Flies we hate to tie

[Tigereye]

Reading the post on tying comparaduns and watching the videos begs the question, which flies do you have the most difficulty with or hate to tie? and why?

My top 2 are:

Muddler minnow (getting the proportions of the spun dear hair head right) If I tie 3 flies, the head is different on every one

"Royal" body flies ie Royal Wullf (Royal bodies give me grief)

 

[sgrim]

Quill bodies. Can't seem to get them to look like they do in the pictures.

 

[redietz]

Humpies. I can tie a decent one, but I hate go through the bother.

 

[just_jon]

I dislike tying anything with split hair wings. That said, the royal wulff is my favorite fly and the the fly I tie the most.

 

[MKern]

Spinning deer hair sucks and I suck at it.

 

[Tiogadog]

just_jon wrote:
I dislike tying anything with split hair wings. That said, the royal wulff is my favorite fly and the the fly I tie the most.

This. No matter how often I tell myself, I still use to much hair for the wings. Also, I hate wrapping the hackle on them because of the difference in circumferences between the front and back of the wings after the hair is tied.

 

[Steeltrap]

Darn near anything with wings. (Dry flies mostly) I either can't get 'em to have enough spread....or to much spread....or my infamous....."hey, why are those wings so far back?"

 

[dryflyguy]

I agree with the OP about muddler minnow and royal wolf bodies being a PIA to tie.

Wrapping quill bodies wasn't hard for me.
And while they looked nice, I found them to be very fragile. Usually unwinding after catching a fish or two.
And I gave up tying them.
Dubbed bodies work just as well IMO.

Also never like spinning deer hair.
And haven't tied flies using that in a long time.

My biggest bugaboo though, has been with tying hackle tip wing flies.
I just have always had a hard time getting them to look really nice.
And even when I did crank out a few that I liked, they didn't seem to be very practical to fish with.
Usually twisting up after catching a few fish

 

[ColdBore]

Anything with deer hair. It's just too bulky.

Some days though, it's pretty much anything tied in a hook smaller than about a size 8! :-O

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Anything really cool looking flies I see this time of year that require esoteric materials I don't have on hand, and I have a LOT of varying materials collected over 30+ years of tying (damn you, YouTube!).

Also, flies requiring small or fragile materials. As I age, my vision and digital dexterity are diminishing.

 

[fritz]

Deep sparkle pupa.

 

[JerryC]

Definitely flies with wings. Deer hair, I can spin it, but when it comes to trimming them, it's just a mess. Small flies are getting harder to tie, vision and fat, slightly arthritic fingers.

 

[JackM]

Eggs. You know, the round ones. You have to primp and preen and shape and trim. And still, it is not perfectly spherical, nor is it color coordinated. I would rather sew a wedding dress.

Jaxima12

 

[tomgamber]

Of you use egg yarn and you have to trim them after the cut, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Green Weenie

 

[afishinado]

Mop flies, Green Weenies, Squirmy Wormies, Egg Flies, San Juan Worms...

 

[Wild_Trouter]

For guys having trouble spinning deer hair muddler heads, you can tie in a deer hair collar; clip the butt ends flush and then do your head with root beer or tan estaz chenille. I actually prefer that pattern over the traditional tie as the estaz head offers lots of sparkle and the fly gets down in the water column much quicker than buoyant deer hair

 

[Dave_W]

Parachute dries.

I think I'm a good tier but these have always vexed me and I'm rarely satisfied with the finished product. Nevertheless I'll continue to crank 'em out as I find they fish very well and are definitely the ticket for a variety of situations that are pretty common in PA dry fly fishing.

 

[Dave_W]

Zebra midges are another pattern that I use a lot of (as I bet you do too).

I don't hate tying them, but they're something of a drag and uninspiring.

 

[PennKev]

Dave_W wrote:
Parachute dries.

I think I'm a good tier but these have always vexed me and I'm rarely satisfied with the finished product. Nevertheless I'll continue to crank 'em out as I find they fish very well and are definitely the ticket for a variety of situations that are pretty common in PA dry fly fishing.

If you search the web, particularly Youtube, you will see a surprising variety of different ways in which to tie parachutes. Some ways are better and easier than others. The methods that involve "tying off" on the post with just a drop of super glue are easiest and produce the best results for me.

Also, the post material and tie in method is pretty important when it comes to ease of tying. Synthetic yarns work great and I tend to use them on all my parachute flies. Again, there is surprising variety in how to tie the post to the hook shank.