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2009 Fly Tying Season It is now almost Christmas and I'm hard at work at my fly tying desk. Commercial orders are in which will keep me busy until next spring. Lately it has been extremely cold outside which makes me very happy that I do not have to commute to work. In fact, I don't even have to venture outside unless I want to! Tools of the trade. Place mouse on thumbnail to view larger image.
In past years (2007 & 2008) my tying has been chronicled as I produced the commercial orders. When new patterns were added to the standard fare, I show cased them with detailed tying instructions accompanied with step by step photos. I won't be doing that this year - my orders are pretty much the same as last year. Instead, I've decided to talk about tying in general. I often hear exaggerated claims about how many flies a person ties or how someone is the best fly tier in town. I find these types of discussions quite amusing, as to my knowledge, it is un-quantifiable and the whole idea of determining the best tier is ludicrous. Commercial fly tying is totally different than a person sitting at his vise and tying 20 dozen flies of numerous patterns over the winter. The latter is someone just trying to fill the holes in his fly boxes. This person, by any standards, is not a commercial fly tier. A commercial tier is someone that produces thousands of flies over the winter and then sells them before the upcoming trout season. Each fly must be a replica of each and every fly of a given pattern. If they are not exact duplicates that tier has yet to master production tying and won't be able to earn a living at the tying desk. Fly tiers are, to my knowledge, just like fly fisherman. Many are prone to exaggeration while some are out and out liars. No names will be mentioned. Suffice it to say, it is next to impossible to verify a fly tier's claim - whatever that may be. One can only take an educated guess based on the facts at hand and draw logical conclusions. If a fly fisher were to claim he catches trout 25 inches and up 3 or 4 times a week - well, he would be a liar. There are many different types of fly tiers and I will attempt to describe a few of them below. My fly tying area. Place mouse on thumbnail to view larger image.
Some like myself are commercial tiers. I concentrate on producing Bow River trout flies as that is my bailiwick. I must admit that if I were to tie anything but Bow River trout flies I would be totally out of my element. That is until I were able to learn the new patterns, become familiar with the nuances of these fly patterns and then learn how to efficiently produce them to make it financially possible to commercially produce them. Given the right motivation this should not take too long to accomplish. With the Bow River in our back yard and the trout fishing about as good as it gets, I see no reason to change any time soon. Many trout fishermen are what I might call week end fly tiers. These are the fly fishermen that have taken up fly tying in hopes of continuing the enjoyment of fly fishing through the winter months. They know that catching a large trout on a fly they have tied will be a greater "high" than landing that trout with a store bought fly. They might also think that tying ones own flies will save money. I can emphatically say that is a falsehood. These tiers might produce 10 to 20 dozen flies over the winter. If they produce more they might offer the excess to their fishing buddies or if they are good enough, offer them for sale. This might be for coin or possibly beers. Others might tie specialty flies such as Steelhead or salt water flies. If they tie only for themselves they might be prone to tying far fewer flies preferring to concentrate on making every wrap of thread "perfect". Who among us are qualified to offer up an opinion of this type of fly tier. Certainly not myself. A good fly tier has spent considerable time at the vise. He has laboriously perfected his tying desk set up and taken great pains to create an assembly line if you will, of materials so that the tying of a fly flows from one step to the next. During the course of tying certain patterns this fly tier will be constantly thinking of ways to improve his set up. This tier is concerned with tying technique and has learned those tips and tricks that help to improve tying efficiency. What ever the fly patterns tied, a good fly tier has paid attention to that which will make tying a fly as fast and as repetitive as humanly possible. It is this repetition that produces quality as well as quantity and by doing so this fly tier has become a production fly tier. Can one fly tier declare superiority over all others? In my opinion - No! The art of fly tying is too diverse to be able to compare all the different types of flies, tiers, production levels, markets, goals and outcomes. I believe that it is possible to determine competency of a fly tier by how they go about tying a fly, the tying desk set up, the attention to detail and the outcome. Quick Navigation: |
