Help a rookie......

[knotnot]

Hi all,

Is it being a beginner and just needing more practice to make my flies look clean and not messy and sloppy ? Kinda like folding a thousand paper cranes.
I guess a tying class is in order.
How much difference does it make buying the more expensive hackle/feathers make?
My vice is el cheapo but it just holds the hook , right ?

thanks

[geoffvl]

Some of the best fly fishers in the world confess that they're flies are messy and sloppy. But practice will help. Pick a fly and tie it a dozen times and by the end your flies should be looking great.

[knotnot]

Thank you, that will be my saturday morning task.

[_HOOK_]

I agree with that. Im also a new ish tyer but i have some patterns that i tie nicer than the store ones and some that im not super proud of but hey they catch fish and thats what matters. if your tying salmon flies they dont need to be super pretty trust me they are just going to get destroyed anyhow Fanciest tie i use for salmon is the ROLLED MUDDLER all the rest are just quicky ties (unless spey flies) im just now starting to learn to tie more trout patterns, so far i can tie most of the ones i fish regularly with the exception of some of the trickier ones.

[bc_speys]

Practice, practice, practice! I've been tying for over thirty years now and even now it takes a few tries to get a new pattern down. If there is only one piece of advice I can give it would be to remember to leave room for the head of the fly. Nothing destroys the look of a fly quicker than a large "crowded" head. By that I mean a head that is too far forward on the fly " crowding" the eye of the hook. It also makes putting the tippet through the eye difficult.
Good quality materials makes a lot of difference as well. It is generally easier to manipulate and more uniform in length and colour. Having said this, I don't mean that one need purchase the most expensive materials, only to pick through whats available for the best quality. Don't feel bad about opening a bag of marabou and looking at it closely, you work hard for your money and are entitled to get what you want, not settle for what's in front.
To quote Pheerless, " Just my ".

Cliff

[knotnot]

Thank you all very much for the advice/help.
I really appreciate it .

[professori]

When I was learning how to tie, the first thing I did was to take a series of lessons at what was then Jaymers. 3 nights in 3 weeks. From those I learned the order to build a fly and also a few techniques that are common to all flies: whip finishing, soft wraps, etc. Once I had those lessons, I took a bunch of back issues of BCOutdoors magazine and took one fly pattern every 2 weeks and tied up 20 or 30 when I had that fly down I went on to another. Not only did I get better at tying flies, but because I bought the materials for each fly I was tying based on the needs of the recipe, I quickly started to build up a good supply of materials.

[2fly]

If you do not take a course,save your first flys and check them out after a year or two.I was looking at my first Chroni I tyed 6 years ago I could now use that thing as a scud.

[11th Warrior]

You still have a fly you tied 6 years ago? 5 or 6 fish on one of my flies and it's time to tie on a new one, lol.

By no means am I an expert tyer (tier?) and I just took a look at one of my early ties (tied 3 months ago when I started). I thought it was ugly then (it's a wooly bugger so it's naturally ugly, lol), but when I look at it now, it's actually not as bad as I originally thought.

Yes, your vise "just holds the hook" but some do it better than others. I've got a $5.00 AA vise and it "works", but I much prefer my Regal knockoffs that I paid $35.00 for.

I'm not sure how much of a difference the expensive materials make (hackle, etc). I'm using bargain bin materials and they tie up nice and, most importantly, catch fish. I don't think the fish care how much you spent on your fur, LOL.

My advise is to keep practicing. I tie at home watching the hockey game, at work on my lunch break, I take a travel kit with me when I'm away from home...I've even been known to tie on the airplane when we're on a patrol (I'm in the airforce). As they say, practice makes perfect.

[knotnot]

Thanks for more info.
Will put some away to examine down the road.
This site and its members are great.
Thanks again.