Tie flies in winter
CATCHING FISH WITH YOUR OWN CREATION IS DEEPLY SATISFYING
TYING YOUR OWN flies can help fly fishers get through long winter days waiting for the open streams and lakes of spring and a new angling season . Doing it can be simple or complicated . Kids take quickly to the techniques and adults fuss over them for years . As many have found out , there is great satisfaction in catching something on your own creation .
A casual fly tyer may not have the skills and artful eye of the old English and Scottish craftsmen , but gaining this skill awakens imagination , curiosity and the inventive mind . The test of a fly is not how beautiful if looks to fishermen , but whether it catches fish , and there are no rules . Anything goes .
It ’ s debateable whether tying your own saves money . Seasoned tyers say the first fly costs $ 500 to buy all the materials and tools , and after that a nickel apiece . With commercially-tied flies selling for $ 2 to $ 8 from a sports store , it doesn ’ t take long for the bill to add up when stocking fly vests with a variety of patterns , colours and hook sizes .
An active fly caster can go through a lot of flies in a season – some lost to a surging fish , others to underwater snags , bushes and trees .
squeezing onto a hook in their fingers ,
GRANT HOPKINS
most of us need a vise to securely hold hooks of various sizes . A basic model is around $ 30 with fancier versions running up to $ 300 or more . There are a lot of tying accessories and gizmos on the market but the essentials are bobbins , scissors and bodkins . As a tyer progresses in skill , then a whip finisher , hair stacker and hackle pliers can be acquired .
Once you set to work , the thousands of standard , named patterns and dozens of variations are limited only by the tyer ’ s imagination . Minnow imitations are probably the easiest to tie , and mosquito and small insect imitations ( dry flies ) on very small hooks are really tough .
Some flies can be easily tied in a few minutes but more complex patterns absorb an hour or more . Novice fly tyers are often frustrated at how big and clumsy their fingers seem , but these handicaps disappear with practice . “ Hot ” new patterns emerge every year for both fresh and salt water . Fish don ’ t admire the intricacies of a fly as long as it looks good to eat .
To get started , check out sporting stores and fly shops which have cheap kits with basic materials and tools for beginners . And there are many books , videos , and YouTube tutorials available on every aspect of the hobby . You can watch these over and over until you get it right . Ottawa Valley fishing clubs regularly offer classes for both novice and experienced fly tyers .
This learning never ends . Fly tying can be fun , satisfying and challenging . You can catch fish right away with basic patterns and get fancier with experience . It ’ s a life-long pastime with no end .
Grant Hopkin ’ s Office and his assortment of fly-tying equipment , and a freshly tied trout fly .
A fly tyer ’ s stash of materials begins with basic natural organic deer and elk hair , feathers from chickens , ducks , geese , turkeys , pheasant and partridge – to name a few – and fur from rabbit , squirrel and muskrat . Exotic bird feathers are scarce or very expensive so other materials are often substituted for them in classic designs .
Braids , wools and yarns make excellent fly bodies . Then there is a continuing stream of new manmade synthetic materials in a wide range of colours and textures . They go by such trade names as Z-Lon , Fluro Fiber and McFlylon . To add a bit of attracting sparkle to a tail there are such products as Flashabou and Polar Fibre . Thread , beads , eyes and wire contribute to the clutter on the workbench . Then there is the unorthodox stuff like Christmas decorations , kid ’ s hair , and Halloween wigs .
Tools are handy . Though some old timers can tie flies by
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