Flykeeper - A website for storing fly tying tutorials

[flyjake 0]

Hey all, my name is Jake! I've been fly fishing on and off for around 10 years. I've recently gotten a lot more into it, and within the past year started tying some flies of my own.

As I started tying and looking at resources online I noticed two things:

1. Fly tying tutorials are spread out across numerous websites and platforms. Some people have their own websites and post their patterns there, some people store their patterns in Microsoft OneNote (or similar), while others post in forums or on social media (like in the Step-by-Step topic on this site, on Reddit, on Instagram, or on YouTube)

2. Most of the aforementioned websites/platforms aren't made for storing step-by-step tutorials. Most of the sites only provide a single generic textbox which quickly becomes overloaded with images and text. Also, the ability to search through patterns on these sites and find what you're looking isn't easy

For these reasons, I’ve been working on a website called Flykeeper. My goal with this website is to have one central location for fly tyers to share their patterns and knowledge. In addition, I'd like to add features that makes it easy for all of us to store the information we value.

If this interests you, please check out the website at https://theflykeeper.com.

If you have any suggestions on features you'd like to see added,  please let me know!

[DarrellP 0]

These are well photographed.  I learn better from photos than videos.  Thanks.

[flytire 0]

sorry, i get my tutorials from youtube and i post the flies here and on my blog

[BobHRAH 0]

How would this be better than just saving links to the individual demos in Favorites ?

Thanks, Bob H

[flyjake 0]

Hi Bob, thanks for the question!

One benefit to Flykeeper is that you can see thumbnail images for each pattern posted to the site, and can filter patterns based on certain characteristics. For example, if you know the name of the pattern you are looking for you can filter the patterns down by that name, and can quickly see from the thumbnail if that's the page you want. With bookmarks you are limited to the names you give the bookmarks and the folders that you group them in. Having to scan over bookmark names and click through links before finding what you need can be a pain, especially if you have a lot of bookmarks and your organizational skills aren't great. 

With that said, I don't think the ability to potentially find past patterns more quickly is the big value-add when it comes to Flykeeper's search capabilities. As I mentioned previously, users can filter patterns based on characteristics of the pattern. Right now users can filter by name, type, target species and tutorial type, and in the future I plan on extending this to include the ability to filter by materials. I've heard folks mention that being able to see what patterns they can tie based on the materials they have would be a neat feature.

[gillage 0]

Jake, not to discount your efforts or discourage or disparage your project but I use the free OneNote app to do the things you mention above.

It houses the flies I have tied, the flies I want to tie, photos, SBS and can link Youtube videos and provides me with quick an easy access and can be shared across multiple devices and shared.

It can filter by material used and other parameters.

I put Turkey in the search box and it brought up all the flies in my database that use turkey.

See pic below.

[flyjake 0]

Hi Gillage, thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to see what systems people have for storing their patterns. 

I think the thing that Microsoft OneNote lacks is the ability for others to see your patterns. I'm not able to see any of your patterns unless you've shared the link to the OneNote page with me. Flykeeper is a public database where any pattern posted to the site can be seen by everyone.

Also, are you able to filter by multiple things? It looks like OneNote only offers you the ability to search through documents by a single search term. What I'm envisioning for the material search is something similar to a recipe finder, where you enter all the materials you have and you get back the patterns that you are able to tie.

[BobHRAH 0]

Flyjake,  Thanks for the elaboration.  You offer some factors that I hadn't considered; especially the public access feature.

Thanks, Bob H

[chugbug27 0]

Just me personally....

I can find what I want on Google and YouTube easily enough, and in dozens of other well done sources on and off line. No need or desire for a central repository compiled by someone without a reputation. That's the beauty of google. I don't think you're going to outperform a Google search.

I also don't think you're going to draw people away from Charlie's Fly Box or Davie McPhail's or Barry Ord Clark's etc etc videos or Hans Weilenmann's fly tyers page just for example, etc etc. Or from this forum' flies of the month, etc (or other established forums), if you're wanting a more public repository. Not to mention Facebook, Instagram, etc which I don't know that much about.

Re a repository for how-to's, take for example Steven Ojai's website...

https://flyfishingthesierra.com/flybox.htm

Your idea sounds similar to what he has already done, in terms of usefulness, and he's done it really, really well. And the content to that did not come quickly or easily, I'm sure.

The materials indexing is a nice idea, but I don't think that's how experienced trout fly tyers decide the flies they want to tie, and it's going to take real expertise and a lot of elbow grease to get that done in a way that will be reliable and more importantly, useful. Eide has put out a good website for salmon flies, take a look at what he's done...

https://flypattern.org/material

Yes, you could extend that to trout flies, and it would be worth looking at, but do you know enough about trout fly tying one year into it to do it well?

I think it's something that beginners could use in order to build their skills without buying more materials, but that stage doesn't last very long.

I don't want to discourage you, but I'd hate to see you spin your wheels for nothing. 

Your photography and web design is quite good, btw. Truly. I hope you'll join the fray here and post your flies and pics and step by steps.

If you disagree and move forward full steam ahead with your site I do hope I'm wrong (I often am wrong) and wish you the best in it.