Fly Tying Stages

1)  Tying the First Fly Stage- The first stage of my fly tying pursuit came from my simple desire to just be able to attach thread, feathers, and wire to a hook-while making it look something like a fly. The first fly I concocted was a pheasant tail variation. It consisted of red pheasant tail, green wire, peacock feather, and a brass bead.  After tying that fly I remember thinking to myself “wow that was quite difficult.” Even with the help of my brother-in-law (whom I credit with getting me involved and started in fly tying), It was difficult.  Honestly, I felt fly tying was way outta my league and something I could never really get good at. I so badly wanted to improve but felt that it was too difficult a thing to learn. So I asked myself- how could I achieve this sought after skill? The answer? Practice, more practice, and more practice. My first fly, the pheasant tail nymph, still sits on my fly tying table. It is a reminder of where I started, and how far I have come.  I won’t lie, it was very difficult to keep myself motivated to tie more flies when I first started.  My flies were not what they looked like in books- they were crowded at the eye, dubbed with too much dubbing, hackled too sparse, and unraveled after one or two fish. Although my flies lacked the professional look like the flies in books, they still caught fish.  It was awesome to see my work at the desk pay off on the river. Because of this, the desire to keep tying crept along. I remember tying more and more pheasant tail’s every day, improving after each and every one. I mainly stuck with nymph patterns in the beginning, knowing dry flies would make me want to throw my bobbin at the wall. With all my early practice, I however was still unsatisfied with the look of my flies.  I wanted clean, professional looking flies that would last longer than one or two fish.  This brings me to my second stage of fly tying.

My first fly - Pheasant Tail Nymph

2)  Perfection & Exactness Stage-  In this stage of my fly tying pursuit, I wanted perfect looking flies, while matching the fly recipe I was following exactly. Because I honestly had no idea how to tie anything but a pheasant tail and maybe a couple midge patterns, I had to rely on books and the internet to help my learn how to tie different flies.  Side note- I did learn to tie many different flies thanks to Mike.  For a while I would go over to his house and we would tie for hours. I learned all of the basic fly tying principles thanks to him.  After I accumulated more and more materials (which is inevitable to any who enter this trade) it made it hard to haul my stuff over to tie with him. I then started to rely on books and Youtube videos. I would find a pattern I liked and follow it step-by-step, aiming for perfection each time.  If I didn’t have the exact materials, I would purchase them (I just had to have the exact materials in the recipe). This started a whole new level of fly tying. I was buying more and more material all the time.  For a while it seemed I was buying material at least weekly.  To this day, buying fly tying material is still quite addictive.  There seems to always be something out there that I HAVE to have.  Welcome to the world of fly tying.  Companies are always coming out with newer materials, making the tier’s world nearly limitless with possibilities.

Fly Fish Food's Cheech Leech

The original Adams.

Fly Fish Food's Masked Marauder stonefly nymph

3)  Creative & Imaginative Stage- This is the current stage of fly tying that I am in. I am developing my own flies based on my own individual creativity and imagination. Don’t get me wrong, I still follow other fly patterns out there (especially difficult ones), however I try and make up my own creations nowadays.  Now that I have a general understanding of mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, midges, baitfish, and terrestrial insects, it has really helped me to develop my own patterns. I am no expert, but I have a general anatomical understanding of each, which enables me to develop my own custom flies.  A lot of times I will copy various steps that are in other fly patterns,while using a different material. Such as using CDC instead of tinsel as the wing-case on a pheasant tail. Or, using red thread in-between peacock feathers on a royal wulff instead of floss. This is what is so great about fly tying. There are no set in stone rules. The art of fly tying is open to ones personal style and imagination. I remember reading a Fly Fish Food article a while back stating "there are no rules in fly tying." I firmly believe this. Yes, there are certain concrete principles, but no concrete rules. In conclusion, catching fish on my own individual creations has been especially rewarding. I designed an olive damselfly this past summer and it performed very well. I went to one of my favorite mountains and caught tons of brookies. This winter, I plan on developing many more flies which hopefully entice some nice fish in 2016. I challenge those of you reading this to hit the vice this winter and let your imagination bring about some creations. You never know, you may develop the next best pattern.

Red thread body Royal Wulff

Original brassie with Clear Cure Goo over the wire? Yes please.

Olive damselfly

Streamer pattern I developed