Tying Season.

[Ouzel]

Since we are into the tying season I was wondering how many flies do you lose during the year and how many new creations are you tying? I expect it is related to how often you get out to wet a line and how aggresive you are about fishing the tough lies but actually I think much of tying after you have tied for awhile has more to do with creating new/better flies than with replacing flies you've already 'matched the hatch' with and have lost while fishing.

How many different ways can you tie an Adams? Several; I probably have them all and of course in different sizes.

It is just that I've noticed, for myself, much of my tying has more to do with trying new ties than it does with replacing flies I've lost.

[fish-hunter]

I usually give bugs away to my friends, and I loose a few. I ran out of pheasant tails last week on the Weber, and I wanted to tie a few up in a pinch, I tried some brown Darlon, the same color as a Pheasant tail. They look sweet! I fished them today in the snow, they were deadly! A lot easier to tie too. Seems like I always am trying new stuff with bugs, and when I find something I really like I end up with a few bugs to give away. This is a whole lot easier than pulling out the blade and tearing them down so that you can start over. My friends don't mind saving a buck a fly either.

I tied up a bunch of all around flys and put them in boxes for my friends for Christmas......Yea, I know I am a tight wad! I think that guys that don't tie appreciate it though.

Fish-Hunter

[Ouzel]

Two small notes, I do not think tying up some flies for friends and family is in anyway a lesser gift, I feel it has more value than gifts you just go out and buy. It is more of a personal gift you actually made yourself for that person to enjoy while they are persueing a recreation they enjoy. What nicer gift can there be? Being able to lay down cash/credit cards does not make you Santa.

Running out of some standard material or trying a new tying product has given me some new effective flies that have resulted in some very serendipitous occurances. A new item by Spirit River Corp. called 'Micro Poly Yarn' gave me a new 'Droup Ass Adams' (stillborn) fly and a simple tie. The yarn comes in several colors Gray being one of them and by leaving a tag (shuck) when tying the material in at the bend and wrapping forward on a Mustad 80050 3XL hook then layering the material for the thorax and tying in the hackle makes a simple/quickly tied fly. The shuck and abdoman are untreated or treated with Loon's Henry Sink so they ride vertical in the water column like a stilborn. It was very effective but a bit hard to see so I added a tag of Fire Fox650 denier yarn (glows in the dark) tied in just behind the eye and sticking forword over the eye. When the butt drops down the front tag pops up and is very visable even at twilight.

You don't often see a stillborn pattern anymore except for the Quigly pattern that was obviously stolen from the 'Klinkenhammer Special' (?). The funny part is that Mr. Quigly made it a more difficult tie, go figure.

[fish-hunter]

Thanks! I agree with you.

That pattern sounds pretty cool, especially for low light conditions.

Have any pictures of that droop ass Adams?

Merry Christmas Ouzel!

Fish-Hunter

[grouser]

I am now tying 10 flies of all the patterns i had luck with last year. When i see or hear about a new pattern that I would like to try I usually tie up 3 or 4 flies to fish, if they work good for me I add them to my regular arsenal.
I don't tie very many variations on standard patterns except maybe different colors on buggers, leeches ect.
It's hard to say how many patterns I lose each year, there are to many variables. I will say I alot more of my flies are destroyed by fish, then lost to trees, rocks ect.