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A comment on commercial tying:  I've been tying flies commercially for the last 18 years or so and supplied all of the local fly shops over the years. During that time, my activities have included fly tying seminars at the shops, fly tying instruction classes as well as demo tying at a couple of major Sportsman shows. One of my fly tying mentors is A. K. Best and I have fashioned my work ethic, production numbers and tying style after A.K. Several years ago I attended an A.K. Best fly tying course that had been sponsored by a local shop. My fly tying is a work in progress and has grown in both production levels as well as the set up of my tying area. The way in which I work is continually changing, even today.

There are times as I'm working, and of course after many hours at the vise one's mind wanders, I find myself thinking of just how I might do something better in the tying of a particular fly. I also day dream of the past angling season and relive the events of landing large trout - but I digress. Periodically a light goes on and I actually have a usable idea. Immediately, I stop my production and make the change to my fly tying desk providing the improvement is not time intensive. After all I have a 10 dozen daily quota to meet. There are days that the dozens fly by and I am done before supper. Then there are those days that I am still tying when the 11 o'clock news comes on. These days are very long and I sometimes wonder just what the heck I am doing. There are also days that I break the tying thread repeatedly and quit before noon. Such is the life of the commercial fly tier.

I've learned a few things during my time as a commercial tyer and probably the most important thing is the truly great advantage of tying rotary. I use the Nor Vise and must confess if I were to use something else I would have packed it in long ago. I want to preface my comments by saying that this is just "my opinion". You may consider my words and if you disagree - ignore them! I believe that the Nor Vise is the best rotary vise on the market and that if you aren't tying rotary you are at a great disadvantage ( A disclaimer - Norm Norlander, inventor of the Nor Vise, is a friend but I receive no monetary incentive for my opinion. It is the result of producing many thousands of top quality flies over the years.) It is not necessary to tie rotary all the time. In fact there are certain flies, tied on certain hooks that do not lend themselves to rotary tying. But, most of my production tying does lend itself to rotary. If the fly is not rotary friendly - I refuse to tie it commercially. Any pattern that cannot be tied in a respectable amount of time - I refuse to produce commercially. After all, time is money and if I can't produce my quota each day, I'm working for minimum wage. Commercial tying is not making me rich but it does keep me involved in the fishing business year round. Commercial tying is not for everyone. It takes a certain individual to be able to sit at the fly tying vise for 8 to 12 hours a day. I won't say what type of individual this is!

Included in this  FLY TYING section  is an article on "Tying Tips" as well as one on "Fly Tying Vise Comparisons". These articles were published in Fly Rod & Reel magazine a few years ago. See the above menu to access these articles. There are also pages on "My Dirty Dozen" flies, "My Fly Tying Area" and a just recently added section on "Rotary/Production Tying Tips".