Well for Christmas the wife got me a fly tieing starter kit. So tonight, she wanted to watch a chick flick, so I decided while she did that I would get to work on how to tie a fly.
I started off with some practice on how to use the whip finisher. After I was comfortable with that, I tied up the first three flies in the starter kit. (Going to also work on JC’s fly tieing guide as well).
I’m sure I’ll get better, but for now, I think these will do fine in some of my local waters.
their fine looking good what kit is that the book that comes with the vice and everything? theirs some great fly tieing videos out their too that can help. but your doing well.
The flies are a good start. One thing that your book obviously didn’t cover is the need to seal up that head cement jar whenever your not actually cementing a fly. Sooner rather than later an open jar will spill all over your tying materials and the book. This is especially true if there are children or pets in the same county as you are tying in.
Wow, wish my first flies looked that good. Heck, I wish some of the flies I tied last night looked that good.
Ditto on the head cement jar. It’s not the kids or the pets you have to worry about. Please do not ask me how I know about the mess a jar of head cement makes on your tying bench. Let’s just say I have experience in these matters.
LOL Yeah I know that problem from a few of my other vices. It was funny that you mention that. Right after I saw the picture, I thought the same thing.
Thanks for the comments everyone and the tips. The kit was the one from Hook and Hackle.
Working for a college, I plan on utilizing our library to get many videos and books as time permits. And hopefully, one of my flies will fool a fish this spring.
I got the same kit right after Thanksgiving. As soon as that foam beetle hit the water, I caught a 1/2 lb bass. I’ve since tied several variations of it.
Be prepared to buy more hooks, not that you’ve started, you won’t want to stop.
The beetle is very nicely done, especially for just starting out, and I think most experienced tiers would be happy with it had it been one they tied last night. The others are fine and will definately catch fish.
Welcome aboard. Nice job on three very credible flies that I’m sure will catch fish for you. Be careful as fly tying can become a very slippery slope to the poor house. Just remember that you don’t “need” to have every new gadget or product that comes along. You can do 90+ percent of all your tying with the basic materials. Good job and keep them coming.
Well we went to Casper today (2 hour drive), so I dropped into Sportsman warehouse to snag a few for tying items. I think I’m good to go for now… Hooks, I don’t have a decent local resource. But for everything else I have good access. Especially fur for deer, elk, and moose.
Granted I know that will change once I get more experience and make my way through the various tutorials and patterns on this site and others.
But for now, quite pleased. Thanks for the comments.
Tied up a couple of buggers tonight. Black one was first. I definitely learned a couple of lessons from that tie up, and I think the olive one turned out much better.
Just a suggestion, but its one you might like: when tying your San Juan worms, try tying it down near the bend of the hook, then lifting the front of the chenille and advancing your thread up close to the eye. Then pull the chenille back down into place and tie it down again up there. This will maximize the amount of chenille that is visible to the fish.
The flies look great! All are definite fish catchers.
