Fly/ Fly Tier of the Month

[Mike West 0]

I I don't see this happening here. There are so many talented tiers here.

 

Why not....I know it's not a competition, it's the love for the art and the sport.

 

I just thought it would kind of fun though to have a poll once a month to see what other members thought was the best fly tied or the best fly tier.

 

What do you folks think?

[Poopdeck 0]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, ummmmmmmmmmmmmm First my disclaimer - I don't view fly tying as art or fishing as a sport or competition. I do recognize that others do. I'm pretty sure I won't compete or cast a vote for best fly tier or for the purdeist fly but others may enjoy doing just that. I don't see the need but If others derive enjoyment from such a thing go for it.

[Flat Rock native 0]

If this goes, in my opinion, there needs to be two categories one for fly, and one for tier. You may also need a 7 person committee to nominate x fly or tiers, as there are over 28,000 members of this forum. And, while talking about Rules, you, MikeWest, Must furnish the trophies for each month, namely Mike West original ties, for at least the first year;)

 

 

Good luck, I will say nothing more about this endeavor except you have some work ahead!

[mikechell 0]

I voted NO ... emphatically, NO!

 

No to flies for one complicated reason ...

 

Too many great flies.

We have the "from the vise" thread for each month. We have tutorial threads of flies that don't show up in the monthly thread. We have flies that get posted on their own threads for some reason. Any of them might produce what some would nominate as "Fly of the month.

So ... would the flies be picked from anywhere on the site? Or would you be suggesting yet another monthly fly thread just for the voting? Ugh ... it's already confusing enough, keeping up with all the threads.

 

There's already many flies being posted on different threads. At this moment, there are 285 posts on this month's "from the vise" thread. About 220 of them have pictures of flies. Many of those have more than one fly on them.

 

There's just too many flies, to pick ONE of them as THE fly of the month is impossible. Even if we had categories (i.e. classical, nymph, popper, etc.) it would still be monumentally difficult to pick just one fly.

 

No to fly tiers for another complicated reason:

What's the basis for voting?

1) popularity

2) shear number of flies posted

3) most innovative

4) most expensive materials used

5) most materials put on one hook

6) largest fly ... smallest fly

7) prettiest fly

8) closest copy of a "known" fly

9) any combination of the above or other considerations not listed

 

I don't think we need a popularity contest on this site. I've seen such "beauty contests" ruin other sites. Some people take their nominee very seriously, and are deeply offended when that one doesn't win.

Witness the Presidential election: We don't need "Post Election Stress Disorder" on FTF.

Let's keep it all about the fun of the hobby.

[saltydancindave 0]

Have been in one fly/fly tier competition & won with a realistic dragon fly that wasn't even a saltwater pattern; which was at the time one of the most difficult flies I'd ever tied. Tied up 1/2 a dozen before the last one tied was respectable enough to be submitted as it was more of a personal challenge to see what all those years of tying too dang big uglies that caught fish could have been........

[shoebop 0]

Most fly contests are really a "best photograph" contests. There are some really great photographers here and some, like me, are just hacks or don't have the equipment or the software to produce nice macros. On that basis,Kimo or Eide would win every month...no matter what fly they tied. Don't misunderstand, they are great tiers too but they have invested a lot into photography equipment. Personally, I enjoy the laid back aura here. I can post my photos next to Kimo's and not be concerned.

 

If you decide to go ahead with the contest, I would have a separate thread that entrants would post their photos for consideration and only those would be judged. A list of qualities that the judges must consider should be listed in the first post. Several categories should be established to even the playing field. It is hard for a panfish fly to compete with a fancy salmon fly with married wings.

[Kudu 0]

What Mike said!

[Bimini15 0]

I am all for praising great flies and tiers in the forum, but it would be hard and most likely unfair to choose just one. I am not even sure I fully appreciate the tecnique and difficulty that goes into tying a lot of the patterns I see, not enough to count me as a qualified vote, anyways.

[GC59 0]

NO, for all the reasons above.

[Mike West 0]

Ok never mind then..some good points were made

[Poopdeck 0]

Don't you want to wait until the other 27991 members cast thier vote before throwing in the towel?

[Mike West 0]

Don't you want to wait until the other 27991 members cast thier vote before throwing in the towel?

[Adam Saarinen 0]

28,000 members? More then 25,000 have come & gone! Truth! Some come & go! Few stay on! Sad but true, it's unbelievable how good the flytying is on all the flyfishing forums i've been looking into lately!

[DavidR 0]

Give it to Kimo and be done with it.

 

Yeah, I voted no ....the stuff Eide, PeteJay and Kimo tie to name a few inspire me, beyond that I'd hate to see the pleasure turn into something else.

[Mike West 0]

Good macros aren't hard to do Nor does it take expensive cameras or expensive software.

I bought a Sony H2 when It first came out so it was a little pricy maybe $400 and a Macro lens for it $25

Today that camera isn't worth $50 and you can buy a better one for around $200. It's in a

Storage shed in CA. I didn't know diddly about photography when I bought it I went to the website

DP Review and edgucated myself..D/L something called "The White Papers"

Written by a member there, it's a laymans "how to" on the Sony H1

Next thing I know I'm taking stunning photos and Macros.

I really got into Macros of insects and flowers...have 1000's of them

Went to my son-in-law's wedding and I just randomly took pictures, they also hired a professional photographer....3/4 of the pictures they liked the best and kept

were mine.. he charged them a $1000, all I charged was food and beer.

 

It's not hard to do just requires a little motivation to want to learn how to do it.

Sure you could get hooked and spend 10's of 1000 of dollars on equipment but you can also take stunning photos like Kimo for a couple hundered