how many to start

[nick2011 0]

Just curious how many flies you all tie at first when your trying a newly created pattern,although everything seems to be a variation anymore. how many flies do you tie to try out before you decide wheather its worthy of tying more or not.

[Patrick3885 0]

2 or 3 I would try them out and if that work. Make 10 for the season. Thanks and "Tight lines"

[SCOwens 0]

2 or 3 is a good number .... I don't know what the pattern actually will look like on first go and by the third I am pretty consistent

[DryFlies4Life 0]

I usually tie 5 demo flys, that way gives me enough room to master the fly, and enough flys so that can see what the trout think, considering I may lose some.

[flytyinfreak 0]

I usually tye a full dozen, just to make sure that i have the pattern standard down pat. I then divy 'em up to troutbums I know to get feedback from. What may not work for me or another might well work for someone else or another. individual. and then again they might fishe them differently than I would and find hat my pattern may need tweaking or adjustment.

[Piker20 0]

Yeah, 2 or 3 minimum needed cause I've tied one too many times, caught a fish lost the fly and then can't remember the dressing DoH.

 

[dryfly 14 0]

I like to tie at least 5 flies. It's good to have a few extras. You never know what will happen....Tight lines....

[flytyinfreak 0]

Ya'll are stingy! I was tought to tie at least a dozen, you need to do that if not 18 to make sure you have the pattern standard down. I'm hardly one to speak but I have disciplined myself to do at least a dozen to get the proportions and materials down pat. I've found that 3 flies just doesn't put me into the proper rhythm and skill.

[flytire 0]

3-6 each in various sizes

[tctrout 0]

I'm at a minimum of a dozen, though I will fish every one of those. If I'm creating a Master pattern to use in the future, I'll attempt to locate that one and set it aside, otherwise, I will continue fishing each on a regular basis. I always look for ways to revise the pattern bc I tend to fish highly fished waters. Also, I tie a lot of flies for YouTube videos and want to ensure that the proportions are correct (though for my series titled "Two Minute Tying," I tend to speed up and focus more on generalizations for the videos).

 

To get back to your question, you're correct; it seems to really center on the variation now. That in itself makes it difficult to determine the "worthiness" of a fly bc there typically is a reason why the original tends to be successful and a lot of us (myself included) jump to variations immediately due to experience, ideas, etc. I tend to keep at least six of the new pattern (as close to the original as possible for my local waters) in my box, and then add a few variations.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Tim

http://www.youtube.com/tctrout

[ditz2 0]

I tie 3 flies that pass my criteria. 2 go to the water in my box and 1 gets put into my master box. If I lose both flies I still have one fly to copy. More than once I have forgotten what the fly actually looking like and could not duplicate it. If the fly is a winner I will tie 10 to 20 and put 4 or 5 in my box and the rest will go into a box waiting to be transfered to my fishing box. This way I always have known good flies ready to fish when needed and I have no emergency tying sessions when I want to be fishing. This is my proceedure for warmwater since this is most of my fishing. For the salt I seldom tie more than 3 of any pattern but I travel with a tying kit so that I can replace or match the hatch as soon as I am off the water.

[planettrout 0]

Whatever I tie, it is always at least a dozen...these are attractors for Spring 2013 that have just been completed:

 

 

 

PT/TB

[mikechell 0]

I fish for sunfish and bass ... so far, I've only lost one fly to a fish, and one or two to snags. Since I don't seem to lose many, I don't tie many. I am not a "master" tier ... nor do I plane to sell any. I tie for fishing ... and I only tie 3 at a time. That can carry me through a dozen fishing trips, at least. I also don't think any of my flies are so "good" that I need to duplicate them to a "t".

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I usually tie a baker's dozen then like freak I give away some of them to friends to test for me the extra one out of the 13 goes into a box to be copied or cut depending on my feed back

[Peterjay 0]

One. Then it's down to the docks to try it out, and if it looks good, maybe tie a couple more. If it catches a fish, a few more. I've been tying for a long time, so it isn't easy for a new pattern to crack my regular lineup. No point in getting carried away with something that might be a flash in the pan.