Fish or flies?

[Papasequoia 0]

Hello all, I guess I am an advanced beginner? I have dabbled in tying flies for a couple of years now, but haven't made a really concerted effort. However, with early snows here in CA I have more time for tying than for fishing, so I have decided that this is the year to take that next step. You know, the one where you go from tying the simple stuff like wooly buggers to the harder stuff. I was wondering whether to introduce myself with a picture or with a picture of a fly that I have (tried to) tie. I shudder to show any of my flies, so at first I opted for a picture of me by way of introduction. This is in Yellowstone last summer.

 

 

But then I thought that this is a fly tying forum, and everyone starts off at the beginning, right? So, to be fair, if I'm going to pass myself off as an "advanced" beginner I really should put up at least one picture of a fly that I tied. So, I decided to post a picture of the fly that made me realize that as a beginner, I could still catch fish even if I hadn't done a perfect job. (Fast water and hungry fish sure helped a lot on this day though) I called this fly my "bondage fly" because the dubbing came loose while trying to finish off this parachute adams, so I went back, tied it down, then went back forward again.

 

 

Maybe not the worst fly I ever tied, but it's up there! It took me a long time to be able to somewhat be able to tie a parachute type fly. I was about to give up tying altogether. Then I caught several of these wild rainbows on a small creek near Bishop, CA

 

 

So, I decided to stick with it. Videos have helped me more than any books, web instructions with pictures, or even friend's instructions. Why? Because I often found it helpful to play the video of tying a fly I was trying to tie over and over before tying so that I was clear on the instruction. But, I'm now at the point where I think I can start tying some harder flies and a video, while helpful, is not always available or necessary if one is doing similar steps that have been used before. I had some questions about a couple of flies I'm going to try soon and before ordering the materials I had a couple of questions, and that is what led me to this website. Hopefully at some point I can contribute in addition to asking. If anyone wants some pointers on a bondage fly, drop me a line! In any case, I thought I would introduce myself first. Back to the bench!

[MIKE*A 0]

Welcome Aboard! Great Pix! The best fly critics out there are the fish.......They obviously approve! :headbang:

 

Mike

[WYKnot 0]

Welcome to the forun.

 

I agree with Mike, the only critics that matter are fish.