Classic Salmon Tying

[eastern fly 0]

Question for all. I want to learn how to tye classic salmon flies. I know there are a lot of expensive materials I will need. What can I substitute for now and what are a must have to start with?

 

Kevin

[Bruce Derington 0]

Kevin, I have tied many Classic's over the years and proper materials are hard to come by and pricey so I agree with you on using subs until you get them down. I wish Will still had the "classroom" set up , I could help you out. I guess the best way to begin would be going to the Classic forum , ( if u haven't already). I have some dvd's I can LEND YOU that will get ya going. I think starting out with smaller hooks would give u an opportunity to get some subs that will be easier to find. Like 4/0, message me if interested

 

Bruce

[Gene L 0]

Read "The Feather Thief." Classic fly tying is VERY expensive and largely illegal. The Thief made about $100K selling stolen feathers and flies, which took him as long as a day to tie a single fly.

[cphubert 0]

Kevin, look at the Classic Fly Tying forum (slower paced than this forum) or FlyTying.World I started with help from a few books and friends, the best for me was Building Classic Salmon Flies by Ron Alcott. There are others and better on line tutorials.If you have been tying a while you may have a lot of material used already. blind eye hooks and inexpensive gut (silk) or practice on traditional hooks. rayon floss is less expensive than silk to play with but not a good sub, African goat instead of seal if you get seal make sure it is baby seal fur adult can be miserable to work with, and you will need dyed goose shoulders, molted turkey, & peacock wing feathers for married wings. golden pheasant crest and tippets. Best advise I was given was to pick a fly I wanted to tie and shop material for that fly, if I lost interest or became frustrated I wasn't out a lot of money. FeathersMC has a lot of materials & subs with an excellent reputation. I hope this helps.

Chris

[phg 0]

Read "The Feather Thief." Classic fly tying is VERY expensive and largely illegal. The Thief made about $100K selling stolen feathers and flies, which took him as long as a day to tie a single fly.

This is NOT true. There are only a few materials that are "illegal to possess," and there are acceptable substitutes for most endangered species.

 

If you get obsessed with using the Victorian materials, like Edwin did, then it can get very expensive, but it can still be totally legal.

[tjm 0]

Read "The Feather Thief." Classic fly tying is VERY expensive and largely illegal. The Thief made about $100K selling stolen feathers and flies, which took him as long as a day to tie a single fly.

 

I think there are not many materials that can't be substituted. Certainly the tying of classic colors and forms is not in any way illegal. To say the author of a book could even determine such a thing is ludicrous.

Robbing museums is very illegal, selling stolen goods is illegal. Obsessing about someone else actions is probably a sickness.

[eastern fly 0]

Buying that book is not on my list. If you do know a good starter book that would be helpful.

 

Kevin

[utyer 0]

Salmon Flies by Poul Jorgensen is where I started. Its a good book on the basic materials and techniques. My copy is from the first edition, the second edition is twice the price. Look for it in the PA library system.

[cphubert 0]

Amazon has it used (Building Classic Salmon Flies - Ron Alcott) starting @ 15.00 paperback to 25.00 hardcover. Michael Radencich has a few good ones but more money, the T.E.Pryce-Tannatt classic book is reprinted in paperback from late 1800's. George Kelson is considered the best by many but $$$$ and out of my price range. Jorgensen Salmon Flies can be found used covers some classic as well as hairwings but salmon flies in general mostly for fishing.

[HuntTieFishEatRepeat 0]

thinking about signing up. is this forum only for discussing the classic salmon fly? or can I ask questions about which flies you guys whip up with Dusky Blue Grouse? 

[cphubert 0]

1 hour ago, HuntTieFishEatRepeat said:

thinking about signing up. is this forum only for discussing the classic salmon fly? or can I ask questions about which flies you guys whip up with Dusky Blue Grouse? 

Sign up! look around the site it's about all types of fly tying, fly fishing, non fly fishing. Plenty of tabs and information to help beginners and enough opinions to satisfy the seasoned tiers. The rules are No politics and be civil to other members( there are other rules also read the tabs). The moderators keep a good handle on things.

[HuntTieFishEatRepeat 0]

12 minutes ago, cphubert said:

Sign up! look around the site it's about all types of fly tying, fly fishing, non fly fishing. Plenty of tabs and information to help beginners and enough opinions to satisfy the seasoned tiers. The rules are No politics and be civil to other members( there are other rules also read the tabs). The moderators keep a good handle on things.

Thank you for the info, will do.