How long to get "proficient" at tying?

[TheCream 0]

 

Depends what your definition of proficient is ...........

Ditto.

 

Having hung out with Charlie Craven and the late Shane Stalcup. IMO they define proficient.

It comes from years of commercial tying. No wasted movement. No extra wraps.

So smooth they make it look easy.

I've been around some very innovative and creative tyers but sucked when it came to actually

tying. Other guys are actual machines just pumping out identical flies. Very rarely do you run across

someone who embraces both of those disciplines.

If you get a chance go into a local fly shop and watch the guy who ties for the shop.

They are usually very fast and consistent. Note how they move, how their 'kit' is set up, how their

materials are prepped and layed out. They can't afford to be sloppy. They are making money.

 

Charlie still ties for customers and for the shop. He can afford to just have his flies tied by Umpqua

but he still ties a lot of his own patterns. You'll find him pumping them out.

 

And BTW, have fun.

 

Kimo

 

 

I would add that Charlie's Fly Box is one of the finest fly shops I have ever set foot in, also. I was hoping to bump into Charlie but he wasn't in. I shot the breeze with Jay Zimmerman for a while, though. Pretty darn good wrapper of materials, himself.

[uncletube57 0]

I am self taught and I know the predicament you are in. I spent hours at the vise when i first started with not so good results. I learned to slow down and learned about perportions and that when it comes to thread that to keep it tight and the less turns the better ie 3 to 4 turns versus 7 or 8 , when dubbing don't use too much. Matching the size hackle you are using to the size hook is a big help.

What I am saying is develop your technique, take what you have tied and fish them, see how they work on the water. I have tied some in the past that I thought were butt ugly but, they caught fish. BUT MOST OF ALL KEEP PRACTICING and get yourself a good tying manuel I suggest The Complete Book of Fly Tying by Eric Lieser it will cost you about 35,00 , It covers a lot on the how to side of tying. But believe me It will help you out a bunch. another book called Production tying by A,K. Best is also a good choice.

Tight lines and drag free drifts always,

Tube

[missin44 0]

As I posted some where else before, but Ill add a couple.

1. Tie, tie, and tie.

2. keep tying don't get discouraged even if flies look like crap. They still catch fish.

3. Pick on pattern, go buy that fly at a shop to use as a standard. Find a Youtube

video shot in HD. Tie that fly over and over until it get to a quality you are happy with when matched to the fly you bought.

4. Don't forget #2

put the time in and you get better.

[Old Hat 0]

I've always found that after about the 3rd or 4th beer I become most proficient.

[flytire 0]

practice a technique

 

after 35+ years i finally wanted to see if i could tie a matuka wing. so thats what i tried

 

 

it needs some work getting the ribbing to be equally spaced along with the rear tie down, but after a few more it will get better

[notenuftoys 0]

I've always found that after about the 3rd or 4th beer I become most proficient.

 

Yep! Although I drink whiskey instead and get proficient quicker.

[flyty1 0]

This thread got me thinking about how learninig to make flies has changed over the years. I can remember the deep satisfaction I felt when I learned something from a book and actually could see my progress from fly to fly. Having some sort of personal instruction made the learning curve for more advanced techniques much more compact. But now with video instruction, one can get visual "lessons" from many different tyers...I would like to think the same joy I remember from my beginning days still shows up - at least when you find the fish interested in your handywork.

[Poopdeck 0]

Sure it does. It just shows up quicker nowadays

[brooktrout308 0]

I don't think anybody knows everything about fly tying or fly fishing, its a life long learning experience, and a wonderful one at that.

[professori 0]

Every time this or similar topics come up, I am amazed at how many tiers chime in with "It doesn't matter if it is perfect, if it fools fish, it's good enough." or something along those lines. If you want to become proficient, strive to make every fly perfect. For me at least, the act of tying a fly has to satisfy me above all else. I know my flies will catch fish, but I also know that my best flies will catch bigger fish, more fish and more fish on fewer casts. It might not be the actual perfection of the flies that counts, but for certain the confidence I have in them does. Keep working at it and you will become more proficient.

[Poopdeck 0]

I have the opposite feeling of amazement. I'm always amazed how, or why, the perfect master fly tier topics come up. What it comes down to is those who view fly tying as art see Beauty and expression in materials and proportions. Then there are those who see a fly merely as a tool to catch fish. it's fine to be either one.

