Is there really a wrong way to tie a fly?

[bowmike 0]

I would say and advise this.

 

Learn the processes. Once you have the processes down, then manipulate them to your liking. I am a huge proponent on building a foundation built on learning processes,

 

threading hook

correctly applying dubbing

counter ribbing

tying in wing cases

applying soft hackle,

ETC.....

 

Once you get all of the processes down well, it is easy to break them out and mix and match to create your own stuff.

 

Here is one of those "had the idea pop in my head so I tried it deals. I have been having a lot of success on soft hackle stuff. I don't follow the rules of proportions and such with those at all but still slam the heck out of fish with them. So I wanted to try something different. Came up with this coyote ugly nymph. hideous as can be.

 

Break it down into processes that I picked up from other patterns. Pretty much tying in a hair tail ( hares ear nymph), evenly dubbing the body (walts worm), tying in ribbing (hares ear), reverse tying the longer strands of coyote fur (fur, feather, flash musky flies)

 

A good way to learn processes is to master a few patterns, start easy then build up

walts worm

sexy walts

hare ear

hares ear soft hackle

 

Kind of like an evolution of a pattern if you will.

 

There really are no rules, put proper processes I feel are mandatory to tie a durable fly.

[BobHRAH 0]

Varying the colors and/or materials for a given pattern does not make the fly 'wrong'; it's all about what you want to achieve.

 

Some of the things that make a fly 'wrong' are 1) bad proportions that mess up the function of the fly (eg parachute posts so big that the fly falls over all the time), 2) over-dressing by using too much material, 3) soaking the fly with cement after addition of each component, 4) failing to use tight thread wraps.

 

Thanks, Bob H

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Something to remember, too, about established patterns is that they, like so many other patterns, were often informed as much by what materials the original tier had on hand as anything else. A good example of this is the Adams dry fly -- I believe it was originally tied with Golden Pheasant tippets for the tail. I doubt many people tie them like that anymore, probably because good high-quality dry fly hackle with barbs stiff enough to be used as tails (and a whole lot more realistic-looking than the Golden Pheasant) have become readily available in recent decades.

 

I once sat down to tie up a floating deer hair bug for smallmouth bass. Normally, I would tie a fly like that on a wide-gap bass bug or "stinger" hook, but I was all out of those, so I used a 4X long streamer hook with a Limerick bend instead--about the last thing most people would ever choose for a floating bass bug. I tied the head/body of the bug on the forward half of the hook shank, and the long saddle hackle tails, instead of hanging off the bend, I tied so they shrouded the rearward half of the shank and the hook bend. That fly ended up catching so many fish for me --both smallies and brown trout; it's a good mouse imitation as well-- that I've tied dozens and dozens of them over the years since tying that first one. It turned out that, by having the hook point back near the ends of the saddle hackle tails, I hooked a lot of fish that I normally would have missed because they were just nipping at the ends of the tails. Necessity can be the mother of invention, but so can a happy accident.