# fly tying thoughts



## daddyhoney (Dec 4, 2006)

I have acquired a good 3wt set up for the San Marcos River and other places that there are small fun fish to catch. A 5wt that is Ok quality for those applications and a good 9wt for the coast/bay. So far the only flies I have tied are poppers for the 3wt. They work but are clown like with the bright colors and wild legs. I want to tie my own basic trout and redfish flies because it suits the artistic side of me however I'm frugal but not without means. I went to BPS today with intensions of picking up a bunch of supplies to tie Clousers, Deceivers, crabs, shrimp, spoons and so forth. I had a $200 pile quick and I already have a vise and tools. I started telling myself, buy ready made and be done with it. A couple of hundred a year may do it with out all the fuss. I suspect tying your own flies is much like rolling your own ammo, a sport of it's own but not necessarily an economical approach. I guess I don't really have a question just thoughts. I have noticed that when folks make a fly they like, they may make a dozen each in a number of colors and sizes. That is where I think the savings may come in by having lots of replacements, and personal variations on a pattern. Like finding a bullet and load that performs best, not to mention the personal satisfaction of catching fish on your own fly. I look at my conventional bay tackle and there is an easy $500-$1,000 worth of baits to choose from. Paying several dollars for a good fly should not bother me anymore than paying a similar price for a Spook or other plastic, but it does. Ill get over it once I have made a better transition to fly fishing. I do like it! Thanks for being patient with my rambling, new learning curve, quest, adventure. Cheers, GG


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

One of the beauties of fly fishing is the endless different ways of going about it. Find what works for you and don't look back. 

For me, I tie some small stuff for panfish just for the enjoyment of it, but for big saltwater fish, I prefer to buy specialty flies from a quality source. 

There isn't a right way or wrong way...just the way that provides you the most enjoyment of this great sport.


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## daddyhoney (Dec 4, 2006)

Meadowlark, thanks for the in put. Would you care to name here or in a PM the quality source for your SW selections? I think for the time being I may look for good ready made products and learn them myself later. So many irons in the fire and all have a learning curve!


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Fly fishing sure is fun. I toyed with idea for a few years before getting a 7wt combo. That was mid 2013. I haven't taken out conventional to the bay( been on several fly only trips) in a couple of months. Last year, I was half conventional, half fly, something like that. 

I really think it works better than conventional in many cases. It's Fun to manage the cast and everything that it takes to bring a fish to hand. I don't have a good source for flies. I did buy some from Sierra Trading Post early on. I landed my first slot red on one of their clousers in the fall of 2013. 

I've been tying flies pretty much since then. Clousers, my clousers weren't very good at first but got better and some really bad spoon flies( they never improved) , bad seaducers and various other patterns. I've wasted a lot of material on poor efforts. My flies and my fishing has improved to where I have confidence in a few of my patterns. I buy a lot of material from saltwaterflies.com in Massachusetts. They sell flies too. I get other material from Hobby Lobby and a few other sources ( hook and hackle, Cabelas, Orvis). If you never tied your own fly that would still be very good. I needed a creative outlet that fit with my life and tying has been a good one.


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

There are a lot of small vendors on Instagram that sell saltwater type flies. Hashtag your favorite fish and fly tying and some should pop up. Never have I ordered any, but lots of the flies photograph very well.


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## AlaskaTex (Mar 9, 2006)

*Economics of the fly*

Tying your own flies to save money is false economy at best but there is no way to place a value on the feeling of catching fish on a creation of your own. People pay hundreds of dollars to go to sporting events that last a couple of hours. A couple hundred dollars worth of tying materials will keep you busy for weeks or months. Keep at it.

AT


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

AlaskaTex said:


> Tying your own flies to save money is false economy at best but there is no way to place a value on the feeling of catching fish on a creation of your own. People pay hundreds of dollars to go to sporting events that last a couple of hours. A couple hundred dollars worth of tying materials will keep you busy for weeks or months. Keep at it.
> 
> AT


Good observation. It's like the "free" venison that by the time you add up the costs of the Lease, guns, equipment, licenses, processing, etc. You would have been better buying prime filet mignon.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

daddyhoney said:


> Meadowlark, thanks for the in put. Would you care to name here or in a PM the quality source for your SW selections? ...


