Good bye flies

[Poopdeck 0]

So I tie a lot of flies just to see how different materials are to work with, how it might mesh with other materials, and most importantly how it fishes. I tie flies and put them in my boxes to test. I only carry a handful of fly boxes at a time so every winter I go through my boxes and remove worn flies, flies I didn’t like and flies I never fished. Here are some that I will recycle the hook and tie some more testers for the new year. I was wondering what everybody else does with all the flies we may tie?

[flytire 0]

 

i have 3 boxes like this

ive been giving flies away on various swaps

i'll never use them in the time i have left on earth

salmon and steelhead flies i'l never use

Streamers i'll never use

[DFoster 0]

I've been tying for 15 years or so and as I get a little bit more accomplished at the craft some of the surviving flies that I tied say 5 years ago now look amateurish to my eye. However as they still will catch fish I'm not quite ready to cut them down.  So I have a box of "seconds".   These are either flies that I know I can do a better job of tying now or flies that for whatever reason just have never produced on my local trout streams.   My seconds box is kept in my micro pack which I use for Blue Gill, Fall Fish and River Herring on nearby streams.  When I'm short on time I can go fishing without making a huge production out of it.  When I trout fish I have my vest, 5 boxes of flies, net, waders, base layers, boots, wading staff and a 30 to 60 minute car ride.  It's really nice to have the option to grab my micro pack with the box of seconds, a pair of Muck boots and walk 936' from my back door.  The great thing about fishing seconds is that I can get really brave about where I'm casting them.  If I loose them, and I often do, so what?  They weren't perfect anyway.  

[niveker 0]

The Winter purge is in progress right now - I go through one box at a time.  

[RickZieger 0]

I have a lot of some materials that are for proven flies that I use.  So I tie for 4 friends and send a lot of flies to CFR and RR. 

 

[cphubert 0]

I have two small plastic pails with lids, one with flies that failed my inspection at the bench they get recycled for hooks, the second one in my truck has flies that I culled for no reason or did not fish / ride the way I wanted, they are given away usually on stream or lake side. I also have a couple special occasion boxes that consists of flies given to me that I fish with high hopes of catching on a friend's pattern.

[Poopdeck 0]

It’s kind of funny how we tie flies, we fish some, we give some away, we lose some, yet we still store and cut apart many more. It’s the hobby that keeps giving even when we don’t need the flies.  

[Gene L 0]

14 hours ago, niveker said:

The Winter purge is in progress right now - I go through one box at a time.  

What's that multi-testicle looking thing on your vise?  A material clip?

 

 

[LisaLou 0]

I’m going to guess they are tiny hair clips for holding hackles back and other clipping needs.  They come with different moldings, some plain, some to suggest a butterfly or flower.

[LisaLou 0]

51 minutes ago, Gene L said:

What's that multi-testicle looking thing on your vise?  A material clip?

 

 

Now that I look at some of them …… lol  Not a butterfly or flower

[niveker 0]

6 hours ago, Gene L said:

A material clip?

 

5 hours ago, LisaLou said:

tiny hair clips

Exactly, a hair clip I use as a material holder.  

[DFoster 0]

9 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

It’s kind of funny how we tie flies, we fish some, we give some away, we lose some, yet we still store and cut apart many more. It’s the hobby that keeps giving even when we don’t need the flies.  

Well said.  Most of my tying is simply to fill in the empty spaces left in my boxes, casualties from the previous year.  In my trout vest I carry 5 boxes, nymphs, winged wets, dries, soft hackles and small streamers. My smallmouth pack contains 1 large box of streamers.  Not a huge amount to support with replacements but my time at the bench is limited due to a busy life.  Probably 70% of my flies are tied from Thanksgiving to April 1st because I want to spend my free time fishing during the nicer weather. Tying from April through November is reserved for resupplies of "must haves", preferably tied on rainy days.  

Sometimes I tie flies as gifts, usually for people who are new to fly fishing.  I like to help someone who is just starting out, filling fly boxes with store bought flies gets expensive quick and most of them will be lost to inexperience.  I remember when I was just learning, how many of my flies fell victim to submerged objects, trees and poorly tied knots -  still do, thankfully just not as many. 🙂 

[DarrellP 0]

I give them to Casting for Recovery.

[RickZieger 0]

 I remember when I was just learning, how many of my flies fell victim to submerged objects, trees and poorly tied knots -  still do, thankfully just not as many. 🙂 

 

•  
• QuoteIf I I don't loose a couple of flies I am not fishing close enough to places warmwater fish located..\
•  

[jcozzz 0]

My tying has been intermittent the last 20 years or so.Now retired and going thru stuff i have way more stuff than i ever thought i did.Used to even sell some flies.Simple bluegill spiders poppers etc.I recentlytossed 100s of flies feathers etc.Was gonna recycle the hooks but not wasting time on that.I have 1000s of hooks  i will never use.Now mostly tying what works for the mostly warmwater fishing i do.Also getting rid of my "collections" of vintage flyrods reels flies lures man cave crap.Traveling light on my way out of this life like i did as young man.Nothing sadder than going to an estate sale and seeing some poor guys life ,tools,toys,treasures etc being sold off .At some point our "stuff" owns us.Keeping all my tying stuff for now ,maybe a couple grand kids will take to it.