Best Beginner Saltwater Fly Tying Book

[FlorentineJohn 0]

Hi.

 

I enjoy tieing freshwater flies. I don't tie as often as I should, nor am I fast when tieing, but I do enjoy this form of "art therapy," especially when a fish decides to go after one.

 

I'd like to learn how to tie saltwater patterns such as crease flies, EP-style bunker flies (narrow but tall,) deceivers, big poppers that have a large, loose foam head... and anything else well-known to catch stripers and blues. Is there a book that could teach me these things step-by-step? It's easier for me to tie flies from a book than from the internet. It'd be great if the book weren't limited to flies created by one person, and it would be nice if there were some indication of when each fly works best, and how to fish it. A description/guide to the bewildering array of synthetic materials available to saltwater tyers would help, too (angel hair, diamond hair, bozo fiber, EP fibers, polar fiber, polar flash, yak hair, bucktail, corsair tubing, ez tubing, monocord, flat waxed nylon, gel-spun thread, monofilament, kinky hair... etc. - yikes!).

 

Is there a book you'd recommend? Looking at Amazon.com I found the following books:

• Introduction to Salt Water Fly Tying by Scott Sanchez
• Essential Saltwater Flies by Ed Jaworowski
• Saltwater Fly Tying by Frank Wentink
• Tying Saltwater Flies: 12 Of the Best by Deke Meyer

There were other books, but they were either lists of patterns, or dedicated to the flies of one tyer only.

 

The first two books look particularly good, as they were recently written and have numerous patterns with step-by-step directions.

 

I'm writing hoping that someone with more experience can point me in the right direction, or that a beginner like me has had a chance to compare the top two books.

 

Thanks!

 

PS I may be pushing this, but if you are willing to, I'd like to have your opinion/suggestions on the following matters:

- Is there a less-toxic epoxy alternative? Nothing tremendously expensive, though.

- Is there a way to delay the yellowing of epoxy over time? (Use 30 minute epoxy?)

- How do you find out what fish are feeding on -- therefore which fly to use? Sometimes I don't see anything.

- Are there any sources of cheap saltwater fly tying materials? For example, eyes, saddle hackles to tie Abrames-style flies, and EZ-body tubing are quite expensive - and not always easy to find.

 

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[Fred H. 0]

can't help on the book selection.as for the yellowing epoxy any color addative will stop this.As far as patterns it would help to know your target speices . I live on the gulf coast and most of the inland fish feed on shrimp, crabs and fish.My most productive pattern for many species imitates a menhaden shad. My pattern for larger fish is a striped mullet. Hope this helps.

Fred

[FlorentineJohn 0]

Thank you for your email Fred.

 

My target species are mostly striped bass and bluefish.

~

Could you tell me more about color additives for epoxy? What kind? Where do you get them? Is there a way to keep it clear/transparent?

 

[Fred H. 0]

John , the best Addvice I can give you on those speices is to post a thread on this site under saltwater and ask for everyone's top striper and bluefish flies .Although we have both species here we catch them with such rarity that I know of noone here that targets them specificly.

As far as colorant. You can pick up some wood stain from a lumber yard .A very small amount will not change the epoxy's color much and the additives in the stain will keep the epoxy from yellowing. You will have to experiment with the ammount of stain to epoxy ratio to get the effect you want. There is also a product called Tuffle eye ,it is an acrylic based light cured polymer that was origionally developed for the dental field .It works for most applications were you would use epoxy and is very clear and color stable .However the starter kit with the curing light is a little pricey.

 

Fred

[Philly 0]

I'd suggest "Pop Fleyes" by Bob Popovics and Ed Jarworski. It focuses on Popovics's patterns, but there are step by step instructions with photographs, and cover any bait fish pattern you would need for fishing the Northeast.

 

[rhinorods69 0]

Hi.

 

I enjoy tieing freshwater flies. I don't tie as often as I should, nor am I fast when tieing, but I do enjoy this form of "art therapy," especially when a fish decides to go after one.

