after tying probably hundreds of thousands when i did it for a job, I almost always buy my flies now

Jan 7, 2025
9:08:06am

dryflyelk All-American

Especially dries. Having to buy quality hackle and hooks and everything is a pain and gets expensive fast.
I still tie more of the simple patterns or stuff I can't find but I usually end up buying anyway.

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dryflyelk

Bio page: dryflyelk
Joined: Aug 12, 2003
Last login: Jan 8, 2025
Total posts: 9,855 (1,555 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

What flies are you tying in the "off" season?

dingus79 All-American

Jan 7, 8:42am

During WFH COVID I set up my vise and materials in my home office and tied a

fulano

Jan 7, 8:58am

So 30 years ago I tied a few as a novice. I

Goliath

Jan 7, 9:00am

Yes, still very much a core aspect of fly fishing. People who only fish a few times a year are likely just buying

dingus79

Jan 7, 9:08am

It can be more expensive to tie rather than buy if you don't fish a lot.

fulano

Jan 7, 9:18am

I don't know how people tie flies anymore with flies being as inexpensive as they are.

Ssebo

Jan 7, 9:07am

I like being able to tie exactly what I want, including oversizing tung beads on a smaller hook.

GfB

Jan 7, 9:08am

I guess I just don't spend enough time fishing to have it make that big of a difference.

Ssebo

Jan 7, 9:14am

no reason to tie if you're using just a few patterns. If you are fishing heavily

fulano

Jan 7, 9:21am

this is kind of like saying you don’t understand why people go fishing

godawgs

Jan 7, 10:22am

My career of practicing as a therapist and eventually teaching at BYU literally began by using fly tying as therapy for

mvtoro

Jan 7, 12:31pm

Very cool. If I need some mental clarity, I head to the desk.

godawgs

Jan 7, 12:41pm

Absolutely… especially if you can’t get to the stream.

mvtoro

Jan 7, 1:40pm

Outside of nymphs, I really only need like 3 dry flies. No see'ums, Bionic Ant, and Olsen's front end loader caddis.

GfB

Jan 7, 9:07am

I'm adding those to my list!

dingus79

Jan 7, 9:10am

after tying probably hundreds of thousands when i did it for a job, I almost always buy my flies now

dryflyelk

Jan 7, 9:08am

I really enjoy tying flies, but the thought of having to finish

godawgs

Jan 7, 12:46pm

I got burned out on production tying too fast to even be able to claim I ever really did it. But it was useful to learn

mvtoro

Jan 7, 12:48pm

I’ve been tying a lot of midges. My local stream still has a little bit of open water and you can have a lot of luck

Housemartin

Jan 7, 9:20am

midges are definitely on the menu year round but winter its the daily special

fulano

Jan 7, 9:23am

I’m like an ADHD fly tier. Jump from one thing to the next with occasional

godawgs

Jan 7, 10:26am

Most of my tying is experimental and just creative nowadays. Some of those patterns are produced by Fulling Mill now and

mvtoro

Jan 7, 12:44pm

The "Candy Crane" is really cool pattern, good job, I saw that pattern somewhere online and bought quite a few but I

dingus79

Jan 7, 1:16pm

I’ve had days that absolutely killed it with the cranefly on the Green, but I developed that one more fishing on the

mvtoro

Jan 7, 1:38pm

Awesome!! What time of year do the larva end up in the drift?

dingus79

Jan 7, 1:46pm

I don’t have any artificial fly pics but I caught a pic of this hitchhiker several years back

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