I am still very new at tying. I wouldn’t say that I have mastered any techniques yet, but I am growing increasingly comfortable behind the vice with what I have to work with. I have one problem. I find myself constantly wanting to try tying something different or harder or more involved. This is leading to a constant “need” to go get some different materials that I don’t have yet. For the first time in my life, I find myself wanting to take a trip to a craft store just to look around. How do I cure this ailment?
Unfortunately, the topical cream to address this situation is still in testing, and has not yet received FDA approval.
Until it hits the market, the safest thing to do is alleviate the irritation by going to the craft store and getting what you need to tie that pattern!
Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you find a new pattern, look at the recipe, and realize you have all of that…and the disease will begin to go into remission. It will, however, lead to another flare up when you try a completely different style of fly. As of now, these treatments can sometimes be costly, but as of now, there’s no known cure, so treating the symptoms is about the only viable option.
What Cold said !!! LOL
It never goes away and is normal. There is always some other material that I don’t have and need to tie something. I started tying one pattern, bought mterials for a second, then a third, and so on . . . it’s a never ending process. I suppose one could be dedicated to a few patterns and keep things simple, but the grass is always greener . . . . . . you know what I mean.
So I guess I’m terminally ill, LOL. So how do I keep this from my family? ha ha
For most of us…divorce.
The best cure is to get in car and drive to every craft store around and find as much loot as you can that grabs your eye. Then head home, sit down at the vise and start tying 
Stay away from Ebay and do not do a search on fly tying materials. Also do not get interested in tying original S/H’s and Catskill flies.
it is an addiction, I find a challenge in trying to find a substitute for what the recipe calls for that I have instead of buying something new. you will know that you are realy sick when you buy somting beceause your sure your out of it, then when you get home you find you have three unopened packages already.
Eric
The best plan I’ve found is to create an area to tie in and store materials that is large enough, and to plan for room for expansion. I also purchase lots of tying and rodbuilding supplies whenever I get a chance and at all times if it is, or seems to be, a good deal. This, and spending any other free time reading about tying and rodbuilding
keeps me from being addicted. After all I have to allow time to fish quite a lot as well. Also, joining in a few swaps helps to justify any seeming excessive time spent on these activities. These steps have so far kept me from any excessive or addictive behaviors…ModocDan :shock:
Well that’s encouraging. hahaha
Cure…whatever for? Are you mad? Your penance is to proceed directly to the fly shop or craft store.
Go. Now.
Regardless of how much you acquire… The next pattern you look up will undoubtedly require new materials. I think it’s a law of nature. Buy early and often.
I don’t care how well stocked your tying bench is, each new fly you try will require a trip to the fly shop for something.
You’ll know you’re a “real” fly tyer, when you go to the flyshop, spend the $20 for the materials for this hot new fly you saw on the internet. Put the bag down near your tying station, and then don’t go near it for a couple of weeks. Then, when you discover the bag with the purple chenille, and the purple hen neck, and the seven other items you bought, you realize that you can’t remember the pattern you bought them for, and don’t remember the website you looked at in the first place, and haven’t got a clue how to put anything together with the stuff you’ve got. No, you don’t get a plaque, or a medal when you get there. I didn’t get mine!
Unfortunately, … Yes this is normal. But try to resist the urge until you actually see a fly that you KNOW you want to try and copy. Otherwise you’ll end up like myself with a bunch of feathered hooks sitting in boxes that never get tried out because they look absolutely STUPID, OVERTIED, OVERGLUED, OVERCOLORED, OVEREPOXIED, or OVERSOMETHINGELSED… and you will have wasted a bunch of money on hooks.
Don’t get me wrong… it’s okay to experiment a little with a fly. But… people have been tying for hundreds of years and MOST of the experiments have been done. Stick with the books and the the ones who know what they are doing… Then someday when you’ve got your years in… you can experiment.
Be Blessed!!!
Or you start to teach a friend how to get started in tying with a woolly bugger, and you comment that you keep meaning to buy some bright blue marabou, but you haven’t gotten around to it…then your friend says, “Like this?” holding up a bag of…bright blue marabou. You have no idea how or when it found its way into your collection, but I’d quite evidently something that you did, in fact, get around to buying at some point in the past.
I don’t remember getting the warning about how addictive fly tying was. (I know I usually say something to those thinking about it) I still may of done it anyway, who knows. I used to be that way with collecting plants. Then the fishing turned obsessive after the kids got a little older. I started fly tying two years ago now since Jan of 2008. I love fly tying, and I am not too bad at it, and I like being creative. I should of known with my obsessive/collector mindset that I could not just tie a few patterns and be done with it. I didn’t realize fly tying was an art form until I got into it. So when you combine those who like to feel artistic and creative, and then mix that with the obsessed collector, you have a very addicted person to fly tying. I am in the craft shops trying to find new stuff to wind on a hook, I am always on the look out for “materials” wherever, and whenever they may present themselves. I am looking over the net for something new to tie, and bookmark them for when I can get a chance or urge to tie them. This does keep me somewhat sane, because tying flies gives me a creative outlet, and a little bit of peace in my life. People should be warned before they start to tie flies and get into this hobby. It costs much more than many hobbies. (it does for me anyway) It does relieve some stress though, and I could sure use a strong dose of that.
At this point it will be cheaper if you take up flushing $20 dollar bills down the toilet as a hobby. Not as much fun but cheaper.
Ron… I think I should have taken up your hobby! Maybe I would have more money laying around! LOL
"Rex and Jake were out on the lake at the crack of dawn. They cast for trout, sat silently and kept still so they wouldn’t frighten off the fish. Five hours later, Jake shifted his feet. “What is it with you?” snapped Rex. “Make up your mind. Did you come here to fish or to dance?”
You’ll know your a full fledged expert tier when, after you have several bins full of materials you only used once, you’ll realize that all you really ever need or use will fit into ONE bin. That took me about six years. The same goes for Fly fishing / tying magazines.