This is kind of a parallel thread running in the opposite direction than the “What do you wish someone had told you” thread. I figure I can cut and paste the results of the two and publish a book on fly tying someday.
One of the best things anyone taught me was how to shape foam bodies with a rotary tool and an emery board.
Proportions - get them right and everything else falls into place.
Regards,
Scott
Look with eyes that see sometimes the smallest occurrence on the water surface can help catch the nicest fish.
“You can’t wade that.” Next time I’ll listen
You can make a wing case out of anything that you want to.
Let the rod do most of the work. Mel Krieger gave me that advice one Saturday while I was at the casting pond in Golden Gate Park. He always gave freely of his time and knowledge to those practicing at the pond.
Get a seine or an aquarium net, and use it.
John
My father insisted on setting a fly in front of me and having me tie that same fly at least a dozen times right there in one sitting… Then we would go over them, always comparing back to the original. Got to where I could tie most any fly by the dozen and every one looked the same every time… Backwards, that developed the eye for proportion and the hands for muscle memory.
My son has incredible focus and patience and it worked for him, too… Most other kids I guess I was trying too young…
art
Hi All,
The single best piece of advise that I learned was that you learn to tie flies by PRACTICING the basic techniques and practices such as learning to dub, learning how to tie in wings of various types, learning the pinch, learning to use a soft loop, how to hackle a soft hackle fly, learn thread management, proportions, etc.
Once you learn those things, and master them, then you can tie just about any fly that you want to fish with.
I remember the statement that professional basketball players practiced the same shot over and over until it becomes second nature to do that shot. Professional golfers practice driving hundreds and thousands of buckets of golf balls, etc. Fly tying is no different. If you want to become a good tier, practice the same basic technique over and over by tying the same pattern over and over until you master it, and nymphs are the best place to start.
I started out tying pheasant tails, and tied lots of them, beginning with large size, and when I could tie that well, went to the next smaller size, etc., and then I went to gold ribbed hare’s ears, etc. I ended up learning the basic tying techniques, and ended up with a very useful set of flies. When you have a couple of the basic nymphs down, then try dries.
At any rate, that advise was by far the best tying advise I got as a beginning tier. If you tie every fly that looks fun and jump from fly to fly, it becomes much more difficult to learn tying.
Yes, tying the same pattern over and over was not as much fun as playing at tying, and could maybe even described as effort, and it sure looked like a lot of fun to try bunches of different flies, rather than to practice on one pattern at a time, but the payoff was worth the effort.
Tying is a lot more fun when tying the fly becomes a mechanical thing instead of it being a challenge, which may or may not be sucessful on a give fly, to do some of the tying steps.
Regards,
Gandolf
Sometimes the worst looking tied flies catch the most fish.
Tie flies that catch fish, not fishermen.
“Use your thread as if it cost $5 an inch, which, if you buy it from me it does!”
Most flies can be tied in one pass of the thread each way along the hook shank. There is hardly ever a need to go backwards and forwards along the hook as I often see people do. The advice has lead to me coming up with other techniques. Such as tying tinsel on with lots of wraps, perhaps a dozen. Then wind it. When you get back to the tie in point count the wraps off while holding the tinsel under tension. Two turns will then hold the tinsel in place as well as any number. It keeps bulk to a minimum. Works for floss as well.
A close second came.
Get one stage right before moving on to the next. You can’t put a mistake right later.
A shaggy looking fly will often catch the most fish. Scruffy, ie poor technique, flies don’t! They fall apart before they can catch many fish. I often hear this as an excuse for poor technique.
My boat partner on the lochs catches 90% of his fish on a very scruffy fly we call the Rough Bustard. He fishes over 100 days a season and catches his share of fish. He asked me to tie up some for this coming season. He wanted half a dozen. There are techniques for tying a fly that looks scruffy, its about controlling your materials.
Cheers,
A.
I now own a ton of different hooks in their original boxes I began to suspect I did not need all of these variations. So I posted a question on this and got the following response from Eric Peper. Bless hm for passing this on.:
"I have to really, really “need” a new shape design before I’ll invest in a bunch. I tie all my own flies, and here’s the list of hooks I use on a regular basis. There are only six “shapes.”
Dries: TMC 100 and 101, sizes 10-22
Wets/Nymphs: Mustad 3906B, sizes 10-18
Emergers: TMC 2487 (or the dry hooks above), sizes 10-20
Hoppers: TMC 2312, sizes 10-14 (for smaller hoppers I’ll use the TMC 100s)
On the “occasionally used” side there are a few Mustad 9672 and 79580s around in large sizes in the event I’ve gotta tie some big stonefly nymphs. There’s a box of Mustad dryfly hooks in size 24 that I’ve had for at least 30 years, and there are still plenty of hooks in it. I’ve also got some Klinkhamer hooks (14-1
that are used once in a while.
Once in a while I’ll run out of one of the “regulars” when I’m “on the road” and have to fill in with a pack of 25 of the Dai Riki or Daiichi equivalent. "
If you don’t recognize Eric’s name, Google it.
Erik Peper PhD - Erik Peper, Ph.D. is an international authority on biofeedback and self-regulation.
Dr. Eric A Peper, MD is a male with 24 years of medical experience and practices in Family Medicine and Surgery and Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery).
Dr. Eric Peper ? CBS Denver
Eric Peper - the United States Department of Justice
Eric Peper Austin, Texas.
I take it you mean the gentleman in Austin, Texas.
Thread control, thread control, thread control! Less is more and comes with practise! Along with this is find a bobbin that is comfortable for YOU to tye with: this statement suports the initial statement made.
aa
It’s tough to catch a fish if your fly isnt in the water. (Dont be so quick to change flys, watch your backcast, and be accurate).
Yes, the Eric Peper who lives part of the year in Austin wrote the Fly of the Month column for Field & Stream during 1972-79.
To get the dubbing really tight on the thread, spin the bobbin
“Even the ugliest tied fly will catch a fish.”
get a hold of a taxidermist.
Soak my biots in water for ten minutes before using…