I know that this question has been asked before, in fact, I remember some previous responses from certain FAOLers. But times and people change, so I’m going to ask the question again. What percentage of the flies that you use in a given season are tied by you personally? What percentage are purchased from fly shops or stores? What percentage are gifts from friends who tie or from fellow fisherman?
I tie about 99.5% of all the flies that I fish in any given year. 0% percent of my fishing flies are from stores though I will buy some new patterns to serve as prototypes or models once in a while. About one half of one percent of my flies are “stream gifts” from people who have a fly that’s working well that day and wish to share it. How about you? 8T
IN the exact same boat as you 8T I tie almost all of my own flies, fish a few from friends and and buy one or two from the shops to replicate/reverse engineer. I don’t know I feel like if I spent all this money on tying materials and such then it would be an absolute waste of not only the money I spent on the materials and equipment but also the money I would then speend on flies… basically 99.5 .5 from friends and only buy for reproduction purposes.
Well, considering I’m just entering my second year of fly fishing, I still have some of the flies I bought to get started. I dont fish any gift flies after the first day I get them (if they caught fish, they’re now a model fly, if not, they go in a box at the bench that i’ll tie up 3-5 copies of whenever I get a chance, to experiment with on the water). Right now, about 3% of the “fishing flies” in my box are self-tied, the notable exceptions being muddlers, as I havent yet caught on to spinning hair.
I tied about 95 - 99% of the flies I fish. I do have someone occassionally give me a fly I with a pattern I had not previously seen. I have a friend in AZ who has given me some trout flies in the past, he is much better than I, but it has been a while.
90% tied by me, 10% received from fly swaps or other anglers. Can’t remember when I last bought a fly other than some that came in a flybox I bought on Ebay.
I’m still a lousy tier, & still have flies I bought years ago, but I fish about 90% with flies I tie. It’s just more fun & rewarding to catch a fish on your own creation, however bad it looks. I still fish with flies sent to me by friends.
I try to make a point to START each fishing outing with a fly I tie.
As Grubb told me, the only way to improve your tying skill is to fish ONLY the flies YOU tie. I am really pushing myself to that point.
Mike
P.S. Except that thing about “lead me not into temptation …”
P.P.S. The past year or so I have been fortunate to have a few friends send flies for me to test on our trout streams here in the Intermountain West, so for that period of time the percent of my own flies fished has dropped just a bit.
I am about like 8T but I am not above begging flies from friends/or guides that I have known for a while. We all bum flies from each other which makes tying a lot more fun knowing that someone might catch a fish on something I’ve tied.
I will break the trend here, i fish with about 20% of the time with the flies i tie. If i can buy a fly in a store i would just as soon do that. The only flies i tie are streamers so large and heavy that stores don’t sell them.
Tieing flies for the commercial market I had better be fishing my own flies 100% of the time. It wouldn’t look very good if I didn’t fish my own product. Oh, by the way, the guys at the local fly shop fish my flies a good share of the time too.
Since most of my fishing is lake fishing I don’t trade flies very often. Even then, I just collect them and don’t fish them.
Have bought more this trout season in CO. than usual. Part of that comes from not wanting to spring for a pricey cape when I will not be tying that many from it and looking at the boxes and boxes of various hair, feather, dubbing, etc. I have collected over the last decade with much of it being used to tie a specific pattern I rarely used.
I have found that the flies I paid $1.50 at the rio grande Angler in Creede were very well tied and lasted longer than those I paid just a buck for at the rainbow grocery in South Fork. The Rainbow, believe it or not, has one of the most varied collections of trout flies I’ve ever seen! Just about anything you can name.
After 10 season of fishing the same small streams, the rio grande, and high mt. lakes, I’m down to a handful of patterns and sizes that I believe in.
I bought a dozen Adams, and a dozen Elk hair Caddis when I ordered my beginners fly tying stuff in late spring.
I wanted to make sure I’d have something fishable on the creek. :roll:
Since then, I’ve been asked if I tye professionally (for sale). :oops:
No, not at all, Just for fun, I told the individual.
I tye because I love to. I don’t know what percentage to put on something I love. I don’t keep score. :tieone:
AND, leaping to the other end of the spectrum, I use 100% store bought. Mostly onaccounta I don’t have the skill to tie my own. I did once tie/wind a few “my version” Copper Johns and even caught a few trout on them.
I’ve got all the tools but, unfortunately, lack the talent.
I tie all my flies except for one. One of my favorite flies is John’s Skwala Stone. I don’t care to go to the trouble to tie it. It has a furry foam body I haven’t been able to match. So I buy a dozen every couple years.
Even though I prefer to tie my own, when I travel I always buy a few local favorites at a fly shop. Seems only fair to buy something before I pump them for tips and places and advice.
Rex
I fish only my own flies. I’ve not bought a fly in years, and the ones people have given me are used as models. I tie far too many flies for my own use, so I also supply my wife, dad, and brother in law these days.
I still fish with flies sent to me by friends.