 

I'd like to learn how to tie saltwater patterns such as crease flies, EP-style bunker flies (narrow but tall,) deceivers, big poppers that have a large, loose foam head... and anything else well-known to catch stripers and blues. Is there a book that could teach me these things step-by-step? It's easier for me to tie flies from a book than from the internet. It'd be great if the book weren't limited to flies created by one person, and it would be nice if there were some indication of when each fly works best, and how to fish it. A description/guide to the bewildering array of synthetic materials available to saltwater tyers would help, too (angel hair, diamond hair, bozo fiber, EP fibers, polar fiber, polar flash, yak hair, bucktail, corsair tubing, ez tubing, monocord, flat waxed nylon, gel-spun thread, monofilament, kinky hair... etc. - yikes!).

 

Is there a book you'd recommend? Looking at Amazon.com I found the following books:

• Introduction to Salt Water Fly Tying by Scott Sanchez
• Essential Saltwater Flies by Ed Jaworowski
• Saltwater Fly Tying by Frank Wentink
• Tying Saltwater Flies: 12 Of the Best by Deke Meyer

There were other books, but they were either lists of patterns, or dedicated to the flies of one tyer only.

 

The first two books look particularly good, as they were recently written and have numerous patterns with step-by-step directions.

 

I'm writing hoping that someone with more experience can point me in the right direction, or that a beginner like me has had a chance to compare the top two books.

 

Thanks!

 

PS I may be pushing this, but if you are willing to, I'd like to have your opinion/suggestions on the following matters:

- Is there a less-toxic epoxy alternative? Nothing tremendously expensive, though.

- Is there a way to delay the yellowing of epoxy over time? (Use 30 minute epoxy?)

- How do you find out what fish are feeding on -- therefore which fly to use? Sometimes I don't see anything.

- Are there any sources of cheap saltwater fly tying materials? For example, eyes, saddle hackles to tie Abrames-style flies, and EZ-body tubing are quite expensive - and not always easy to find.

 

THANKS AGAIN!

 

 

 

as for epoxy you could try loon hard head

nope on the yellowing

as for what to use local fly shops are the best for info the guides buy from them and they guide them selfs head in there and ask whats the best flies to use today and maybe buy 2 of each one to fish and the other to tie one just like it to use.

cheap materials are a no try j stockards they got good prices about the same as every one else

 

btw here are some book the fly pattern book from fff i do not have but it is similar to the one i got that is out of print right now it called fly patterns of the umpqua feather merchants isbn 1885212151

 

 

good book to have covers a lot of flies

http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQprZ1078248QQcpidZ1565772

 

good book on how to tie but mostly fresh water type patrerns

http://www.bobmarriottsflyfishingstore.com...l.aspx?ID=26731

 

fff fly pattern book the one i do not own

http://www.bobmarriottsflyfishingstore.com...l.aspx?ID=26798

 

 

[TerryLee 0]

You may want to check your local library system for some of the books listed, both in your initial post and in the subsequent ones. I punched fly tying into the "card" catalog for our city library and there were almost a hundred books listed. Just a thought....

 

 

[peregrines 0]

Hi John, I'm on the other side of the sound from you on LI and do a lot of SW FF for stripers, blues, false albacore etc. so maybe I can weigh in on this too.

 

I think that getting your hands on a couple of books at the library (they should be able to get them thru the interloan program if your local library doesn't have them) or browsing thru them at Barnes and Noble is a very good idea instead of buying them off the bat. The first is the Sanchez book-- it has step by step instructions for a lot of basic SW flies, and some discussion of materials. It has a lot of flats patterns as well as generic deceiver/clouser type stuff as opposed to primarily NE salt so you may find that a lot of the patterns you'd like to tie aren't in there.

 

The 2nd is Tying Contemporary Saltwater Flies this has step by step photos, and may be a better match for what you are looking for.

