Questions from 3FL2

[3FL2 0]

1. Whats the best pattern to learn on?

2. What's the best book to learn basic tying skills?

3. The whip finish..Yea... What's the best way with the tool or with out?

4. Who makes the best vise for the money?

5. How do you get the wings say elk hair to stay on with out sliding off? I tried the pinch method- No good

6. What other tips should a beginner know?

Your help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[SkinnyPole 0]

Here is a good starting point

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=10953

 

Good Luck

 

Skinny

[flytyingscotsman 0]

3FL2,

Just a tip for getting the most out of the forum; limit your posts to a couple

of questions at a time - the forum members have answers to all of your questions

but not everyone has the time to elaborate on a whole laundry list !

 

I'll weigh in on a couple :-

 

Best pattern - I could pick a pattern and say it's the easiest fly to tie and start off with, but if you

don't need any for fishing with it's just a waste of time. Get your short list of flies you will be fishing

with together and pick out what looks like the easiest (less materials usually corresponds to less

complexity).

 

Books for Learning Tying Skills - Video is the best medium for learning. There is a bunch of stuff

on 'YouTube' you could view (sorry - my learning days were pre-video by a long shot, so I can't

help with DVD titles, but they are out there).

 

Whip Finish - Matarelli whip finish tool gets my vote, although many tiers prefer other tools or

whipping by hand - it's a personal preference thing.

 

Best vise for the money - State your budget ! There are too many good vises at radically different

price points.

 

Other tips a beginner should know -

1) www.flytyingforum.com - you already figured this one out by yourself

 

2) Drive your materials purchases strictly from your fly pattern list, to avoid buying a whole bunch

of stuff you'll never use.

 

Good luck !

[3FL2 0]

flytyingscotsman,

Thank you very much for all of your help. I was just excited to post all of my questions, That I listed them all at once. I have found already that If I tie a llitle each night (like when my girlfriend is watching Top Chef, I can tie right through that show), Helps me to get the simple routine steps and skills down. I have tied wolly buggers and elk hair caddis so far and they look nothin like they are suppose to look... Practice makes almost perfect..thanks again

[flytyingscotsman 0]

 

3FL2 I think you are really onto something. If I disciplined myself to tie every time

my wife was watching some show I don't like, I would probably be the best tyer I know ! :hyst:

 

Practice makes perfect as you say. When I get into my winter tying, I find that

after having tied a half dozen of a particular pattern I'm really starting to get it all

down - it seems boring to stick with the same fly over and over, but you'll get better

results than if you jump around from pattern to pattern.

 

When I first started, the razor blade was one of the handiest tools I had - if I didn't like

the fly I had just tied, I would cut everything from the hook and start again.

 

Also, bear in mind that a lot of flies are tied to catch anglers ...

 

Thankfully fish don't demand anywhere near this level of perfection !

 

 

 

[3FL2 0]

I now Have Elk hairs down so that they actually look like Elk hair caddis. I tied some last night in sizes 16 and 12, During a movie my girlfriend and her friend were watching...I now tie every time they watch any show that I don't care watching. Wolly buggers are supposed to be one of the easiest to tie but The head keeps coming out narrow, and doesn't look good. But I keep practicing, I'm going to try to tie a new pattern tomorrow, ANY suggestions?? I want to try nymphs or another dry fly. flytyingscotsman: I have found the same with cutting flies that dont come out right. And I have heard that nice looking flies catch people and ugly flies catch fish!!

[streamcaddis 0]

I have heard that nice looking flies catch people and ugly flies catch fish!!

No truer words were ever spoken......... :yahoo:

[flytyingscotsman 0]

Wolly buggers are supposed to be one of the easiest to tie but The head keeps coming out narrow, and doesn't look good.

 

Not exactly sure what you mean about 'narrow' heads on your wooly buggers, but I'll guess.

 

Maybe this is a thread build-up problem, i.e. in order to make the head look conical and in-proportion

to the body of the fly, some thread build-up is called for. Obviously the finer the thread, the more

wraps it will take to get this accomplished (on flies requiring lots of build-up I usually use 3/0 to

get it done quicker).

 

Don't be afraid to put lots of wraps on there to get it to look 'right' (there is no prescribed number, just use

as many as it takes).

 

I say 'right' in quotes, because again, the fish more than likely don't care ....

 

 

[Stillwater 0]

When I started tying I paid a guy ten bucks to teach me to tie a wolly bugger. It is an easy pattern and usefull as well. A few years later I took a class that refined my tying skills.

 

I enjoy my Renzetti vise but I think that is personal preferance.

 

I had trouble with elk hair caddis wings when I started but practice has improved my skills.

 

Personally I think that the Materelli(sp) whip finisher is the best choice.

 

The best thing to learn is to have fun tying, if you are getting upset walk away and have a beverage or something and try again later.

[rockworm 0]

3FL2

 

On the tying of elk hair wings: The traditional pinch doesn't work that well. What I do is hold the clump of hair firmly in place with my left hand; then I begin wrapping the thread, from the head, BACKWARD (towards the tail) while holding the clump so it doesn't rotate around the hook. Depending on the thickness of the hair clump it may take 10 to 15 turns to anchor the wing.

 

If the hair gets broken by your thread as you tye, you may want to use heavier thread (or get stronger hair)

.