What improvements could I make?

[Nebraskaflyer 0]

Hello, I was wondering what sort of improvements I could make when I'm tying. I'm still relatively new and have only been tying for about 5 months. Any critiquing would help a lot. Please don't be shy. I've posted a few pictures here for all to see. :dunno:

 

Thanks,

 

A.S.

 

[Calvin 0]

I think your bugs look great for someone who is just beginning. Your nymphs in particular look great. The zug bug looks like a good fish catcher, and I'm not familiar with the red and black striped pattern.

 

You could use a size or two smaller on the hackle on your dry fly and try to be a little more subtle in your progression from body to hackle, and from hackle to head. Still, everything looks very fishable.

 

Great work.

[Nebraskaflyer 0]

Calvin,

 

Thank you very much for your critique and info. What do you mean by more subtle? Do I need to make things tighter from body to hackle and hackle to head? The red and black pattern I tied was shown to me by a friend in Wyoming. It works wonderfully in the Hog Park area.

 

Thanks again,

 

A.S.

[Redwings1 0]

At first glans here are my two suggestions:

 

1. try using a little less dubbing on the thread. By doing so you will get a smoother fly body and will be able to more easily create the more subtle transition through the bod shape that Calvin refers to.

 

2. On the dry fly try adding a little more to the wing and use a hackle feather with a ilttle shorter fibers for that hook size.

 

I would say that for someone getting in to this you are on the right track!

[day5 0]

the only other real issue that I see (and you will have this problem forever but you will get better as time goes on) is the heads and crowding the eye. it happens to all of us still but like I said the more you tie and the more you learn the less of an issue you will have. Other wise :headbang: Right on!!!! Id fish em!!!

[maddog48 0]

I'd say .. fish them and let the fish decide if they're acceptable...

 

 

Mike

[flytire 0]

I'll agree wth day5 on this one.

 

Stay away from the space just behind the eye of the hook. It is reserved for the head of the fly, which means THREAD not dubbing, hackles etc. The eye of the hook is for the tippet not head cement. Clean out the eye BEFORE you get to the stream or where ever youre fishing.

[letumgo 0]

Nebraskaflyer -

 

Hey, that looks like a very nice set of trout flies and nicely tied. The one recommendation that I can make is to encourage you to set a goal of tying at least a half dozen of any pattern that you try your hand at. When I started tying flies I spent a lot of time tying one version of many different patterns, and most of mine looked terrible. I think my tying skills would have progressed faster if I had tied more copies of a single pattern until I got the hang of it.

 

I find that it takes me at least 3 versions of a fly before I get the hang of how to properly tye the pattern. If you find a pattern that you like, you may want to tye up a dozen of them at a time. Your results on fly 12 will be much better than your first fly.

 

Welcome to the site.

 

- Ray (letumgo)

[Nebraskaflyer 0]

Thank you everyone for your advice. Believe me, it is invaluable. I will use all of it.

 

Thanks again,

 

A.S.

 

[Calvin 0]

A.S.,

 

Everyone has given you great advice here. Less dubbing on the thread is exactly what I meant, I should have been more clear. Also, one of the great nuggets of wisdom here is to tie in half dozens. I remember when I first started, it was Elk Hair caddis by the dozens. I was so proud of those flies. Today, they sit in my reject bowl on my tying desk, but I doubt that I will ever recycle those hooks!

[Spanky 0]

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. This site and the folks involved have helped me tremendously. I just started in November myself.

1. Not crowding the eye is tough, especially on smaller patterns, but practice helps.

2. Nicely dubbed bodies come through practice. Too little is better, you can always add more.

3. Get a hackle guage or make one, it helps.

 

The best advice I can give as a fellow newbie is to keep browsing this site, you will learn a lot. Get involved in a couple of swaps, it will force to tie repetitions of the same pattern. For me it helps knowing that I'm tying for someone else, I try to be a little more precise.

 

Keep the vise light on!

 

Spanky

[Fez 0]

Make sure you fish even your ugliest flies. You might be surprised. Many times a fly i fish gets beat up and beat up and i leave it on because humans are lazy and low and behold it works even better all smashed up.