TOE TAGS FOR FLY SWAPS ? AN AID FOR FLY PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
Here I am, sitting at my computer with the fly boxes from the January Soft Hackle Fly Swap of Beginner’s. I have 7 of the 8 boxes from this swap, and all of the dressed flies are beautifully dressed.
I have only one problem that has bother me for many years during these swaps. Some of the tyers in these fly swaps use hooks that do not have barbs, or the barbs have been smashed. This causes the Toe Tag to slide off of the hook.
Since[i] I smash all the barbs on my hook this is a good tip.
I wans’t smart enough to think of it.
Rick [/i]
I just put a small piece of tape on the back of the tag, trapping the point of the hook. My tags are fairly large, though.
Probably 1" x 1 1/2". This is part of an excel spreadsheet that replicates the tags off of the first one.
Kirk
I have hosted SEVERAL swaps in the past. Toe tags are great (and recommended) to tell the other swappers who tied the fly and the name of the pattern. With Barbless hooks they do tend to tall off which is a minor problem. Most people who are in swaps don’t use the flies so barbless hooks are not needed. If they do fish them let them smash the barbs. On the other hand too large of tags cause another problem. Most swappers send their flies in a “box” that will accomidate the flies with tags that they sent in. If a couple swappers have larger tags and other swappers use small boxes it crushes the flies being sent back to them. What I prefered was a small simple tag and for the swappers to email me the pattern directions which I would forward to all other swappers.