How many flies

[ditz2 0]

I do agree with Crackaig on vise position. I don't tie for extended times and if I tie a dozen of anything it is a long session. I do use a clamp and not a pedestal. This gets the vise closer to me but I really like the setup that he showed. I may try to get some way to get my vise closer to me also. I use a danvise so I will need to get creative.

[Crackaig 0]

At one time I has a load of extensions made. They were just 3/8" BDMS bar bent at 90 degrees with some tube welded to one end. The tube had a couple of allen screws in to hold the vice stem. You may have to adjust the sizing to fit your vice. They cost less to get made than the allen keys I had to sell with them, as I couldn't source thumb screws at the time. (Sorry BDMS - Bright drawn mild steel).

Cheers,

C.

[vicrider 0]

Funny but in my case I put the pedestal on top of a 2" piece of hard foam to lift it higher for my eyes. See, my problem is not with my arms or my back but my neck. If I tied with my neck tilted down to look at vise I'd end up after that session in traction to get chin back up. My bikes all had bars at shoulder level and I've got thousands of miles on them with some 1000 mile days so I guess my arms are adapted to reaching straight out.

[Stevester 0]

I remember a number of years ago there was an article in one of our US magazines about a woman in Scandinavia who was known for her woven body flies. She had a system of elastic loaded straps to hold her arm up for long sessions of tying. Anyone remember seeing that?

 

Steve

[Crackaig 0]

Toril Korbu was her name. Yes I recall it well

Cheers,

C.

[fshrmanms 0]

depends on the fly for me. certain techniques or materials aren't as friendly as others for instance my dubbing brushes never turn out like I picture them in my mind, while some flies come off the vise first time. When I do require the multiple tries I usually get in two to three tries.

[TheCream 0]

This has been brought up before. I firmly believe that there are 2 kinds of tier (just like there are 10 kinds of people - those that understand binary and those that don't). Those like yourself, that tie by rote, developing a rhythm, and those who tie deliberately. I would not say either is wrong or one better than the other. They are just different.

 

AK Best tiies by rhythm. He takes a few flies to get going. I tie deliberately. There is no rhythm to what I do it is slow and deliberate. If something goes wrong I will go back and put it right. This is slower, but doesn't produce sub standard flies. That to me is important. The kinds of order I will tie up is maybe one or two dozen of a pattern at a time. I don't tie huge numbers of a single pattern at one session. My absolute limit on tying is 10 dozen a day. When I have hit this, it has never been less than 8 different patterns. If I had to produce even three sub standard patterns each time I changed patterns, that could be 1/4 of my day spent producing sub standard work. That would mean a lot of materials wasted and tying very slowly overall.

 

So the answer to your question is I expect the first pattern to be right. That doesn't reflect any great talent, just a different approach.

Cheers,

C.

 

I'm the same way. I'm never in a hurry and would rather get it right than get it done faster.

[David Parker 0]

Well there's lots of differences noted above and shows how each of us have our own methods of tying. IMO, that's what makes our sport so interesting.

Tying for me is a way of de-stressing, relaxing, learning and enjoying what we do. I do not production tie and consider myself a perfectionist in everything I do..............drives my wife crazy at times!

I have favourites that I like to tie (Muddlers), but I do like to experiment with new materials and tie new patterns that I have found posted by other members of various sites. Being mainly a Bass and Pike fly guy, I love the bigger stuff, yet do attempt some smaller Trout patterns that hopefully will get me fishing for them in the future.

Some of the patterns I see on this site just blow me away, for the skill levels are something else. After 30 + yrs of tying, I still consider myself an intermediate tier, who is slow at what I do and won't settle for bad work.

Answer to the question......I tie when I get motivated, until I get tired, usually do one pattern at a time until I perfect it x 12.

[Crackaig 0]

In Production Fly Tying AK Best defined a production tier as someone who ties 2 or more of a pattern in a session.

 

Cheers,

C.

[WVUontheFLY 0]

Depends on the technique or fly I am tying. I can whip out some reverse tied buck tail musky flies in one attempt and get them all to look almost the same, except for when I run out of materials. But I attempted tying size 18 royal wulffs last night and transitioning from 6/0 down to 18 was a real challenge. My first two weren't bad, just needed to work on the body proportions and then I tied an 18 elk hair caddis and just needed a more robust section of wing. Most of the time my tying sessions are only 2-3 hours. I will normally tie 6-12 flies in this time and usually in 2-4 patterns. Articulated musky flies take a while, but those small flies take me almost just as long.

[sunsignarcher 0]

I just did a doz humpys n a doz ausable wulffs. If I know I'm doing that many I lay out all the materials on a small towel first. The nesessary hackles and the wings/tails cut, cleaned n stacked all ready go 13x.

 

13 because the first one is guaranteed to get the razor every time. Then it's off to the races. With everything laid out and uniform it's hard not to get good results.