 

I think it's a difference of how we define perfect. If it catches fish it's perfect. If your after legendary fly tier status amongst other tiers than it doesn't matter if it catches fish as long as it falls into somebodies definition of perfect. Not quite sure how one can equate big fish with perfect flies but if that's what you have confidence in then all the better. We all routinely experience catching fish on flies that have been hammered into oblivion and out of anybodies definition of perfect so the perfect fly theory goes right out the window.

 

My biggest problem with this whole idea of a perfect fly is the representations of the actual flies look absolutely nothing like the real thing. I mean absolutely nothing like the real thing. A fish does not have the brain capacity or reasoning abilities to know a thorax is suppose to be X of the wing case or the hackle length needs to be X of the hook gap. These are rules people assign to a fly. To a fish it doesn't mean a single thing. as long as the fly is about the same size as everything else it's been eating and it's presented correctly a fish will eat it. Anything else is simply what people tying flies think of a fly and what a fish sees. This is perfectly fine as some view fly tying as art requiring perfection. I require my flies to catch fish and nothing more. Fortunately this is much easier to do than it is to be accepted as a master tier among other tiers.

[notenuftoys 0]

Every time this or similar topics come up, I am amazed at how many tiers chime in with "It doesn't matter if it is perfect, if it fools fish, it's good enough." or something along those lines. If you want to become proficient, strive to make every fly perfect. For me at least, the act of tying a fly has to satisfy me above all else. I know my flies will catch fish, but I also know that my best flies will catch bigger fish, more fish and more fish on fewer casts. It might not be the actual perfection of the flies that counts, but for certain the confidence I have in them does. Keep working at it and you will become more proficient.

 

Perfect? Or consistent?

[HMK 0]

Like everything it requires practice. Try to find a group that ties in your area and join the fun. Lots of Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops have weekly meetings or maybe a local fly fishing group. When I first started I was lucky to find like minded individuals and it cut the learning curve considerably and it was a lot of fun too.

[Stoneflylama72 0]

When you can get all the materials required for a pattern on the hook without crowding the eye you are pretty proficient. Probably took me 50-100 practice flies when I first started to make a few decent looking ones. Still takes me 2-3 flies when tying a new pattern to get proportions decent. The fish ate plenty poorly proportioned flies when Those were the only ones I had. Now I fish a well tied fly with more confidence so it catches more fish, if I put a fly in my box that I consider sub par, it never gets fished so doesn't catch anything. If I'm catching a lot of fish, sometimes I give a few flies to someone who isn't catching as many. I tie all the flies I fish, I substitute materials I have on hand for the exact materials called for in a new pattern. I change small details of new patterns to suit the local bugs/fish and myself. I often simplify new patterns. This is just how I have learned over about 20+ years of hobby tying. I still don't like spinning deer hair or tying big complicated streamers, but if that were what the fish ate most around here I'm sure I would be better by now. I'm definitely impressed by those who are experts and professional tyers. There are so many techniques, tricks, patterns and materials out there that somebody can get as deep into tying as they want.

[SBPatt 0]

It won't happen overnight, but if you take the time to master thread control and proportion (position and amounts) there won't be any fly/technique you won't be able to learn.

 

book called Production tying by A,K. Best is also a good choice.

Just my opinion, but after flailing around on the vise for years, this book showed me the proper way to tie, from setup, thru material selection, to tying, with the emphasis on thread control and proportion. Might as well start out the right way, and this book will teach you that.

 

 

Charlie Craven and the late Shane Stalcup. IMO they define proficient.

No wasted movement. No extra wraps.

Charlie has a great site http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/index.cfm with some of the best step-by-step instructions you'll ever see. It's worth checking out, and any of his books are great, too. A master of thread control and proportion, even if he ties left-handed, and backwards, to boot.

 

I'd include Hans Weilenmann's videos, too. Another master of thread control and proportion; you'll never see a single wasted wrap of thread from him and all his flies, whether you care for the particular pattern or not, are perfectly balanced.

 

just practice practice practice

Practice, practice, practice

This

 

BTW, have fun.

And, most importantly, this.

 

Regards,

Scott