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Fly Tying
kimjensen

Few patterns vs. Allot of patterns.

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Tying is relaxing, a zen thing. I enjoy work with my hands and don't have a workshop, so ...

 

My fishing approach tends toward shamelessly simple. Warm water - bass/bluegill: one bottom pattern, a crayfish, one mid-column pattern, a baitfish, and one top pattern, a cicada (though often use a plain popper). I'm too focused on fishing to stress myself with pattern selection.

 

Trout: I do a little more. Though I tie specific patterns such as BWO, light cahill, Hendrickson, and on and on - my fishing approach is to have a selection of big/little (12 - 16 -18) dries in dun, black, light, and a compartment of adams - a couple dries and emergers in each. I carry a number of nymphs in the pheasant tail class (pts, fox squirrel, hare's ear - all the same to me) - size 12 (most often), 16, 18. a few san juan worms and green weenies (best combo is often a weenie/worm with a pt), 4-5 hoppers/madam x, 3-4 black nose dace streamers, cone head wooly buggers - 2 black, 2 tan/yellow.

 

pts, black nosed dace, and black buggers get 90% of the workout. I want to do more dries and hoppers this summer, and also fish my sculpin patterns for big browns - just a goal.

 

Biggest difference between tying and fishing for me is that in fishing I want a simple and minimal selection in size and general color/type; the minutia of pattern design is irrelevant to me. Tying - I enjoy the art, replicating patterns and designing patterns. I love the swaps.

 

Bass is simpler because the flies are larger, and I don't like bulk on me. Bass or trout, I'll go with 2 boxes about 4x6 in, one dry, one wet, and that's it.

 

For awhile, I tied for a local shop just so I could get my kicks while not accumulating an unmanageable collection of flies.

 

Almost forgot: one game I do like to play with fishing - I'll get onto a new pattern (latest was clouser crayfish). I'll tie it up, then fish it exclusively until I catch a fish with it. Then I call it "me certified" - and go back to my usual routine. As you can understand, I sometimes get skunked because I stubbornly fish a pattern that is just out of synch with fish. I do find out a lot about a particular pattern's strength and weaknesses though.

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I tie a lot of different patterns for all species. I'm the kind of fisherman who goes through little personal fads with fly choices. I may fish one streamer a ton one year for bass, then the next year use something different and almost ignore what I used the year before. The reason I don't immediately go back to the previous season's producer(s) is probably because I am catching fish. If it didn't produce, I'd go back to what I know did. I like playing with different materials and different color combos too much to stick with one or two primary flies, even though it's really all you need.

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I usually only take one fly box with me when I fish for coarse fish, Maybe 5 different nymph patterns in a variety of sizes, colours and weights. Then 5 or so dry fly patterns and that's a days fishing sorted. For Pike it's only one box, too.

 

For trout I add an extra fly box with some all purpose lures, along with my nymph and dry box.

 

I tie lots but only take a few

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Tying is therapy for me, so I have droves of flies that have never been fished. I've even tried my hand at realistics. But I enjoy learning and trying new techniques. For fishing, I tie a few patterns that really work for me.

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Very minimalist myself; I love tying, and I probably like tying more than fishing, but for me, I like perfecting those ones I do tie and use, so I only actually tie maybe 8 or so different "patterns", just in a range of colors and sizes.

 

Still working on narrowing down which sizes do I need. I like single rod, single box fishing. I'm just lazy.

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Being a beginning tyer, I was trying to tie a lot of different patterns. I finally settled down and have been concentrating on the classics that work on my local waters. Seems to make sense.

 

spm

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Like many others, I have always tied lots of stuff and fished only a few. But I am getting pickier as I have gotten older. Now I skip the new stuff unless it is (1) a close match for a hatch or (2) a new concept that is worth a try. Just for the hell of it last summer I tied a gray hackle peacock and fished it on the Madison near my house. It was popular in Montana in the late 1940's and was the first fly I learned to tie as a kid. Still works.

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Being a beginning tyer, I was trying to tie a lot of different patterns. I finally settled down and have been concentrating on the classics that work on my local waters. Seems to make sense.

 

spm

At the end of the day...that's what it's about. Tie what works!

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