Fly tying
 

Well, I’ve been spending the last couple years trying my best to move along the learning curve of this addictive sport and everything’s going great, thanks in part to all of you in here, I have to say.

I’ve been thinking of getting into tying for a while but held off until I had better knowledge of flies and patterns, what flies I use most, etc.

I wanted to try and get a thread going for any good fly tying advice you’re willing to give up. I figure people are more loose with this kind of info over fishing spots and all your best kept secrets. Anything from brands and styles of vices, tying tricks and material and your most valuable tying tools. I know this type of thing has been discussed on here before but hopefully some new info can get brought up. I’m just about to go buy everything I need now that the season is coming to an end so I am open to all the advice I can get.

Thanks!

Fairly early on in your tying career, purchase a good quality grizzly hackle. When I started out I was tying ugly, chunky dries and it was fairly discouraging because I was using crappy hackle feathers and no matter how much skill I developed, my dries looked bad/disproportionate. I finally ponied up a few bucks and got a nice Whiting half cape and the flies really started turning out a lot nicer. Grizzly is one of the more universal colors out there so I'd say start there. I use grizz in my Stimulators, ants, beetles, adams, hoppers, humpies etc etc so if you are going to have 1 'good one' I'd suggest grizzly.

And get a good quality ceramic bobbin, and a good pair of scissors right off the get go as well.

To the OP, do you typically fish lakes or moving water.

Dumb question. What is grizzly hackle?

BW

Feathers of of a roosters cape(head)(neck) or off of a roosters back. Grizzly is a color scheme (white with black strips). The color scheme gives the illusion of an insect rapidly buzzing it's wings.

https://www.troutline.ro/premium-ewi...r-hackle-capes

Thank you. It’s my intent to get into fly tying later this fall early winter.

BW

Rivers almost always

What part of town are you in? Calgary and surrounding areas have some clubs that are a good way to get into things. I'm newer at it myself but enjoy the hobby. Thought it would be a cheaper alternative to buying flies....turns out it's a good way to start a craft room.

Elk hair caddis

Easy to lean for beginning, works great in mountain rivers.

Or a fish's lateral line. Or the a flashing tail of an escaping bait fish. Or the segmentation of some legs. Grizzly hackle is the bees knees (except it does not imitate bee's knees)

Best advice i can give you. If your wanting to learn,most clubs offer.Fly tying classes,from beginners to experienced.Drop in to the Hook & Hackle club in Calgary meet 2 times month wed's .Edmonton has Northern lights fly tyers,Red deer has central ab.tying club all have web sites google them.Tight lines
http://hookandhackleclub.org/index.html calgary
http://www.nlft.org/ edmonton
http://rdflytying.blogspot.com/2018/ red deer

An option I choose when getting into tying was a fly tying class with Gary Hanke. Excellent teacher and he supplies all materials for the class and you can try out the different vices he has before you buy if you want. He posted the info below on the AB Flyfishing Facebook page.


Here are our tentative dates for the 2019/2020 Fly Tying season.
An Eventbrite posting will be shared with the page once we have also confirmed a few other engagements during this time frame. Stay Tuned...give it a thought.


Masterclass Fly Tying Course 2019/2020
January 11/12, 2020 – Reid’s Fly Shop -Edmonton, Alberta
January 18/19, 2020 – Fish & Game Association -Grande Cache Alberta
January 25/26, 2020 - Bow River Troutfitters – Calgary Alberta
February 8/9, 2020– Reid’s Fly Shop – Edmonton, Alberta
February 15/16, 2020 – Bow River Troutfitters – Calgary, Alberta
February 22/23 2020, - Bow River Troutfitters, Calgary Alberta – Tentative
March 7/8, 2020 - Grande Prairie, Alberta - TBA
March 14/15 2020 – Bow River Troutfitters – Calgary Alberta

Lots of good advice.

Learning from a tyer that has been doing it for awhile is very helpful.

Just my opinion but you don't need to spend a zillion dollars on super expensive equipment to get started.

A good solid vice, some basic tying tools, thread and some materials are a great start.

There are also tons of very good youtube videos available online.

An excellent resource for patterns and tying techniques.

I took out a number of library books when starting out that helped as well.

Don't expect to save a ton of money from this venture. :)

Have fun!

My best advice other than a solid vice & tools is to only buy the materials you require for the flies you wish to tie.

Fly tying
 

Some great advice. I second (or third) about the importance of a solid vice, good scissors, ceramic bobbin, hackle plies. Also, buy what you need for common flies. Early on in my fly tying days, I bought so much stuff to tie potential flies, but I found I use a fraction of it. Good Grizzle hackle is a must.

Also, I like Morgan Kyle’s Simple Flies book. Simplistic flies that actually work. There’s a negative correlation in fly tying between fly realism and catch rates. Even though we think the flies look real, the fish are turned off.

Some of the flies I tie now are very simple, satisfying, and non-frustrating - and effective!


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What would be a good solid vice to have? Budget of 250-400 dollars

BW

Really a personal preference I think, after playing around with some Stonfo's, an Anvil and Peak I choose the Renzetti Travellor 2300 and love it, $279 at the Fishinghole. Traveller 2200 the same vice but silver not black anodized is on for $224 at Cabela's right now.

True. I use an old rotary vice that is solid that I paid 30-40 bucks for. Noting fancy but does the trick.


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