Retired Flies

Bruno

Bruno

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Sep 10, 2006
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Retired flies – Last evening I was doing some tying. As I was placing the new ties into some boxes I noticed a few flies that are not fished any more. A few are beat up, some are horrible drunken ties, others are from fly shops. They were kept as tokens and talismans of trips and great days on the water. Some were fished in far off locations and some were fished in a local ditch but all seem to have a good memory attached to them.

Seems silly but I think they will stay put and not fished.
 
I can dig it.. I have a few flies I wont throw away that are all beat up from a long day of fish catching... good memories..
 
I have a Platte River Spider hanging on my tying lamp that took a tiger trout just shy of 20"s. I won't fish it anymore.
 
Bruno,

Maybe we should started a thread - horrible drunken ties. I think it would be very entertaining.
 
dkile wrote:
Bruno,

Maybe we should started a thread - horrible drunken ties. I think it would be very entertaining.

That's the only kind of fly I tie!
 
Salvelinusfontinali wrote:
dkile wrote:
Bruno,

Maybe we should started a thread - horrible drunken ties. I think it would be very entertaining.

That's the only kind of fly I tie!

:lol:
 
I used to keep "retired" flies for various sentimental reasons but over the years this has mostly slipped away for me.

I tie a lot and every year I purge out my fly boxes of patterns I don't need or to make room for newer flies. The old ones, I give away. Sometimes I'll recycle them for the hooks, but mostly I don't consider this to be cost efficient.

Recently, I hit the Jersey shore and purged my fly box before going to remove some older Clousers and crab flies. These older flies were still serviceable so I carefully pinned them on a fence post at a popular parking lot so that other anglers can take 'em home. Saltwater flies are expensive and surf spin fishermen often like to have them as teasers.
 
I have an old flease hat band that I cut open and pinned to my truck visor ......Any old ,beaten up or memorable flies ( from a good trip) I put up there.....:):):)
 
I recycle beat up flies.
Often, they just have a broken tail, chewed body, or a hackle that needs rewound. And IMO, it's worth it to repair them.
Of course, sometimes, they're just too beat up to fix. In that case, I just take a razor to them - and completely retie a new fly on the old hook. It's worth it to me. Good hooks aren't cheap. So, why toss them?
 
Horrible Drunken Ties, I'm in I have a tying problem
 
Id love to see a drunken fly thread

dryflyguy wrote:
I recycle beat up flies.

Im pretty much the say way. Ill "repair" the ones I can like you mentioned. The rest Ill clean up down to bare hook w/ a razorblade and reuse the hooks.
 
Oh yeah, I retire flies. I used to repurpose the hooks off old ones, but that's more of a pita, imo.

I do save flies for various reasons. Some were tied by others and have a special meaning, some are abominations, some caught really nice fish. Imo, they are memories made, and a nice reminder for me.

If these flies could talk...
 
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