Fly
Tying Philosophy
I enjoy tying my own trout flies. However, I enjoy fly
fishing much more than fly tying and would generally rather be out on the water than
sitting at the vise. Nevertheless, I would rather create my own flies from my
assortment of hooks, feathers, fur and synthetic materials, than buy flies from the local
fly shop.
I am not a particularly fast or proficient fly tyer. I am
rather impatient and definitely not a perfectionist. When I sit down at the vise, I do not
want to labor over a fly that requires many different materials and tying steps. While
complicated flies are nice to look at, and require skill to tie precisely, the fish do not
generally care. Relatively simple, impressionistic flies will catch lots of fish if
presented properly. In fact, a bare hook is a pretty good impression of a chironimid and
will catch fish if presented properly. My favorite flies are always simple to tie, usually
with only 2 or 3 different materials.
My simple flies are all generic in nature. They are not exact
recipes, and are in a constant state of evolution. Some years I may tie my mayfly nymphs
with dubbed marabou, while other years I may use some new dubbing that has caught my
fancy. Lots of materials are suitable for fly tying and I enjoy having lots of options.
Consequently, I have collected about 8 bins of fly tying materials.
I do not generally have names for my flies. I found out early
that if I named a particular fly pattern, that I would end up forgetting it's name.
When tying, it is too easy to make endless variations of fly patterns. I could never
remember names associated with all variations, so I just stopped trying and decided to
refer to my flies by generic names. In some cases, my flies are copies of well known
patterns (e.g. wooly buggers), and in those cases, I use the standard name.
Why Tie Flies?
Tying flies is fun (although not
as fun as fishing). You can be creative and crazy at the vise. Catching your first
trout on a fly you tied yourself is very memorable. I still remember my first fly to catch
a trout. It had a black marabou tail, and black chenille body. It was like a black wooly
bugger, without the hackle.
I bought a book and some fly tying tools and then bought the
materials necessary to tie black wooly buggers since that was practically the only fly I
fished back when learning how to fly fish in lakes. I went home and studied the book
and eventually tied a fly. I could not wait to try it, and drove to nearby Rattlesnake
Lake and caught a trout near dusk. It was not a big fish, but I was hooked on fly tying.
I now tie flies because I believe I catch more fish with my
own flies. My flies are not any better than what I can buy at the store. But I know how to
fish my flies better, and I know how much lead or weight I have incorporated into my own
flies. I also get more enjoyment from catching a fish on my own flies than on store-bought
flies. I also tie flies in colors or styles that I cannot get at a store. I have lots of
confidence when fishing with my own flies since they have caught me many fish in the past.
Fly Fishing 101
While I cannot teach you how to fly fish from this website, I
will summarize three basics of stillwater fly fishing When tying flies, keep these rules
in mind and you will be sure to tie effective flies:
Get your fly to where the fish are.
Regardless of how good a fly is, you will not catch fish unless the fish have
a chance to see it. Getting your fly to where the fish are is the most difficult thing
about stillwater fly fishing. Fish in fertile lakes with shoals and weed beds are usually
within 2 feet of the bottom, or 2 feet of the top of a lake when they are feeding.
If they are suspended at mid levels, it is usually because the water temperature and
oxygen levels are more desirable at that location. When float tubing, it is very important
to keep track of how the wind and waves are moving you through the water, since it does
not take much wind to move you through the water at a speed that will keep your fly from
ever reaching the bottom.
Present your fly like a food source.
Most trout foods swim very slowly. The biggest exception is a darting minnow.
Insects, particularly chironimids, swim very slowly. Therefore, it is generally better to
error on the slow side than fast side when retrieving a fly. In fact, not retrieving a fly
at all is often very effective. Nevertheless, sometimes I catch more fish fishing my
fly unnaturally fast than swimming it slowly like a real nymph.
Match the hatch.
Sometimes trout are very selective and will only take a particular food source.
Nevertheless, even if you have the perfect fly, you will not catch fish if the fish do not
see it, and if the fish do not believe it is a food source. Usually, trout in Northwest
lakes are not too selective. They may only feed on chironimids during a chironimid hatch,
but the size and color of the chironimid are less important than getting your chironimid
down to where the fish are feeding.
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