep tying.
I use mine until they are so worn, beaten up and or cracked that they do not perform anymore. If you use a double taper you can turn the line around once the front part gets too worn and use the back part. Kind of like doubling the life of the line.
I try to take care of my lines and I have lines that have lasted for years. No I do not switch to a new line for every outing or waters I fish. I switch according to how I want to present the fly and what type of fishing I am doing.
If you’re talking about flys I use them until they fall apart then I strip the remaining stuff off the hook and build another.
If you’re talking about fly line I’ll have to let you know when I change it out. I’ve been using the same one for years now. I clean and dress it before and after the season and every couple of weeks during. When cleaning I inspect it and it has not let me down yet.
Assuming you are talking about flies and not fly lines, I do not change a fly on a particular outing unless it just unravels totally or won’t float. If it keeps getting hammered I hate to lose the “Mojo” it has. Probably wouldn’t use it on the next outing though. If you have a good quality fly a little of a “disheveled” look doesn’t hurt it, most insects that get ate don’t look perfect either!
Sorry, thought you asked about fly line!
I usually end up breaking flies off in trees before they get to the point of being destroyed. However on the times when the fish are hammering hard at the local still waters I use the fly until they don’t hit on it anymore. Then I put the remains of it in my chest box for recycling at the tying bench.
I will change patterns until I find the one they want to bite on.
I don’t think I have ever worn a fly out. I lose them first. :lol:
when it unravels then i recycle it.
I use them until the fish won’t eat them any more. Some flies, especially small CDC ones, are on for one cast (provided I am so good at that particular instant that a fish eats the fly on that cast), then I clip em off, put em aside to dry, and replace them. Sometimes I use one fly for days, especially for bluegill or small trout in lakes, when I troll buggers behind the toon.
But at some point, the fly is dead, and must be treated accordingly.
I usually keep and re-fish flies, until they are comming apart. You know, if the hackle has been bitten through and it’s unwinding, or sticking out from under the ribbing, or the tail or wing is a shambles and falling out, the fly gets replaced and the hook recovered for a new version. More “fuzzed up” dubbed bodies are ok, and often work better. Mind you, like others have mentioned, I usually end up losing the fly before it gets to this.
- Jeff
Since I tie more than I fish I guess I haven’t gotten to that point but I recycle if the hook is still usable. Some are decorating trees around Arizona. lol.
I use them until they fall apart, (often before the first fish)
or
When I look into my box and say to myself, “what was I thinking, I can tie better flies than that”. They then go back for hook recycle and starting over.
store bought flies stay until lost or destroyed.
Eric
I usually double whip finish and head cement the flies I tie, so I generally lose them before they fall apart unless I happen to be having a good day and they get hammered. the store boughts usually don’t last as long. In either case, when they unravel, I stick em back in the fly box. When I get home I strip the old stuff off with a razor knife and drop em in a little plastic tub (with a lid). every now and then I open up that box and tie up some new flies.
D
If they don’t get caught in trees, bushes, or snags underwater… or broke off on Jaws… then I fish them until they’re no longer working as intended. Whether that be falling apart or torn to pieces. I have saved a few flies that I have caught many fish on and are too beat up to continue fishing. I plan on putting them all in a particular hat once I get it to the same point as the flies and hanging it by my tying bench. “Wounded in battle”
Hey DC, how are you doing?
Some of my ties get retired very quickly, while they’re still in excellent shape. If a fly for one reason or another exhibits some attribute that makes it perform better than it’s counterparts, it’ll get replaced before it gets lost or chewed beyond recognition. Those flies will end up on a patterns master board near the bench.
Flies that have been fished for a short period, get a sound going over, preening to shape and their hooks touched up with hone if necessary before being placed on the drying patch.
I fish a lot of nymphs, crustaceans and streamers in deep often turbid waters laced with plenty of fly, sometimes leader and line eating cover. I also fish year round and often, for a wide variety of species. The life expectancy of most of my ties that see action, I’d have to say would be measured in hours. If they made it through more than a couple of days without being lost or chewed n’ spewed, the fishing would have to be very, very slow.
Best, Dave
Geeze, I must be the laziest fly fisherman around.
I probably waste more flies than most folks tie.
I tie the fly onto the tippet. I fish it until it stops catching fish.
If I change flies, I generally either put the fly on a magnetic fly holder if I’m in the boat, or slip it into the bottom of a fly vest pocket if I’m fishing on foot.
The vast majority of my trout flies are ‘one use’. While it would be nice to think that I’d collect them up from where I put them and replace them into the fly boxes, it just doesn’t happen.
Every couple of months I’ll grab the handful of flies stuck the magnets on the boat gunnels and toss them out. Every year or so, when the amount begins to interfere wth fly boxes fiting into the pocket, I dump the old flies out of the vest and put them on the tying table. The intention is to refresh/recycle/or at least save the hook. That pile now has several hundred flies in it.
I do take more care with bass flies like poppers and spun deer hair, probably because of the time they take to produce. Still manage to waste a few of those each year too.
I guess I’m lucky I tie so darn many flies.
Buddy
I try to get 1 good day per fly…this means about 10hrs in the sun with or without catching fish but once tied on and cut off it rarely gets a 2nd try…I spend about 45 minutes per fly and have dozens that I give away to whoever wants them locally…usually there is a guy that recycles the hooks on some of them and the lead as well…probably many flys would still work but to me they must be the best you can offer…when your entire day is spent trying for just 1 fish you better use your best fly…
Q: Fly life, when do you dump it?
A: I do not tie my own yet and have a limited number to choose from, so I will use flies until they fall apart (so far only 1) or I lose them (2 so far).
“until it doesn’t float any more”
90 % of the flies I use don’t float in the first place. I fish sub-surface mostly.
Like others said, I wait until they unravel, save the hook, and make another.
When the thread starts hanging off.
I stop using them when they either stop catching fish, start falling apart, or I sacrifice one to the tree gods. Of course if I am fishing with someone and they are catching fish on a different pattern then the one I am using I consider that the fly has stopped catching fish and I change.
I also recylce hooks when it is practicle. When not I pitch the fly.