Are you a perfectionist? Do you strive so say all your size 16 parachutes look identical, or pretty close? Or would you rather have a ton of flies that are all ‘unique’?
“GET THE DRIFT?”
All my #16 parachutes DO look identical. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. (grin)
Eric
unfotunately, im a perfectionist, who doesnt have two flies alike !
Fishing flies = same
Free style flies = unique
Happy Trails!
Ronn
I want some variation as I find different flies work better onsome days than other.
I vary tail length and lamost the size of the abodmen and thorax for example.
Rick
I’ll tie 100 of the same pattern until they look identical. Luckily, it doesn’t take me that many to get them almost perfect, but I strive to make every single fly I tie as close to perfect as I can. It’s a curse!
Jude
Small flies work best. Elephants eat peanuts.
www.customflys.com
If you look closely my flys are individuals. Not exactly the same. Tied a bunch of light Cahills and Adams spinners/parachutes today 16’s & 18’s, I like them. Will the fish??
Cactus
Exactly the same. That’s why I like using Moose for dry fly tails, easier to count how many hairs for each fly.
What’s perfect? Someone please show me a perfectly tied fly. Is there an museum that houses the standards to which a fly is to be compared?
I guess “if I were being honest”…I’d want each new fly to be better than the previous.
My cripple flies look like mutants,
all the time
I keep trying tho’
Ahh, but isnt that the goal of a cripple Roy?
Rahter not perfect but all the flies have the same tail length, abdomen thiness/thickness and length, etc…They just look alike.
“GET THE DRIFT?”
I strive all the time to get even one tied Perfectly . I have never achieved this so far . I have come close to getting one or two right and overall they are looking much better as I go along .
So far I have had more trout that simply laughed themselves to death at my flies than ever bit down on one , you take what you can get .
I am of the opinion , whether right or wrong that a fly that had been beaten up by a strike or two works better than a fresh one . It seems to me that if a fly is working and gets beat up a bit then you change it , the new one will not work as good . Anyone else have this experience ?
GBF,
I am of the opinion , whether right or wrong that a fly that had been beaten up by a strike or two works better than a fresh one . It seems to me that if a fly is working and gets beat up a bit then you change it , the new one will not work as good .
Uh… if I really was of that opinion, then I would tie them to look like that to start with. Why waste time to ‘run them in’? 
Cheers,
Hans W
=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier
I agree Han’s. I try to make each fly look like the one before it and I tie the best flies I can. Tying for a living you have to have it that way. Ron
Hi MM, RW here,
Even God never made two finger prints exactly alike, and no one signs there name exactly alike everytime throughout his lifetime. So I doubt that perfectionismn can be achieved, it’s just something to strive for. Besides, who is the person that is going to judge what perfectionism is?
I would imagine that if you took the person considered the best fly tyer in the world, and had him tie 1,000 of the same exact pattern in a row, there would be something slightly different about each one. That would also mean that if one of the flies could be judged perfect (and again by who) the other 999 would be imperfect. A machine might be able to do it. But a human can’t.
So there you have it. Perfectionism is not only impossible, it’s impossible to judge, therefore impossible to achieve.
But, keep on trying anyway mm.
Later, RW
P.S. My flies catch fish, regardless of how imperfect they are. That is my primary goal. I don’t think I’ll be greedy and ask for anything more.
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
[This message has been edited by Royal Wulff (edited 06 April 2005).]
Mine are not perfect as neither are Natures bugs,as if you look at a hatch in action you will see there are many of the bugs that are deformed and such. Just my thought as when I make my may flies I don’t follow all the tying instructions as my mayfly tails are longer then what most patterns call for as this is how I see them in nature tails are longer along with other parts of the real flies seem to go against what the pattern suggests. Later Matt
To each there own !
What I meant was that for you to strive to have your flies look the same… to me that is perfection.
“GET THE DRIFT?”
I like them to look quite similar when in the box. I know my standards are not near high enough to do commercial tying though.
Guess as long as the fish ain’t as picky as most “buyers”, the fish and I will be having a grand day… 
…lee s.