How did you start tying flies? We all have a story . . .

[Jokey 0]

Got a vise in 2014 and did just that. Now here I am.

 

Man.....the stuff you are cranking out in such a short time.....that's pretty amazing.

 

J

[BoSmith 0]

I started tying my own bucktails and spinnerbaits when I was 12 and was so obsessed with fishing that I needed to make my own lures. Later when I got into fly fishing, the fly tying followed right along. The obsession continues.

[Chia 0]

I always thought it would be interesting and was tired of paying out the nose. I took a class at the local vocational school and it came with the basic materials. I got frustrated with the size and difficulty of trout flies quickly. I recently picked it up again and tie streamers and other bass patterns.

 

I appreciate those that can tie small flies, but I have trouble even threading those damn small hooks. 8 is as small I go.

[phg 0]

Back in the mid-50's, when I was about 10 or 11, my dad bought my oldest brother a fly tying kit for a Christmas present. I was a frequent spectator as my brother tried to teach himself to tie flies from the book that came with the kit. After several months, I decided I wanted to try my hand at it. My brother generously allowed me to use some of his materials, and even coached me a bit. The bug had bit!

Without telling my whole life's story, let's just say my tying progressed, in somewhat uneven stages, from there. There was a period of about 15 years when I didn't tie anything, but somewhere in the '90's, I began to tie, in earnest, again. New materials, new techniques and new patterns cried out for my attention, and this new-fangled thing called the internet, made it possible to research patterns, buy materials and to consult with expert tiers around the world. The help I've received has both surprised and humbled me.

My favorite flies to tie, though, are still the Catskill drys, and the classic wets. Whenever I don't know what else to do, I'll start tying a Light Cahill, or a sulpher dun....

[Bob Sc 0]

I took the local fly clubs casting and tying classes in 73 as a high school senior with my fishing buddy. I took some flies I tied into the local sporting goods store and the fly guy said these are pretty good. Can you tie me 4 dozen? and I will give you some store credit. Like a kid in a candy store I tied them and went shopping.

A pharmaceutical salesman in the fly club asked me to help him tie a few flies for his customers that he would drop off on his pharma route in small mountain towns. That was 40 years ago.

 

I have been tying and flyfishing on a regular basis since then. 22 years ago I started dying my own materials when I want something really cool. I still dye materials today.

No parental involvement from the start, just something that grabbed me and still won't let go.

[add147 0]

Well I have been tying for over 2 years now. Many of you here know that I mostly tie for the fun of it and I really do not sweat the small stuff. I am pretty laid back so to speak and I am by no means a professional at this hobby. I have watched tons of videos on line and have surfed and surfed the internet on all kinds of stuff pertaining to tying. Makes me really grateful for having the internet while learning this hobby. I cannot even imagine folks doing this from books or magazines. Those tiers from that era in my opinion are true artisans because they learned it by trial and error. To be perfectly honest I was looking for a hobby to do because I got tired of watching crap on television! The old lady loves watching murder and ghost shows and I knew it was time for me to find some sort of a hobby or I was going to go crazy!!! I first looked in taking up leather working and I even started to buy some of the tools for that craft but for some reason it just didn't seem interesting to me after I started looking into doing it. I have fished all of my life since I was a small boy. I can remember my Dad taking me and my little brother fishing in a flat bottom jon boat on Lake Quitman and Winnsboro in east Texas with cane poles. I can recall when he got each of us a Zebco 33 reel and we thought we were in high cotton. Boy that seems like yesterday, time sure does fly by.

 

Since I was leaning towards leather working the more I was looking into it I thought that it was going to be an expensive hobby to take up so I turned my focus on to fly tying. My thinking was its got to be cheaper than doing leather working boy was I totally wrong...LOL...I have way to much crap that one middle age man could possibly ever use in tying flies. I have to admit I am a fly tying material holic!!! I buy stuff at craft stores on clearance, hit the after Christmas decoration sales, dollar stores, anything that I think could be used to tie something I usually will buy it. I get stuff off of Ebay have it delivered to my work so the wife doesn't see all the stuff I have accumulated. Oh well I guess it could be worse...

 

I have to admit I enjoy this forum a great deal. You can learn a lot of things here and my experience has always been great. I have even met some folks on here at some of the fly tying shows that I have attended. If any of you ever get the opportunity to go to a show I highly recommend it. Fly tiers are the nicest people!!! They will show you how to tie anything they are tying. All you have to do it pull up a chair and sit in front of them watch and ask questions. I have never meet a rude fly tier at any show that I have ever been too. My bucket list trip would to be able to go to the national show that lasts for a whole week!

