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I'm actually enjoying this!

1K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  Preston 
#1 ·
For those of you that don't know, I've been in and out of fly tying no fewer than 6 times. The last time I sold all my tying stuff I told my wife that if I ever mentioned that I wanted to tie again to shoot me in the head with a .357 Mag. Well, she didn't shoot and I have re-acquired a bunch of stuff.
This time, though, I'm actually enjoying it and I'm having some success! Go figure!
I'm going to give a lot of credit to Hans Weilenmann as I've watched his videos again & again.
I've been tying mostly soft hackles and wet flies...old style wet flies from a book put out by Patrick's Fly Shop back in the 60's.
Now I'm thinking about stepping up my game a bit and getting a better vise. Thinking Regal pedestal.
Can't wait to try some of the flies I've tied!
 
#2 ·
We are extremely fortunate to have so many great tyers who frequent these pages and I'm glad to hear they have inspired you. The depth of knowledge and the willingness to share is wonderful.

Chris
 
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#3 ·
That's great! I took a lesson in the 90's but all they taught us were streamers and nymphs, patterns that I did not fish much, so I gave it up after a while. The internet videos were not as well developed as they are today and I never made the effort to learn patterns I actually fished with. A fishing buddy who used to teach fly tying at the UofID bugged me and finally offered to give me a few lessons. We started with a renegade and adams, flies I actually used. That is when I went off of the deep end, and now I sit down at my bench 4 or 5 nights a week. Hope it catches on for you this time like it finally did for me.
 
#9 ·
I tied up my first quill wing wet fly in 20 some years last week.

Lonnie we should have had you in the soft hackle swap that happened earlier this year.
I don't think my flies are quite up to that quality quite yet, Bill, but I'm trying to remember that pretty flies are more for the tier than the fish! Ha!

Here is the book I mentioned. I got this as a gift more than 20 years ago. Don't know if this was originally how Patrick's put it out or if this is a copy. It is chocked full of patterns for nymphs, dries, wets, steelhead and flies specific to B.C. Just the recipes and very crude pencil drawings.
I've tied these patterns from the book...Big Hole Demon #2, Black Gnat Bucktail, Pauls Gray Hackle, Red Dragon, Black Spook, Swamp Angel.
I'm curious to see how these old patterns fare today.

Handwriting Ring binder Font Book Wood
Handwriting Font Writing Paper Paper product
 
#8 ·
I'm going to give a lot of credit to Hans Weilenmann as I've watched his videos again & again.
Great to hear you getting back into "the game"!

Hans' flies are definitely inspiring.

Davie McPhail is another online tier you might be interested in that creates some incredible flies.

 
#13 ·
Freestone, I started down at the workbench but it killed my back so I built this...and am now working in the comfort of my living room easy chair.
Looks great! Since I got a portable tying station, I rarely tie at my desk any more. The only problem is that my living room often looks like a fly shop exploded in it, LOL.

Are you going to the Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg next month? That will give you even more inspiration - and you can come home with even more material!
 
#19 ·
that was Roy's pattern book, he also published a little tome called "Tie Your Own Flies" (1955) with step-by step directions for tying a number of flies. It also had some interesting anachronistic references like "cut off about 2 feet of silk from your spool of black tying silk"; bobbins were unknown in those days. It was illustrated with line-drawings by Allan Pratt who was a cartoonist for one of the local papers. Many today don't realize what an important figure Roy was in the history of northwest fly fishing. He opened the first dedicated fly shop in the area when he came here from California in 1946 and for many years taught a fly tying class at the University YMCA.
 
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