[troutbiscuits]

Being stuck at home during Covid, I turned to fly tying to keep me sane. I dabbled a bit before Covid and tied some patterns like Wooly Buggers and your standard go-to's, but now I am super addicted to it. So far I think this is the most challenging fly I have tied. A balanced leech. I love fishing balanced leeches, and buy them all the time. I can't wait for an opportunity to try fishing my own take on the pattern. What is challenging about it is tying it to get the balance just right. Here is my first iteration! Hopefully they start to look better as I tie more.

 

[Pilotfly]

Looks good to me but I have to warn you that you are on a slippery slope.

I first started tying around 18 years ago (or thereabouts). First it was some simple flies like hares ears, wooly buggers and such. Went out and tried out my first hares ear on the Deschutes River in Oregon. Actually caught a fish on it - a whitefish. Totally discouraged that all I could catch was a lousy whitefish when there were all those beautiful redsides just waiting to inhale my fly. So what did I do - I went back to the drawing board and here 18 some years later I have more fly tying material than some well stocked fishing catalogs.

Its an addictive habit - but certainly a fun one.....and I have caught all sorts of fish with my hand tied flies. Haven't bought a store made fly in over 10 years or more.

Just giving you a heads up on what your future may look like!

 

[troutbiscuits]

Looks good to me but I have to warn you that you are on a slippery slope.

I first started tying around 18 years ago (or thereabouts). First it was some simple flies like hares ears, wooly buggers and such. Went out and tried out my first hares ear on the Deschutes River in Oregon. Actually caught a fish on it - a whitefish. Totally discouraged that all I could catch was a lousy whitefish when there were all those beautiful redsides just waiting to inhale my fly. So what did I do - I went back to the drawing board and here 18 some years later I have more fly tying material than some well stocked fishing catalogs.

Its an addictive habit - but certainly a fun one.....and I have caught all sorts of fish with my hand tied flies. Haven't bought a store made fly in over 10 years or more.

Just giving you a heads up on what your future may look like!

I actually already inherited quite a bit of stuff from my Grandfather. He had some odd materials that you don't find anymore including Polar Bear and Silvertip Grizzly fur. Tied a few clouser style minnows with the Polar Bear and slayed the Crappie in spring with them. Cool stuff. Not sure what to use the Grizzly for yet, but the underfur looks like it will make great dubbing.

Next up on my buy list is a rotating vice.

 

[Dr Cro]

Good job tying them bud.

 

[SlabSeeker]

Looks like a fly to me and it will catch fish.

Yeah. I saw this big white rabbit once and chased it for its fur. Next thing I know I have stuff in every color and a hook drawer featuring #28 fine wire to 6/0 predator and about 30% of every style between.

Pilotfly is telling the truth. I actually have a Man Cave that is half consumed by fly tying "stuff". I call it stuff for a reason. If you stay with trout you'll never need much stuff; just a shoe box or two or three or four.... Start branching into bass, pike, salt, etc. and your material needs explode. Then you'll have another bench for stuff to make brushes and other stuff.

As for a rotating vice, I tied on a standard vice for a decade or better and even today I don't use the rotary function very frequently. The two times I do use it 1) to rotate large streamers so I can compare side to side and 2) when palmering long barbed feathers or using a brush. I actually find wrapping hackles easier not using the rotating function but just the pliers. Could be because I didn't learn that way. lol

Tying will make you a better angler. Some don't think so but I promise it does. You'll become more observant to size/ shape/color/silhouette and not just for bugs but bait fish. You'll be able to tweak flies for local conditions and make specialty flies that are cost ineffective for a commercial tie. In other words, you will no longer be fishing from the same box like the majority of fly anglers.

Good luck and check out the big tying forums like North American Fly Fishing Forum. The knowledge runs deep there.

SS

 

[flyflinger2]

It works the same way fishing paraphernalia does. John Gierach says something about starting out with one rod and one reel and a couple of flies. Eventually, after sinking to the bottom of a fairly large stream after losing his balance, he realized that his vest had become heavy enough to sink a battleship and almost heavy enough to drown him and he then becomes a "minimalist" again. The cycle then continues until you either quit fly fishing which is rare, or die which eventually becomes unavoidable.
In the case of fly tying material, it accumulates until the mess is so vast and disorganized that you can't find anything and you begin finding small hooks caught in your bedroom slippers. At this point you decide maybe it is time to do two things: vacuum the house and get rid of the pile of feathers and whatnot and start over with "only what you need". Then the process begins again. As I told a clerk at Cabela's once when he asked if there was anything else I needed, I just said "Oh, I am way past need and well into want!"
And so it goes.