Howdy!

[TightFlies 0]

Hey all, name is Josh! Been in the Fly Fishing world for around 10 years, 3 of those years actually doing some tying! I'm up in Northern Colorado and sometimes feel like I live in paradise. Look forward to being more involved in the fly tying community.

That being said, I've been working on an application to help track and manage our fly fishing and fly tying gear (TightFlies.com). I really want this app to be community involved and desire to build a utility that truly helps us out in the hobby we love. It's currently in early access and open for everyone to check out. Thanks for the welcomes!

 

Josh @ TightFlies

Site: https://tightflies.com/

Reddit: r/TightFliesApp

 

[niveker 0]

Welcome to the site Josh.  

What is the benefit of your app over someone using an Excel spreadsheet or an inventory in Word?

[TightFlies 0]

19 minutes ago, niveker said:

Welcome to the site Josh.  

What is the benefit of your app over someone using an Excel spreadsheet or an inventory in Word?

Thank you!

Great question! I started out using a spreadsheet to manage my materials, it’s super familiar and without a doubt a go-to option. That being said it felt lacking and limited when it came to searching and bucketing your gear. So with that, Tight Flies extends off of the spreadsheet:

 

1. Tag system; allows you to apply multiple tags to an item for quick filtering and better organization. Let’s say you want to see all your salt water gear, one click away you’ll see all your items with that tag. Those same items could have other tags or a category such as “Hook”, now you’ll be able to see all your salt water hooks. Streamlining how you look up what you have tucked away on your bench. 

 

2. Availability; I wanted a way to see what I was running out of as I tied flies. By setting a low threshold value, if your quantity dips below that, it’ll automatically update your status for you. So if you go to a fly shop, forget what you’re running low on, apply a filter to that status and see everything that’s low (or create and apply a “Need to buy”).  

 

3. Community Involvement; Tight Flies is starting off with a simple inventory management feature, but our plan is to build features that the community wants to see. We  strive to apply constant feedback and features for y’all to vote on through our polling system. Building out features designed specifically for fly fishing and fly tying is something.

 

Hope that answers your question, appreciate you reaching out! 

[WWKimba 0]

Welcome to the site.

Kim

[niveker 0]

Thank for explanation, @TightFlies.  The tagging seems like a good feature.  

  

[skeet3t 0]

Welcome!!! App sounds good but I just look in the rod rack or cabinet with my fly boxes and tying materials.

[mikechell 0]

Welcome to the site Josh. 

I'm one of those who would keep up with an inventory, so I never started one.  This app just sounds like another inventory method I wouldn't maintain.  But this "community involvement" has me wondering ... why would I want someone else knowing what I have on hand?  Isn't that a bit like writing on FaceBook, "Hey, I keep all my cash in the bottom of my sock drawer."?

[TightFlies 0]

4 hours ago, mikechell said:

Welcome to the site Josh. 

I'm one of those who would keep up with an inventory, so I never started one.  This app just sounds like another inventory method I wouldn't maintain.  But this "community involvement" has me wondering ... why would I want someone else knowing what I have on hand?  Isn't that a bit like writing on FaceBook, "Hey, I keep all my cash in the bottom of my sock drawer."?

@mikechell Thanks for the welcome!

The whole basis around community involvement is strictly for building out features that would assist in our fly fishing and fly tying hobby. Our team has ideas, but we really want to hear and implement feedback from the community. As for your data, it’s yours and yours only. Tight Flies app doesn’t share data across users so nobody else knows what’s in your inventory. All of our current features are solely design for private collection. Hope that clears it up!

[flytire 0]

i simply look at an almost empty bag of materials or an almost empty spool of thread to let me know what i need to order. i know when i get low on hooks its time to order. its a visual kind of thing

an app wont let me do that

i have over 40+years of tying materials that would have to be inventoried, cataloged, tagged or whatever. too late in my tying career to do that. i'll be dead before i get to the last box 😀

if i inventory a full bag of hares ear dubbing or a brand new hackle saddle or cape, does your app know how many flies it would tie? 

i'm not about to catalog a pinch of this and a pinch of that for every fly i tie

i tried creating a fly fishing journal once and made a couple of entries. after that i forgot about the journal. waste of time

good luck on your app but it doesnt seem it would work for me

[Poopdeck 0]

Josh, since you asked for feedback I will offer you my honest feedback. My hobbies are not supported by a team so I assume you are involved in app development  and your involvement here is to ultimately develop and generate interest in a product. As for the actual concept, I don’t get it and have to ask why would anybody use an inventory management system to track their tying inventory? I can’t remember one instance where I ran out of material in the middle of tying a fly or was surprised by running out of material. Running out of material is not a problem associated with fly tying. Finding a way to store material is the actual problem. The concept doesn’t even Sound feasible because, as previously mentioned, who is going to open an app and record the fact that they used 2” of thread, 6 pheasant tail fibers and a smidgeon of beaver dubbing. Who needs a spread sheet to see your running out of pheasant tail fibers, thread and dubbing? I’m getting old and have already turned into my father but I’m simply not grasping the concept here. Sorry. 

[skeet3t 0]

I'm in agreement with Poopdeck. I don't keep much in tying materials, hooks, etc., as I don't tie but a few flies that I find useful in my area. I can take an inventory in a matter of minutes with a pen and paper.

[TightFlies 0]

@flytire

@skeet3t

@Poopdeck

 

Thanks for much for taking the time writing out a response! I grouped you 3 since they're all under the same consensus. I hope that Tight Flies can provide features for you beyond tracking your tying gear as we plan to go beyond that. Our goal it to provide a modern application for tiers, inspired by Eli Robillard's The SuperFly Fishing Machine, that can simply improve your experience. If the current features don't do that for you, that's totally fine! We look forward to building features that reach groups who aren't interested in material tracking.

Again thanks for the feedback!

 

[flytire 0]

 

i currently have the Fly2000 app on my desktop now and like i said about a fly-fishing journal, i used it a couple of times and then forget about it

it would probably be the same with your app and any other app. 

good lick on your endeavor