Hello from Rapid River Michigan, Upper Peninsula

[LisaLou 0]

Hi everyone,

I am looking forward to improving and learning from this forum.  I learned to fly fish and tie real simple flies as a kid from my Uncle Ben during family camping trips.  Time marched on and forty years later, life has changed so I have time to go fishing.  I mostly used a spincaster from the shore because the high winds made flyfishing too challenging for me as a beginner (again).  I caught a lot of small yellow perch, trout and pike, throwing most of them back, but kept a few bigger perch worth eating.   At the end of this summer, I bought an old Sears 10 foot canoe.  I live on the shore of Little Bay de Noc, Lake Michigan and it’s windy all the time.  With my canoe, I could go to some sheltered areas and start to improve my skills.  Of course you need flies for that, so I bought a used Tack L Tyer kit and got started again for next year.  It came with an old Universal number 1 rotating vise which was the real reason for purchasing a child’s kit.  It also came with a few tools, along with the tiny flat metal vise usual for the kit.  I made some flies on the hook, but then learned about tube flies and started making those using q-tip tubes.  I used the cheap vise to make a hand vise which I favor because I can use it lounging in my recliner., lol. It is tiny and works great, I love it.  I’m actually looking forward to sitting in a waiting room at a doctors office and tying a fly,.  I had many people approach ask me what I was doing when I was needle tatting.  I literally tied my first tube fly on a tatting needle just holding it with no vise.  Really frustrating and awkward way to get back into tying, but it worked till I got my vises in the mail.
 

 I have tons of yarn and crafting supplies, so I make my own dubbing with a coffee bean grinder, learned from YouTube.  I use a mini spinning wheel i built myself from a fidget spinner, instead of a Clark block or dubbing table to spin up dubbing ropes with my yarn dubbing.  This doesn’t work with feathers (yet, I am working on it), so I do the Clark block method using a foam macrame board.  Still working on doing that well and maybe should make a block and just use the board for a stretcher.

( ***I don’t always use a core thread to spin my dubbing ropes and was wondering if this  be a problem in the water, if they won’t hold up as well.  if anyone can comment on this****  I should probably post pictures and my question in the newbie area so it makes sense.)

 I just got a batch of fur squares today in the mail, so I now have some natural fibers to work with.  I just have craft store faux fur, hair tinsel, feathers and the lame ones from the kit, but it good enough for learning and I’m having a lot of fun.  I’m using polyester or nylon sewing thread, yarn and floss, since again, I’ve got bins of it.  I don’t feel bad about experimenting with mediocre materials and probably found the perfect hobby to use all my favorite techniques at the same time.
 I plan on ordering some flat tying thread to see if I like it, but honestly I’d rather invest in fur and feathers, because I have so much crafting thread as it is.  I have a little wire bender tool, so I was thinking on making a bobbin holder.  I just do a half hitch around the thread bobbin so it doesn’t unwind unless I want it to and hold the thread with my fingers. I know I never used a whip finisher or half hitch tool either, though they look like they make a very clean finish.  A bobbin holder looks handy, though I need to make a bunch and have them threaded and ready to go.  I hate threading things.
 

To make things more confusing I tie left handed,.  I can tie right, but it feels less natural.  I found left handed tying to be an advantage in our tech world, because so many YouTube videos are shot facing the tier, rather than looking over their shoulder.  Since most people are righty, the hand movements make sense to me and I can mirror them.  I crochet and needle tat, among other hobbies, all right handed.  But those two are unusual in that the dominant hand holds the tool, while the other hand does all the real work manipulating the thread.  Look up    needle tatting lace    on YouTube to check out a kissing cousin to fly tying.  I think needle tatting is the reason I am more comfortable tying in hand than in a vise and why I like holding the thread.  But to be fair, I am using my hand held vise with a Bobby pin.. I was using a needle tatting needle as a pin for my tube flies and it worked okay to hand hold and great for in my vise, if someone wants an idea for that.  I use hair bobby pins now, so I don’t ruin my needles with the vise teeth.  Plus they are super cheap and crimped, so they hold the tube really well, no spin. I live far from stores so have to make do with what I got or wait till we make a town run.  I tried all kinds of textile needles, wire, anything, as a tube needle and Bobby pins win hands down. 
 Anyhow, I love crocheting, crafting and making things, and fishing.  Fly tying is so much fun, i just love it!  My family probably will appreciate this forum more than me, because none of them tie flies or fish. I’m suspect they are sick of me talking about it.  I think they were relieved when the lake froze over and I couldn’t fish no more.  But luckily, I rediscovered tying flies!!!!  Lately I noticed everyone is just nodding and smiling with their eyes glazed over when I’m around.  Then suddenly, they have something else to do in a different room, so the clues are there.
 

best regards, LisaLou

[SilverCreek 0]

Let me be the first to welcome you!

[niveker 0]

Welcome indeed.  From the sound of it, you may have a few things to teach us.  

[chugbug27 0]

Awesome intro. Welcome aboard. Those tatting skills will do you really well with fly tying. (I had to look it up...) 

