Beginner Fly tying

[rscheckler]

Hey guys,

I just picked up my first vise and tool kit and am anxious to start tying some flies over the holiday break. My main question to you is what flies should I start out with? Which ones are the easiest to start out with that are essential for every fly fisherman's collection? Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[gemiller]

I just started teaching myself as well, I started out with doing a caddis with deer hair. But like I was informed on this forum myself, instead of what should I start with, learn to tie what you use most frequently!

 

[Maurice]

Unless you are being taught by an experienced tyer, start with Woolly buggers. They will allow you to learn a few standard techniques and the beauty is, they are never tied wrong.

You get to Bind material to the hook (Tail), Palmer chenille up the hook and then again reverse palmer a hackle to the shank. This will allow you to get your frustrations out dealing with unrully hackle on flies that don't matter that much.

Then you could move on to some hair nymphs like GRHE or muscrat that will get you working with wing cases and hackle barb tails.

Tie some green weenies to give yourself a confidence boost every now and then.

Then maybe a few buck tail streamers will get you working with tinsil and hair. Again, hard to tie them wrong...or rather, unsuable.

After you get confident with handling the materials and techniques with these flies you can move on to some dries like EH Caddis or upright wing dry flies and comparaduns.

That ought to keep you busy til April.

You could start with the complicated ones first but for every minute you spoend scratching your head and wondering if it's gonna work, you could have tied another fly you would probably use more often anyway.

An important tip is to think about your organization of materials and tool placement so you don't spend your time searching for stuff while tying.

 

[cdogedoger]

rscheckler,
the wilderness trekker in New Ringgold have tying classes every saturday in Feb. The classes are free. Probably about half hour from Lehighton.
http://www.wildernesstrekker.com/

John

 

[afishinado]

Here is a older thread dealing with this subject. Good luck.

Getting Started Tying Flies (PAFF thread)

 

[shultzy501]

Here's a link to a video about how to tie a Walt's Worm. This tie is very simple and will catch fish! Have fun!

Walt's Worm Video

 

[bushwacker]

woolly buggers, hares ear nymphs, catskill style drys. Easy to tie and effective.

 

[GreenWeenie]

As everyone has said, tie simple flies to start, as it is all about learning technique.

Concentrate on learning how to position and secure materials; using the correct amount of tension to properly secure matierals without breaking the thread or material while winding or having them unwind; using the correct amount of materials to keep the fly in proportion; tying off and whip finishing without covering the eye, etc. Learn technique on larger and simple fies (i.e., don't try and tie a #18 parachute Adams for your 3rd fly).

From personal and teaching experience, the biggest difficulty many beginners have is learning how to correctly proportion a fly. This is due to using too much material and simply extending the the fly too close to the eye. There is nothing worse than spending 30 minutes when just starting and tie a picture perfect fly only to have the whip finish knot cover half the eye making the fly impossbile to tie on.

 

[Bruno]

Take the time to learn good fly proportion it makes progressing to harder ties much easier.

I would start with these flies.

Griffin’s gnat
Woolly Bugger
Sucker Spawn
Hares Ear
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Caddis
Sparkle Duns / Haystacks

 

[flyfishingNZ]

This guy http://www.youtube.com/user/PeatyMann has very good technique and if you want to tie some simple filies he does show some with a good step by step process.

 

[Fishidiot]

I'd suggest a few tips:

-Forget about learning the "whip finish." It's difficult and unnecessary. Just tie off your flies with a couple half-hitches and don't forget to finish with a drop of head cement.

-After you put a drop of cement on the head, put a hook point thru the eye of your fly for a few seconds so the drying cement doesn't "close your eye." Closed eyes are aggravating to discover when you're fishing.

-Practice on larger flies, mainly nymphs and streamers size #12 and bigger. As you get proficient at dubbing fur, wrapping hackle etc you can work down to smaller sizes.

Enjoy!

 

[Flyfisherman_PA]

I agree with fishidiot 100% percent. Whip finish is a total waste of money, in my opinion. Half hitches are just as good - for some pretty good videos on fly tying and using the half hitch check out -->

www.youtube.com/topflyman

 

[rscheckler]

Thanks for the great replies guys. They have helped me to get started on the right foot. I have tied a few flies the past 2 days so I will be sure to upload some pics so that you guys can critique them for me.
Thanks again.

 

[jaybo41]

Lots of great suggestions here, I will second PeatyMann's videos. Great flies and nice instruction as well.

Most of these have been mentioned, but I'll also recommend tying the following flies. All of thes should start you out learning techinque with relatively easy ties, resulting in flies that are proven to catch fish.

Hares Ear, Pheasant Tail, Sucker Spawn, Crystal Meth, Wolly Buggers, Griffith's Gnats, Zebra Midge, Green Weenie, Elk/Deer Hair Caddis or CDC Caddis, Caddis Pupa and San Juan Worm.

One thing that I found helpful and still do when tying a new pattern or one that I've not tied in a while is to tie a bunch of the same pattern, consecutively before moving to a new pattern. It helps reinforce the techniques, placement of materials, etc.

Beyond that, don't get frustrated when/if your patterns don't quite come out right. Keep at it, this takes time, patience and experience, but it's WELL worth it!

 

[sandfly]

The first thing I teach is how to start the thread and thread control, then we do the whip finish. After an intro to tools and such then I move on to a fly with only one material, then 2 , 3 and so on..first fly would be a honey bug, then a dubbed larva..The bugger would be the 5th or 6th fly to learn.. I teach technique instead of a fly, though you get to ty flies also..

 

[Flyfisherman_PA]

In my opinion tying Woolly Buggers and nymphs are probably the most helpful and encouraging because, really, you can't tie them wrong. The same can be true of many flies..