 

The 3rd book is Innovative Saltwater Flies by Bob Ververka, which has some great looking flies for SW tied by Blados (with pretty good instructions for tying the Crease Fly), and other NE guys. But this book is mostly a listing of materials with beautiful pictures of finished flies but not step by step tying instructions. The recipes are mostly lists of ingredients, and would be very expensive and bewildering to try and get all the stuff listed. Rather than shell out the money, I think you should take a look at them first and give them a flip.

 

My guess is that you'll fall somewhere in between in that you've been tying FW, and know the basic techniques so the Sanchez book might be too basic, and the Ververka book may be leave you scratching your head a little because a lot of stuff is kind of assumed in term of previous SW tying.

 

The good and bad news is that there is a lot of step by step instructions with photos for tying pretty much everything you could want, but it's on the web. You could print them out on 3 hole paper and keep them in a binder (which is great because you can leave it open at your tying desk as you tie].

 

My advice would be to start out with some easy but deadly flies that don't require expensive materials and tie a dozen or so of each before you move to the next pattern. Good candidates would be the Ray's Fly ( a spearing and sandeel imitation), and a Bucktail Deceiver (using bucktail for the tail instead of hackle). All you would need to start are:

 

a few bucktails white yellow olive (ask for SW bucktails because the hair is longer to be able to tie larger flies),

some peacock herl for topping,

a pkg of pearlescent crystal flash (it goes with everything instead of buying 37 colors)

some white or pearl colored body braid for the bodies

a couple of spools of thread white, black, chartreuse Danville Flat Waxed Nylon

100 pk hooks Mustad 34007 or 3407D to start in 2/0. After you've been tying a while you'll probably want to add some short shanked hooks like an eagle claw 254 too after you build up your inventory in sizes for some patterns. (The rays fly swims better and fouls less on a short shank hook.) Keep them sparse for better action in the water and ease of casting, and pay attention to proportions comparing them to the example in the source you're tying from. Tie up some rays (olive over yellow over white), and BT Deceivers (all white, olive/white).

 

After you've tied up some of those add some chart bucktail and lead eyes, and 1/0 34007 hooks for chart over white and all white Clousers,

Add some inexpensive strung white and strung chartreuse SW hackle (instead of buying much more expensive saddles), some 3/0 34007 hooks and blue BT for blue/white, all white, olive/white, and all chartreuse "regular" Deceivers and Hollow Ties aka Hollow Flyes (as a less expensive, easier to tie and easier cast alternative to EP bunker flies), and you'll have the stuff you need for tying 1/2 and 1/2's (in all chartreuse and all white). As you're tying these, this would be a good time to experiment with blending different colors-- mixing a few hairs of blue and yellow = a really cool "olive" . White throats of deceivers blended with some yellow and pink BT makes a very realistic bunker look etc. Blending will give your flies a great, fishy look. Again tie up 12 in each pattern (mixing sizes 1/0, 2/0 and 3/0 and colors if you want).

 

Add some small 2 (not 2/0) short shank hooks and tie up some small sparse 2 feather flatwings (white) with a few sparse white bucktail topped with just a few brown hairs from the "wrong side" of the natural BT and you've got a killer Bay Anchovy pattern for October False Albacore, Bonito, Spanish Macks, Bass and Blues.

 

When you feel you've got some chops on those, add some ostrich herl and a patch of deer body hair (for spinning) and make up some Snake Flies for waking across the surface at night (excellent mullet imitation for late August and Sept) on a 2/0 or 3/0, a fun fly to fish and is great when bunker are around). You can add some foam cylinders to tie bobs bangers, or some popper bodies and popper hooks for poppers. Add some sheet foam, vinyl adhesive, and mylar foil to those popper hooks and you've got crease flies.

 

Optional at this point, because you'll have other patterns for bunker and sandeels, but if you wanted to try using synthetics and had some more $, you could also get some large Gami hooks and packs of white and olive Polar Fiber to tie some Hi Tie Polar Minnows (instead of EP minnows) for large deep body bunker imitations and/or tie up surf candies (with epoxy or tuffleye) on 1/0 or 2/0 Mustad 34007 hooks for kicks.