[Will K 0]

30-35 years ago I started - how old are you in the 4th grade? I'm 42 now... Started after Christmas 4th grade. I loved to fly fish - though I stunk at it at that point (not much better now )... and my parents believed in helping kids explore the interests they have. So they got me a kit and I started to try. Wish I still had some of the dry's I tried to tie. At the time, I thought they were what I learned ultimately to be catskill style drys... But I couldnt figure out how to get deer hair to splay out like that or have skinny tips... yep, I thought people were using hair - not hackle!

 

Any way, it's progressed from there. A few little blips where I just had other focus's taking more time so I'd not burn through flies fast enough and was not as motivated to tie. But even with those, I'd bet Ive tied at least a few flies each year since I started.

 

Interestingly, an uptick occurred when I started including some salt water fly fishing as well as fresh. It opened new ideas, techniques and materials... and that got the juices flowing. So I'd say that the last 10 years have been heavy in terms of how much tying I'm doing. Since having kids, I tie way more than I can fish, so I tend to give friends lots of flies

[cheech 0]

I really didn't start fly fishing until I got married in 2000. I was working at a call center on the Spanish line so there was a lot of time between calls. A buddy brought in his grandpa's old kit, and we swapped back and forth tying the most ugly creations imaginable. I always loved abstract art in school, so I kind of took tying flies as a new art form. I didn't have any books or videos to go on, so a lot of what I did was freelance. Through a lot of trial and error, I finally met up with some people who showed me how to fish a bit better, and then it grew from there. About 10 years ago is when I really started dedicating myself to tying innovative, clean, and tidy patterns for any species I could find. Since that time I have been a contract tyer for Rainy's, and now Fulling Mill, and then Curtis and I started Fly Fish Food... The rest is history.

[elusive.fishing 0]

Started fly fishing in 2012 in California, while I lived there for 2 years, only fishing occasionally Mostly for private pond bass and bluegill. (they would eat a shoe if you tossed it at them, so no large skill needed). When I got home to Utah, and jumped feet first into the sport, I wanted the whole experience, so about may of 2015 started tying, so it's been about a year of tying for me. I was shown REAL briefly how to tie by my uncle who never ties anything but woolly bugger variants, and quickly surpassed that stage and turned to the internet. Luckily guys like Cheech and Curtis have some great YouTube channels, Tim Flagler with Orvis/Tightline Video, Tim Cammissa, Davie McPhail, and a few others here and there, but that's really where I learned, along with hours at the vise. Wouldn't change a thing except wishing it started earlier!

[Dan4242 0]

I got started fly tying before I ever picked up a fly rod. A next door neighbor took me fishing on the Kalmath, probably around 1981. We were throwing Silver Hiltons on a spinning reel with a bubble. He showed me how to tie them and I spent the next two evenings tying them. Went home, bought an A vise and I've been tying ever since. I continued to fish fly with a spinning rod and bubble for a couple of years. Store I bought a lot of stuff from was closing out some fiberglass Sage 9' 6wt blanks. I'd been making rods and it was cheap enough. I bought a Scientific Anglers 456 to go with it. Been fly fishing almost exclusively ever since.

[carpflyguy 0]

Out of necessity. I needed midges smaller than the 22s and 24s my fly shop had, so I got a cheap kit and went a couple sizes smaller.

 

When you learn on hooks that small, everything else always seems a lot easier.

[islander727 0]

20? years ago, I picked up a Skykomish Sunrise fly tying kit at Dick's. Came with instructional VHS tape. I lived in apartment with three "punk rockers" who kinda looked at me quizzically, as my new hobby didn't involve a skateboard!

 

 

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Seemed like the normal thing to do, was sick of bought flies falling apart, the more expensive ones getting lost on the bottom & not being able to buy what i wanted or the size i wanted!

[Triplef 0]

Out of necessity. I needed midges smaller than the 22s and 24s my fly shop had, so I got a cheap kit and went a couple sizes smaller.

 

When you learn on hooks that small, everything else always seems a lot easier.

 

Honestly . . . I found exactly the opposite!!! I spent years tying 18-24s. But when I tried to tie some of the saltwater flies . . . they just sucked!! Took quite awhile to get okay. And never got very good!!!! Just too much room!!!!

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Triplef! Don't worry, try pikeflies, it seems to start all over again, sometimes not enough room! Crazy game flytying is, but a heathy hobby!