The Art Of Fly Tying

Beginners may wonder what fly tying is. In short, it is the process of creating an artificial fly to be used when fly fishing. It’s common practice, although not all fly fishers produce their own flies. Some just regard it as a way to save money, others turned their hobby into a profitable business.

FISHING FLIES: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE FLY TIER'S ART

Some anglers are so obsessed with fly tying that it has become an art form for them. They take pride in creating beautiful patterns of feather and fur. For them, it has become an expression of flair and skill.

Whatever your motivation is, tying your own flies makes fishing more enjoyable.

You can design your fly to emulate the food the fish prefers at a given time of year. Obviously, this will increase your chance of catching fish.

Getting started is fairly easy and it certainly doesn’t have to be expensive. To produce your own flies, you need some basic equipment like scissors, a bobbin and hackle pliers. Having the right equipment enables you to efficiently assemble and secure the materials on the hook.

There’s one more thing you can’t do without: the right fly pattern.

Fly patterns are your recipes for creating effective flies. They tell you about the best hook size and type, the materials, the colours and methods for producing the fly. There are countless patterns around and many are found in fly fishing literature and online sources.

Don’t get distracted though. It does not always make sense to copy food.

It depends on the fish. The atlantic salmon does not feed while in fresh water, and the reason why salmon (and sea trout) take a fly or spinner is anyone’s guess. My theory is probably out of curiosity or anger, but there are a number of theories and still we do not really know why. Perhaps, it’s boredom?

Therefore, salmon and sea trout flies are purely art if you like. They do not really resemble anything, or perhaps if anything a small fish-like creature. You could probably make just about anything and a salmon would probably take it.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced fisher, you can always learn new techniques. The more you expand your skills, the better your results will be.

Fly Patterns, Trout And Salmon

Fly patterns come in various sizes and there are thousands of patterns available, some are very easy to tie while others are very difficult, the difficult type are those tiny ones such as trout patterns, the ones where tiny hooks are needed to copy the pattern, these tiny hooks come in different sizes, from a size 14 down to a minature size 22 and even smaller.

The type of pattern for these sizes usually, are midge patterns or buzzers or even tiny nymphs, this is when you will need a magnifying glass or glasses and a very steady hand along with a very good fly tying vice with accessories.

A good strong but thin tying thread would be the better option as you will need to tie thinly and precise using all types of fly tying materials.

Personal Choice

Out of all the types of trout fly patterns available my personal choice would be the pheasant tail nymph, as this is probably one of the best patterns to catch trout, as stated they come in all sizes but again my choice would be a small size such as a 14 or 18, they are not that difficult to tie either, and very rewarding when you hook and land that 10lb rainbow or brown trout with your very own hand tied fly.

How to tie a fly

The best way to do this, and this applies to any type of fly patterns, would be to look at a diagram of the tying process of the pattern you are going to tie, and the best way to start would be picking the easiest pattern to tie then work your way up from there to the more complicated patterns such as the dry fly, and those very beautiful patterns of the salmon and seatrout fly.

Of course catching a salmon on the fly is probably the ultimate fly fishing experience of your life and if you tied that fly yourself then you have mastered the fly tyers art of tying flies.

A Rewarding Feeling

People do say that there is no better feeling than catching a salmon on the fly especially a fly you have tied yourself.

However, there is a better feeling and that is tying your very own salmon fly pattern, what i mean is inventing your own salmon fly pattern then tying it, all you need do is take a look at the salmon fly patterns and come up with your very own pattern, a one that has yet to be tied.

This means experimenting, think up a pattern then put it to work, just keep looking at other patterns to give you ideas, you never know, you could come up with the ultimate salmon fly, or any other type of fly, how rewarding is that?. Tight Lines.

Find out more about fishing knots.

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