Hi -
Friend of mine let me use his vise and I am off and tying. Picked up some good bobbins and scissors and an olive, white, and chart bucktail w/ help from Simon at HPWA. Have several colors of thread and tan EP fiber… but there will be more soon.
I have done some long clouser minnows in olive/white, some with chart in the middle. Also some “gotcha” flies in shrimp colors and in white for dock light fishing. They both turned out fairly well as far as I can tell.
Tried to tie a merkin but it looks bad, will have to practice more for that one!
What other kinds of beginner flies would you recommend?
What are your go-to fibers/materials that you use the most that I should have in my pile?
Thanks!
Stay with the clousers and such for now… Keep tying them over and over until you get them perfect… seriously. take your time, focus on thread control… material usage… and proportion control… these are the fundamental blocks of tying… You can learn all the patterns in the world, but if you don’t master these essential blocks you’re missing the point of tying…
Practice one pattern at a time until you master it, then move to another… keep that up and you’ll get it right…
I see too many people come right out of the box and start trying to tie everything… what they end up with is a box full of crap…
I’ll take a box full of well tied clousers over a box full of poorly tied fleis from someone who doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing…
Do the little things right… before you know it you’ll be able to tie whatever you want, just don’t get in a hurry…
Good luck
Mad Mike
"to hell with insane… I’m OUTsane!!! "
Very insightful stuff - thanks Mike
Do you have any tips for clouser tying? Or should I just tie some and bring them in to look at?
I guess what I am getting at is as a newbie, how should I evaluate a good vs bad clouser (other than neatness/worksmanship)
With the clouser there a few steps that make a “good” vs. “Bad” fly.
1.) Proportions: The eyes should be placed in the proper position, approximately 1/4th of the hook shank back from the eye to allow for a clean head to be built. Also proper length of the bucktail… the tail of the fly should extend approximately one hook shank length beyond the bend of the hook. This provides proper proportion to the pattern.
2.) Material usage: Bucktail should be chosen from the appropriate spot on the deer tail itself. Use only hairs from the upper 2/3’s of the tail… The stuff at the base of the tail is too course and will Flair out on you… this doesn’t work. The upper 2/3’s will be softer and more “tangled” looking… this allows the fly to take on that baitfish outline you’re trying to achieve with the clouser. Also don’t go crazy with the bucktail fibers… a little goes a long way… alot of people use too much. You’re trying to achieve the outline of a baitfish, thats all… about 15-20 individual fibers is all you need. This rule applies to the flash as well… no need to go overboard… maybe 6 fibers of flash doubled over at the tie in point… thats it. NEVER trim the bucktail from the tips… always trim the base of the fibers… I Repeat… NEVER EVER trim the tips.
3.)Thread control: Remember this rule. One or two well places wraps will hold material better than 50 ****ty ones… It doesn’t take nearly as much thread to make a durable well tied fly as people seem to think. Take your time and make well thought out, firm wraps. Fewer wraps make a cleaner more durable product.
Here is a random picture I found that shows a really nicely tied clouser…
note the small clean head… relatively sparse bucktail, and nice proportions… this is what they should all look like.
You’ll run into alot of people who say crap like “ugly flies catch fish”… only people who can’t tie nice flies say that. Fly tying is an art, just li
OK- using that photo and info as a guide (very helpful, btw - thanks!) here is a chart/white clouser. I took a photo with and w/out flash
Criticism welcome:
That looks pretty good… The proportions are still off a bit… you only want your bucktail to extend one hook shank length behind the hook… in those pictures you’re bucktail is about twice that…
Other than that, your thread control looks good… the head is small enough, and your eyes are in the right place… nice work… Keep it up.
If you want info in tips on any other patterns you decide to work on… just let me know…
Mad Mike
"to hell with insane… I’m OUTsane!!! "