Here's some of my sources, in no particular order:

Umpqua Feather Merchants: ( wholesale to dealers; generally excellent quality)

Discount Flies Online Fly Shop: (good source for all kinds of flies at good prices; I especially like their bonefish, permit, & Tarpon flies)
Ashland Fly Shop: Excellent quality. Tell 'em what you are fishing for and they will fix you up. Will Johnson is outstanding. 
Miller's Fly Shop: (Texas source for wide variety of good flies)
Ligas Discount Flies : (good source for cold water trout flies; has some great sales)
The Fly Fishing Shop: (good source for quality saltwater flies)
Alaska Fly Fishing Goods: (if you are going to Alaska this is a great place to get specialty flies; tell 'em what you are targeting)
Jay Murakoski: Specialty Flies for Baja
Feather Craft Fly Fishing: Tend to be pricey but they have some specialty flies that are really great
Fishing Tackle Unlimited: The Fuqua store(Houston) has a very good selection of generally quality flies...just be careful not to leave anything valuable in your car when you park.

That's some of them. There's more, but I just can't think of them all. Hope this helps.
,​


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## 2thDr (Jan 25, 2014)

*tying own flies*

Like anything worthwhile, time and effort is required to get good. Perhaps the easiest way to gain confidence in tying your own flies is to pick one pattern at a time and learn it well. Most cities have fly fishing clubs (Google for Names) that are filled with talented people that will gladly mentor your efforts. Some Fly Shops will teach you also (The Tackle Box in San Antonio). When you go over the deep end as many of us have, you will likely find yourself spending hours planning trips, researching and tying dozens of new (to you) flies. It is not all about just catching fish. The journey is what really matters. With experience, you will find yourself modifying old patterns to better suit your intended use. Then you find yourself giving your favorite hand-made creations to fishing buddies. Then teaching them. On it goes.


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## Longshot270 (Aug 5, 2011)

I used to tie my own but now I just run up the road to Cabela's. I've got a few that I like using so it is faster and easier to just buy.

I barely find the time to reload rifle ammo so when it comes to fly fishing gear, I'd rather spend that time on the water.


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## skinnywaterfishin (Jul 1, 2015)

Great info already posted. I also like to buy stuff from J. Stockard - http://www.jsflyfishing.com/

You didn't ask but I might suggest a couple of books to get started (YouTube is also an excellent resource to learn to tie because you can watch, stop, rewind, etc)

Clouser's Flies - Bob Clouser
Saltwater Fly Patterns: Lefty Kreh
Essential Saltwater Flies: Ed Jaworowski
Texas Saltwater Classics, Fly Patterns for the Texas Coast: Greg Berlocher


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## BrandonFox (Jan 8, 2013)

I am the worlds worst fly tier... therefor I rely on www.theflystop.com
Good quality flies, and the cheapest prices I've found so far. Good (not amazing, fyi) quality, that hold up to a few fish before falling apart. Thats all I can ask for!


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

I never really thought much about attempting to make my own lures back when I was much more invested in fishing conventional gear. But I have always been interested in using artificial tackle in novel locations, situations, and in my own style. The potential that creating your own patterns ( really I would argue most patterns are in many ways derivatives of others) of flies hugely expands the ability to best taylor my approach to very specific locations, species, and seasons. 

I can go to an off the shelf pattern, like a Clouser, and have success. I can understand that it works because it hits the depth right and moves in a way that resembles some prey species general to lots of different places so that it will get a take. So I bought clousers and caught a variety of fish. Pattern works for me where I fish, check. So I tied my own faithful copies( eventually) and caught the same fish. I can make a copy of a pattern and catch fish, check. 

But you fish the same basic waters for several years and you think you know a lot of the predators and prey and you really believe you can build a better mousetrap than some off the shelf pattern developed for smallmouth fishing for a Pennsylvania river by a guy named Bob Clouser. All credit to him that he developed a pattern that worked where he fished and then turned out to work in many many diverse waters. I really don't know anything about him but I would bet that he understood his local waters and fish and just figured out a plan to produce a fly that would work better than anything available off the shelf at the time. 

So that's what gets me to be fired up about tying. If I can't produce a pattern that doesn't have some attribute that makes it better for my waters than any fly catalogue version, I'd probably just as soon buy it. I look at lots of flies on places like Instagram, TKF and online catalogues and see ones I like and try to mentally reverse engineer them or think about how to potentially Improve them in some way. I'm a horribly slow tyer in most cases and have no interest in selling flies, guiding or anything along those lines. I want my flies and my fly box to have the best characteristics that gives me the best chance to catch the desired fish in the waters I fish.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

For me, fly tying was a given when I started fly fishing because I am naturally a crafty person.

Being creative is what I like about it and I can tweak certain characteristics or colors that you can't find with off the shelf flies.

I would start with some basic clouser, seaducer, and deceiver type flies to tie and you might find yourself varying from it over time until you have your own pattern that works!


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## Fishsurfer (Dec 14, 2014)

SurfRunner is 100% correct. Try Clousers with a lot of flash, they seem to be the most productive for me. I like tying deceiver patterns but have not had that much luck with them, mainly fish other than reds or trout. Tie some up and post them here.


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