 

These will cover everything from bay anchovies, sandeels, spearing, peanut bunker, mid and large bunker, snappers, mullet and herring and will cover the water column for top to bottom These are fast, easy and inexpensive to tie, and very effective and match up well with the bait that will be in the sound for the rest of the season. And they sort of work their way up in terms of complexity and all are readily available on the web with step by steps photos and instructions.

 

Over the winter try and find a SW Tying class (classes are hard to find now since everybody is fishing). You'll learn a lot about tying other types of SW flies which will come in handy if you fish the tropics (crazy charlies,

keys style tarpon flies, shrimp and crab imitations etc) and have a chance to get your flies critiqued, pick up tips and meet new buddies.

 

Winter is also the time to get some red marabou and red chenille to tie up some cinder flies and some tan Aunt Lydia's Sparkle Yarn for Merkin crab flies on small size 2 #34007 hooks for the worm and crab "hatches" that happen on and around the new and full moons in spring. Winter is also the time to work on big flatwings on large short shank 254 hooks. ( Your best bet for finding suitable saddle hackle will be at the fly tying and fly fishing shows Nov-Jan.) and smaller deceivers (size 2 and 1) to imitate smaller bait in spring, some deep bodied (Hollow Ties, Polar Minnows etc.) for spring Peanut bunker and expand your color palette with black and purple for night flies or whatever.

 

As far as your other questions, Loon Hard Head is a good nontoxic sub for stuff like head cement or Sally Hansens Hard as Nails. For surf candies, which have a clear coat not tinted, epoxy will yellow when exposed to sunlight. Keeping them in an opaque fly box helps for storage, but if you fish them they'll start to yellow in about 3 months. It doesn't seem to matter what epoxy (I use 5 min). Using a longer cure ie 2 ton or 30 minute will require a drying wheel so the epoxy doesn't sag )I use one with 5 min also). It doesn't seem to affect catchability, but I tend to tie up 6 at a time instead of 12, and rotate them in more often as I lose them.

 

The only way around this at present is Tuffleye. It sets up immediately (a huge advantage since you won't need a drying wheel), doesn't yellow, and no toxic/stinky fumes. The downside is that the start up cost is steep--- $80 or so because it requires a special light. After the initial cost it's fine and the replacement stuff isn't too expensive.

 

Finally, with regards to materials, there isn't a great source out there for flatwings (at any price let alone inexpensive). Many people look for suitable white saddles and dye their own. And in terms of the variety of different stuff, just stick to the basics for now and as you tie you'll get a sense of what will work from talking to other tyers and reading patterns recipes on the web, but you'll find some things can easily be substituted most of the time. As far as eyes go, i paint them with Testors model paint or use stick on prismatic eyes. Junglecock eyes look great, but i don't use them on flies i fish with.

 

In addition to this site, I've found stripermoon (for excellent instructions on tying flatwings and ray's fly), aswf.org (for Bob's Banger, Hollow Flyes and surf candies) stripersonline (Snake Flies, BT Deceivers, Cinder worms, and Polar Fiber Minnows) to be excellent sources for detailed instructions for NE SW and innovative ideas. There are also YouTube videos and DVDs that are worth checking out (some fly shops rent them) and some are supposedly available through Netflix.

 

Finally, as far as not knowing what to use when no sign of bait is present, you should know that a lot of the really big bass in the sound are caught on bunker and bunker chunks while nearby fly fishermen throwing small clousers in the same general area are catching schoolies. In the absence of obvious signs of bait in the sound, i would use the largest all white hollow tie bunker pattern i could throw, (or an all chartruese deceiver with chart hackle tail in stained water at a harbor mouth) on the theory that i would rather be not catching big fish than not catching small fish. Sometimes a big easy meal is too good to pass up.

 

Sorry for the long post (I think it's my first here.). Good luck!

 

peregrines