I know I haven’t. There is allways a hackle fiber out of place or a miniscule uneveness in the dubbing or whatever that will never be noticed by anyone when the fly is in use. It’s particularly a problem with swap flies. I have to force myself not to tie five or six dozen to get one set that won’t be any better or worse than twelve of the first thirteen or fourteen flies.
Almost all the flies I tie I am satisfied with. If I was not satisfied with them I would quite tying. I am satisfied that they are good enough to catch fish and I am satisfied I did as good as I can. Now if you asked have you ever tied a perfect fly? NO. I try to make each fly that I tie better than the one before it.
Good answer as long as it catches fish im satisfied with it. Good thing the fish are’nt as picky as we are.
All you can do is try to strive for getting beter.
im not shure there is such a thing as a flaw less fly.
The better you get the more you scutinize.
Hi Rainbow Chaser,
I have never tied a perfect fly, but have tied a lot that I am satisfied with, and that I consider well tied. I try to make my flies look like the ones in the tying books that I think have excellent examples of patterns.
That said, once the fly is tied, I will fish it. A retired professional tier told me several years ago that we hobby tiers are just tying flies to fish with, and fish are not nearly so picky as are the flyfishermen that he used to sell flies to.
Thus, I am very satisfied with the good flies I tie. Perfectly satisfied…well…yes…when fishing. When fishing and I tie on a fly, I don’t even notice whether is it “perfect” or not. The main thing it to get it on the leader, and get back to casting.
I am more picky about flies that go to swaps. Those I am probably never perfectly satisfied with. I do pick thru them some, and won’t send one that I think is poorly tied, or has bad proportions.
I do like to try to neatly tie the flies I tie, and want them to be strongly tied so that they will stand up well when fishing.
Regards,
Gandolf
rainbow, RW here
Yes, every fly I ever caught a fish on. That spans 50 years and a lot of fish, so that amounts to quite a few flies. Always remember, ugly flies catch the most fish.
Later, RW
50/50. I find that the 50% that are plain ugly to me to be the best at catching fish. I give away the other half to unsuspecting fisherman. Either way, my flies hook them everytime. 
I have tied flies which dissatisfied me. But I don’t have to have perfection. I really enjoy tying flies and then catching a fish—the fish are lots less picky than the tier.
When I’m not catching fish, I guarantee it has to do with my selection of fly or presentation; not the quality of the tie.
i am satisfied with a great deal of the flies i tie. especially the dries and nymphs. i have tryed to tie grasshoppers and stonefly nymphs, and i couldnt tell what it was immitating after i am finished with it. :? i have tied a few good streamers, but most are un-even or lopsided. nothing the fish will notice, but its mainly my perfectionist attitude. i need to stop being a perfectionist!!! :shock: 
I have accepted the fact that I am an imperfect human being and that I will always make flies that are less than perfect (I don’t strive for perfection). Out of a dozen flies there might be 3-4 that are reasonably close in proportion, and the rest are “close enough” for my fly box or anyone elses. I have never had a fellow fly fisher turn down one of my free flies because it was not perfect, and I have never turned down a freebie coming my way for ANY reason.
Be thankful for the God given ability to be able to tie flies at all. Just think of all physically challenged folks who would love to be able to turn out just one imperfect fly, but are not able to. Accept yourself right where you are today, and be thankful.
Joe
“Perfection is the enemy of Good”
rainbow, RW here,
Who would you get to determine or judge officially what is perfect. There is no perfect. I would imagine that every fly is just a little bit different…like fingerprints. And besides, the perfect fly would be in the eye of the beholder.
Later, RW
No.
Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never achieve it.
-Darryl
Every one I ever caught a fish with. That is, in my opinion, the only standard that matters.
Cookie
I’ll have to agree with DG… if the fish like it, so do I.
Z
trying to be perfect is a setup for failure. Therefore, all of my flies are a success because I always learn something.
any fly I though was near perfect are now in a shadow box on my desk to remind me what I can do when I try lol
not many in there yet
Ghost.
I always tie perfect flies.
If there is a problem I blame the chickens; therein lie the imperfections that limit my greatness.
My first few dozen flies looked like they’d been run over by a car. I wasn’t happy with that but they did catch trout and lots of them. Then I read in the local paper that a famous fly fisher/tyer actually put his flies on his dirt driveway and ran over them a couple of times with his truck, claiming if the flies were new and pretty, they didn’t catch trout as easily as dirty tattered flies. Maybe that’s ‘perfection’.
Happy Holidays
and as always,
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
I’m not surprised that no one here is claiming to have tied a perfect fly, but I am surprised that so few are trying. If your definition of a well tied fly is one that catches fish, then a strip of red flannel on a bait hook constitutes a well tied fly. It will, under some circumstances, catch fish.
This is, after all, the fly tying section of the board, where, obstensibly, we are interested in tying flies, not simply catching fish. When I think of the good tiers I know, Hans, Alice Conba, Don Bastian, RonMT, Alan the Highlander, Fred Bridge, Charlie Craven, Ronn Lucas, and many more, they have worked very hard to become precise, accurate, neat, clean, artistic tiers over the years. Not one of them will point to a perfect fly, but I think I can speak for all of them when I say that they strive for that every time out. Do the fish care? Certainly not, but I find great satisfaction in striving for perfection. One day I’ll get close!
Eric
I fill a lot of my fly boxes with flies that aren’t good enough for a swap or a gift for someone else. There is something about laying down a perfectly smooth floss body or marrying up a pair of wings that look just right, that keeps me heading back to the tying bench. Like Eric, though he comes much closer than I, I keep striving for the perfect fly, as elusive as that is.
REE