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

LL,

Welcome to the site. You will find this a supportive site. As you become comfortable, post your flies or ask questions. There are many outstanding tyers and knowledgeable people to support your growth. I would encourage you to check out the fly swaps and flies of the month. 
Tom

[WWKimba 0]

Welcome to the site from a born and bred central NYer.  I've been tying flies for over 50 years ansd hosting fly swaps for the past 14 years.  Check one out on this site if you'd like - always love to see new faces!  Here are a few thigs to keep in mind when discussing your tying:

1) the FIRST manmade tying material was wool yarn

2) the first national/international professional fly tyers were women hired by the Orvis Company under the guise of Mary Orvis Marbury (who also compiled the FIRST fly tying book on American fly patterns!).

3) Torill Kolbui is known for her woven fly patterns, skills she developed via her needle and crochet skills.

There's more but I just hate to brag!😉

I look forward to seeing your posts!

Kim

BTW, check here for over 200 fly patterns from your home state - https://www.michigandryflies.net/.  I ran into Tom's work when he was a contributor to the FAOL site back in it's heyday (flyanglersonline.com).

[cphubert 0]

LL welcome from Connecticut, looks like you are off to a good start. I hope to learn things from you, this forum is a interesting place to help develop your style of tying looking forward to seeing your work. 

[LisaLou 0]

Thanks for all the replies and warm welcome everyone.  Here are some of my better efforts and some of the tools I am using.  My dubbing spinner is a fidget toy with articulated arms glued to a hockey puck and a bit of wire and rubber band.  Some of my dubbing efforts are in the background on the macrame board.   The feathered ones are thread done Clark block style.  The fat ones are just acrylic dubbing spun into worms, with no core thread.
 My hand vise is a vise head and a Bobby pin, plus a tiny hair band and rubber ban.  I put tubing over the half finger ring but got to do better as it slips off.  I can dangle it from my pinky to use both hands to cut a feather or whatever if I have to.  I can use all my fingers because really I don’t have to hold it at all and I often slip it off my index finger to do a Manuever or hook it over a different finger if it’s what I need to do, all without dropping it because of the soft pinky ring.  I don’t always crank down on the Bobby pin, sometimes I like a little swivel for what I’m doing., that’s why the pin is below the screw, with a clear rubber band to keep it from sliding down any further.  It’s also super easy to loosen and pull the pin out and switch it, if case I want to try something right handed.  Sometimes I have to do something right handed because the video or pictures are presented that way, then switch back to left handed once I got it figured out.

  I tried sitting at the big vise mounted on my desk last night and didn’t do great, but I’m warming up to it. It’s just so convenient to flip my hand around and hold it two inches from my nose. I need better glasses as I’m seeing all kinds of clean up that is needed looking at the pictures of my flies, lol.

 Anyhow, I see we can post on our own timeline and will look for the diy gadget area to post my gadgets.  If anyone has interest, I can do a video of making a dubbing worm using the fidget spinner.  I have been reading this forum for a while and hope to give a little something back.  I have a different perspective coming from a heavy crafting background and trying just about every fiber art ever invented.

best regards, LisaLou

[niveker 0]

You're very clever. Nice flies. 

[chugbug27 0]

Neat!

I really like that in-hand vise. I've tried to tie in hand with just a vise jaw to hold the hook, and also just fingers, but quickly gave up. I might have to give your style contraption a go for another try. I like that it sits on your hand freeing up all fingers.

[LisaLou 0]

On 12/19/2023 at 4:13 PM, WWKimba said:

Welcome to the site from a born and bred central NYer.  I've been tying flies for over 50 years ansd hosting fly swaps for the past 14 years.  Check one out on this site if you'd like - always love to see new faces!  Here are a few thigs to keep in mind when discussing your tying:

1) the FIRST manmade tying material was wool yarn

2) the first national/international professional fly tyers were women hired by the Orvis Company under the guise of Mary Orvis Marbury (who also compiled the FIRST fly tying book on American fly patterns!).

3) Torill Kolbui is known for her woven fly patterns, skills she developed via her needle and crochet skills.

There's more but I just hate to brag!😉

I look forward to seeing your posts!

Kim

BTW, check here for over 200 fly patterns from your home state - https://www.michigandryflies.net/.  I ran into Tom's work when he was a contributor to the FAOL site back in it's heyday (flyanglersonline.com).

Thank you very much for all the great info.  The patterns website is really amazing.  The patterns are pdf format and I’m in the processing of saving them all.  

[WWKimba 0]

9 hours ago, LisaLou said:

Thank you very much for all the great info.  The patterns website is really amazing.  The patterns are pdf format and I’m in the processing of saving them all.  

If you'd like to store your fly patterns on your computer you could try this program - https://www.delawareriverflyfishing.net/flyfree/flyfree.html.  It's a free program I use to store my personal pattern list (6,000+ and growing) as well as my cross reference tags tied to my fly swap themes.  For example I have over 90 patterns that fit my "You Give Me the Woolly's Swap" that I am currently running on this site.  The program takes a few seconds to load and I have found no malware or other bugs in the program.  All you do when using it is think outside the box a bit when using it.  You can't modify the program but simply utilize the boxes as needed.  For example, there is not a box for claw material if you were saving a crayfish pattern, figure a different way to input - I just put "claws" in the "tail" portion then the material used (crayfish are tied backwards so why not!).

Try it out if you'd like and I would be happy to let you in on some changes I've made using the pattern to meet my needs.

Kim