Fly Tying

A common misconception amongst inexperienced fly tiers is that prepped materials are the only ones worthy of a place by the vice. Veteran tiers eventually learn that being creative and using unlikely materials can save money and create some truly eye popping patterns.

With many different types of scissors available to the avid fly tier, trying to pick out a quality pair is not as easy as it might sound. Different sizes, styles and lengths can all effect how scissors perform.  Understanding the basics will help you choose the perfect pair.

Choose the Best Blades

Many fly tiers won’t skimp when it comes to purchasing fly tying materials such as hackles or dubbing for fly tying but never pay any thought to the thread they’ll be using.  Other than the hook, fly tying thread is the most important item used in flies because it is what holds all the materials in place.

Over my years in fly tying, I have been lucky enough to test nearly all fly tying bobbins. There are so many different varieties and styles of bobbins on the market today, it amazes me that fly tiers can actually find what they need. From cheap to expensive, automatic to manual tensioning; bobbins have come a long way. What do you actually need in a bobbin to tie flies?

The uses for deer hair in fly tying are almost endless. Spinning, stacking and layering deer hair are just a few instances where the quality of the hair can spell the difference between good flies and bad art projects.  Following are three factors to consider when buying a patch of deer hair that will make learning to tie with deer hair easier and help you create flies that fish can’t resist.

Seeing as the Hex Hatch is just a few weeks away, I thought it would be good time to share the three most useful tips I have learned over the years about tying Hexagenia patterns. These patterns should, above all else, be fun to tie for fly fisherman. They are not complex and really no one is going to get a good look at them since flies hatch in the dark and the fishing of these flies occurs at night.

When I first started tying flies, I tied bucktails. That's fairly standard for most of us because bucktails are relatively uncomplicated and inexpensive to tie.

If you were to look at my spring, summer or fall fly boxes you would notice that 95 percent of the flies that I use have beads. Whether they are shiny (gold, silver or copper) or natural (black, olive or brown) colored beads, these small additions to flies have a huge impact.