How long does it take you to tie a fly?

[Dave G. 0]

I can tie up my familiar patterns I use fairly quickly but I'm not doing them quickly these days . I have no reason to rush, I might walk away from the vise and put on a pot of coffee, then come back etc... Even go cut the grass with the bobbin hanging off the half finished fly lol ! In Maine with the river waiting and two boys out of caddis flies I whipped up half a dozen Elk Hair Caddis in 30min while one son cooked breakfast and the other tied BWO. But EHC are pretty easy to tie and we had tied dozens of them over the years, knew the pattern well , the materials were on hand because I had just tied some earlier in the week etc.

 

I'm retired now,I don't feel the urgency.

[flytire 0]

quality beats time

[retrocarp 0]

I thought you were supposed to enjoy your hobby ?

It's not a race to the finish.......Or is it ?

If you want speed...... then go race a car lol

[Roland58 0]

Roland,

My only concern with a beginner tying "freestyle" is it not giving you a chance to learn necessary techniques. I understand about wanting to "get there". I had the same problem. I still have trouble tying more than about 3 flies without changing something. The few swaps I have been in were a real test of my will vs my ADD, lol.

Choose an easy fly, say a Pheasant Tail (PT) Nymph, and tie at least 3 of them. Then do 3 Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear Nymphs (GRHEN), then do 3 with a bead. In order to tie with speed, you have to build the process into muscle memory. That takes repetition.

 

Kirk B.

[Roland58 0]

Roland,

My only concern with a beginner tying "freestyle" is it not giving you a chance to learn necessary techniques. I understand about wanting to "get there". I had the same problem. I still have trouble tying more than about 3 flies without changing something. The few swaps I have been in were a real test of my will vs my ADD, lol.

Choose an easy fly, say a Pheasant Tail (PT) Nymph, and tie at least 3 of them. Then do 3 Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear Nymphs (GRHEN), then do 3 with a bead. In order to tie with speed, you have to build the process into muscle memory. That takes repetition.

 

Kirk B.

[Roland58 0]

Thanks Kirk, your advice makes a lot of sense and I may have been a little misleading with my post. Before I attempted to tie my first fly, I watched a LOT of videos on Youtube and other sources that gave me the ideas

for what I wanted to do and the techniqes involved. So, I don't think my attempts would be considered entirely "freestyle." It's just that I didn't hurry or worry about the time involved and I was tying an original each time. I have a post showing about a dozen or so of my first attempts and (even if I say so myself) they all turned out pretty good, especially considering they were all done with a Gander Mountain beginner's kit! So far, all the ones I have tried have caught fish!

Thanks again for your advice.

[Goose77 0]

I've been watching this thread for a bit...kind of embarrassing to reply. I think most of my bugs take over an hour to make. With the skills[?] I have that's what it takes. Now I will say that most of these flies take alot of time consuming steps. I do it because I love it, and want to do it well. Just can't talk myself into cutting corners...having people admire the work is truly important to me. So, it takes alotta time. Cheers, Ed

[crazy4oldcars 0]

Roland,

Advice is the easy part, lol. I'll look for the other post.

I am not a fast tyer. I'm too easily distracted.

I'm also not in a hurry, so it works out well for me.

 

Kirk B.

 

Edit:

Found your other post with your flies on it. Good looking flies.

 

KB

Edited October 13, 2015 by crazy4oldcars

[vb1971 0]

Under 10 mins for nymphs and dries with no paired wings such as spinners. emergers such as Klinkhammers also <10 min

 

10-15 mins for dries with paired wings and spun deer hair flies (eg goddard caddis and Adams irresistible)

 

15+ flies fro muddlers and some hoppers

 

Cheers

VB1971