"I'm Quitting!"...

[spotter]

Recently I saw a fly tying kit for sale on E-bay and the seller stated that he/she had tried fly tying and it wasn't for them. Oddly, my first inclination, rather than to drop a bid, was to offer some encouragement to the seller to give it another try.

I was thinking about an old friend who took up fly tying and quit. He sold or gave away all his stuff and then, some number of years later, he took it back up with a vengence. So for those of you who have done the same I wonder:

1) What made you take fly tying or flyfishing up the first time?
2) Why did you quit?
3) How did you come back around to it?

[wildnative]

Never considered stopping either my tying or my fishing. I will admit that I have cut way back on both activities the last 4 or 5 years. Still consumes a good portion of my thoughts daily, just don't get out as much. My tying goes in spurts of enthusiasm (after watching guys like Dennis, Curtis, Clark and Jason tie), to periods of abstinence.

Boy, I remember the days when I was eating and sleeping fly fishing and tying. If I didn't fish 3 -4 nights a week and all day on Saturday, it was a bad week. I remember going from the crack of dawn to the darkness of night, sometimes without water or food, (talk about dehydration headaches)!

I find I savor my experiences more now.

[campfire]

I used to tie years ago when I was single and just after I got married. I took it up to have something to do in the winter. But I quit when my family was young because I just did not have the time to devote to it. Now I have more time but I found I could nymph most of the winter and the arthritis in my hands that never did work that well keep me from taking it back up again. Sometime I still miss the self satisfation of a self invented pattern working really well. I will share this with you. I once tied a fly with a simple gray body, a red tail and a died blood red hackle, a simple fly that did not imitate anything I know of but it was deadly in the Uintahs.

[rodrick]

It is more of a hibernation that quitting. I tied for years every night. Now it's when the urge hits or need arises. Just can't do it every night anymore and may go a month or so with out every picking up a bobbin. Then the urge hits and I tie for 2 weeks straight. Just other things are taking up that time that was always free to tie.

[MuseJr]

1) I started the first time when I wanted to go with my dad to go after steelies on the Trinity River. No tying just fishing.
2) I moved to the midwest and didn't have any resources to continue.
3) I moved back to the west coast and decided I wanted to take my dad out for a week on the Trinity. This time around I started tying and with the internet the resources are always there.

[UtahFlyGuy]

1) What made you take fly tying or flyfishing up the first time?
2) Why did you quit?
3) How did you come back around to it?

1)Wanted a bigger challenge. I started to tie flies about 10 years ago and just stopped for no reason. Just cant explain it. Other interested sparked up I would believe. I regret it now. I just got back into tying about 9 months ago. Back when I had quit there wasn't no internet to look up patterns, finding people with the same interests was harder to find also.
2) I've been flyfishing for about 25 years and started at an early age. I started using popper after bass than after that I started pursuing trout. I went into the military for about 6 years than started with a vengence when I got out.
3) I promised myself to never let my passion die. Once you have it inside you I dont think you can ever shake it out of your system. If you are able to...well I haven't met that person yet. I have to admit that I have found some great people from this site to fish with. These are some of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. Lots of fishing and great company. Oh yea lots of laughs too.

[RobK]

I have some fly tying stuff that I play with from time to time .

I like tying streamers , Adult stone flies and Hoppers.


Adult Stone fly Pattern
This Pattern worked great on the Yuba river in Calif. ( nothing fancy)
Black and Brown foam body
Tree squirrel tail for wings .
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/rgkempton/Fly%20Tying/Dscn0307.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/rgkempton/Fly%20Tying/Dscn0308.jpg