unwritten rule to fly tying!?

[day5 0]

I am sometimes made to feel like a real dindong in some of the fly shops that I visit. It seem that there are some unwritten rules to tying that I do not know. I have only been tying for about a year and I like to do diffrent things than most. Where I fish it is the same thing from fisherman to fisherman. They are all throwing the same things. So I like to make things that are diffrent than the others. But I get some strange looks and snikers from some of the shop keepers when I tell them that I use small spinner blades and rattles in my flies. Or that I have dismantled most of my kids toys for diffrent materials. Are there unwirtten rules? Or is it that I do not fish for trout and spend my days (you got to love Michigan) drifting for steel. I am not tying to tie the perfect bug look a like. I tie what catches fish. May be if they treid a ratteling craw for skamiania they would under stand. I have even been told that I am leaving the fly world and moving over to lures. Oh well I catch fish and even land a few to. They can keep there rules!

[rougetrout 0]

Don't worry, the guys giving you weird looks and laughing are really tossing nightcrawlers with spinning rigs!

[Sean Juan 0]

The snickers and clucking of tongues is what you get for violating the unwritten rules of fly tying...it gets old quick but you learn to ignore it.

 

It can be a lot worse if you violate the written rules.

 

If you are fishing in fly fishing only waters there are in fact rules as to what a fly actually is - they vary state by state and they can be enforced. It pays to check into it if you are going to fish such waters because what defines a fly legally can surprise you. Surprised me once up in Maine that the fish and game guy didn't consider a bead head nymph a fly since it was tied with added weight.

 

 

 

 

[Shaq 0]

No rules, you should see the looks I get from the blue-hairs at the yarn and quilt shops. leather jacket, dark glasses and all. Most of the guys in the shops are laughing, clicking there tongues and trying to figure out what you are doing so they can try it.

[ArkieFlyGuy 0]

Some of those guys think of themselves as "purests" in some sense. For that to be true, they could only use feathers, fur, and wool. Yeah, there is an unwritten rule about using such things, but I agree with RT... Those guys secretly put nightcrawlers or Power Bait (forgive my language) on their flies...

 

I use a lot of un-customary stuff (if you don't believe me, read my "Obsession" story...) and I have my preferences... but if you want to use blades and rattles on your flies.... in the immortal words of Briscoe Darling, "More pow'r to ya...."

[chucky 0]

Other than issues like the "fly only" waters.... Throw anything that'll catch a fish!! Check out Tom Nixon's book about using spinners and plastic worms on flies. He has a pretty good discussion on the topic, and could also be contrived as documentation of unconventional materials.

 

Chucky

[fishyfranky 0]

QUOTE (Shaq @ Jun 1 2005, 08:08 AM)

No rules, you should see the looks I get from the blue-hairs at the yarn and quilt shops.

Hey Shaq, don't know if you're single but craft & bead stores are good places to pick up some younger hotties. Great fly tying deals are available too.

 

The unwritten rule in fly tying is not to admit that laundry lint on a hook would probably do as good a job as most nymph patterns.

[Steeldrifter 0]

There will always be people that tend to walk the purist line a bit to close, just as there will be people that put a worm on a fly rod and say they are fly fishing. The trick is this......do what you enjoy and what catches fish for you and don't worry about the other guy

 

SD

[Guest]

I agree with everything everyone said with one exception. Hot glue on a hook.

[Steeldrifter 0]

If Tarpon hit glue eggs I'd bet you would be the first in line at the craft store with a basket full of glue sticks Paul

[Guest]

A Silver King would never eat one of those abominations.

[rscconrad 0]

I pull up walleye in Lake Erie on a sinking line with my fly rod when I get tired of Jigging.

 

This is on a Sage SP. The trout purist would roll over in thier graves.

 

Before anyone ask, it a lot easier to catch them on a jig and a minnow. It is the slow sink rate that gets the suspended ones I always figured. A lot of fun to bring to the boat however.

 

Robert

[CrustySpinnr 0]

I too have even thought of using odd materials. We get alot of pigeons at work and I swear they have some feathers that look an awful lot like CDC ......banish the thought..... It got so bad my boss had a nightmare he had to kill his dog . So that he could shave the dog to give me fur fro tying!

[FL H2O 0]

The purists look down on the other fly guys,

the fly guys look down on the lure chuckers,

the lure chuckers look down on the bait dunkers,

the bait dunkers look down on that foreign guy with the castnet.

Aren't we all just so damn high & mighty

[day5 0]

Right on flh20!!! Right on!!!! I guess I have done it all and continue to do it all. I spin fish I fly fish I dunk bait I throw a cast net for bait!? I fish flies on both a spinning rod and a fly rod. It all has its place and time. I guess I do not like to limit my self to one thing. I fish berrien springs dam here in MI for steel in the fall and spring there are to many spin guys around for me to fly fish so I spin fish and drift flies. But ther may not be a better place to fish for steel in MI and be assured of a bite. Yea the PM is pretty and bla bla blaaaa..... I really do not care where I am who is next to me what I am using what the guy next to me is using as long as we all respect the fish and the water and of coarse catch fish. I guess I fish To catch fish first and I Fly Ties to catch fish and as long as my flies continue to produce Ill get dirty looks and snikers from the snobs. Thanks for letting me vent later guys!!!!