I have begun my journey into fly tying this last couple of months. But most exciting is that my 9 year old son, Adam, has also joined the fun. We have tied some Pheasant Tail Nymphs, Adams (of course he was excited to do that one!), Green Weenies, unique Streamers, San Juan Worms (good place to start), and some other things practicing technique. I can't tell you how proud I am and excited that he is so interested. I hope to get him out fishing again this weekend and hope to get him his first trout on a fly.

He has already mastered the whip finisher!

that is great, my son and daughter 11 and 13 have been tying since the age of 7. You have many happy times comming your way enjoy!

My 9 year old did an egg and 2 SJW's tonite. He has been on and off for a few years (more off than on). But that's fine with me when he wants to do it I'll set him up otherwise he just likes to watch me.

We've been out the past 2 weekends and he's got roll casting down. I think if I can get him to mend a bit he'll be into fish in no time.

To keep his interest on stream we wade, flip rocks, skip rocks (after we fished the hole of course), and do alot of other none sense. This is key.


Teaching a child is the most rewarding thing ever. Kudos to you and anyone else with the patience for it. It's our future!

That is awesome for you. My son is 21 and away at college but last time home he talked about getting interested in fishing. I said fly fishing, and he said he doesn't know but if that's the way he goes, he has a resource under the same roof. I sure HOPE so.

I really am happy for you! If I can answer any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

We were not blessed with children, but as the years go on and my eyesight starts to fail I have considered adopting a replacement fly tyer. Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke. But seriously, when i read posts like this I realize how much I have/will miss. I have taught my nephew (now 11) some tying and have taken him fishing. It is all he talks about when ever I see him.
You are very fortunate and doing a great thing involving the kids in the hobby. Keep up the good work!
Mike.

My daughter's 19 months old and likes to "help" when I sit at my bench to tie. She sits on my lap and plays with the random feathers and other materials on my desk. Sometimes I'll have her pick some colors and make a fly up with what she picked. Her favorite is the Green Weenie because green was one of the first colors she could say.

After reading these posts, I have to see if I can get my 6 yr old granddaughter interested in tying. She usually like to try new things. She already spotted my bag of maribou, so it may lead to some interesting flies.

Yes Boj it will lead to some interesting flies, when my girl got interested I suddenly had alot of pink materials and flies. By interesting I mean like the pink hopper she tied.Have fun!

Thanks for the encouragement and offers of advice. I am certain to come looking for advice as I get more into tying.

I took my son out Saturday to help stock and we both had a great time. We got to help float stock a 1 mile stretch and of course dump some buckets too. We (he) were too tired to fish by the time we got done stocking.

So we came back Sunday afternoon to try out his new creation (Green Weenie with an Ostrich Hurl between the Chenile Wraps) on some fresh stockers. I really wanted him to catch a fish. This was his first time out with a fly rod so I made a cast to show him how to dead drift and BAM! first cast a nice rainbow slammed the fly. So, I didn't get him a fish, but he was very proud that his new creation caught a trout on the first cast. I think he liked the Saturday stocking and skipping stones better than the fishing. I did not yet get him his first trout. I did catch a nice brown also on the same fly he tied. He left happy and I left happy too! What a fun birthday weekend this was for me.

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures to share... next time.

My grandson seems to like sitting with Pappy as I'm tying so I got an old vise out and big old hunking hook and let him wrap away. He is 22 months so there are some times when he would rather sit there and try to chew the tool, which can be a bit problematic for him and me.

He is living with me so we get to do this almost everyday.

It is awesome teaching others at any age to ty. In our church there has been a interest growing about fly fishing and tying so next month we are going to get together and have an evening of introducing others to tying. Here in Perry county there are no real opprotunities that we know of for someone to go and learn how to ty unless the person is willing to travel.

"I'm only after the dumb ones"

I also recently got further into fly tying and now my 7 year old wants to as well. He was casting with my fly gear well at 5 (pond side) and has caught some panfish, but now he really wants to fly fish for trout, and tie his own, so I might start him off on something easy in the next few weeks. Anyone have suggestions on the best patterns to start with? I would like to have him doing something easy like a zebra midge, but they're so small he might have trouble.

monk


Start with VERY basic patterns. San Juan Worm, Green Weenie.

They will catch fish and are very easy to tie. This will teach him how to thread a bobbin, start his thread, attach materials to a hook, and finish a fly. Not much else besides that on those patterns.

Once he figures that out, then maybe a wooly bugger. Bigger flies seem to be a bit easier to tie.

The advance to nymphs, then dries. Start with the easiest of concepts first, then the hardest.


Good luck, have fun, and be patient!

Thanks! I'm sure he'll love those patterns too.

one could use foam beetles too because a bluegill will eat almost anything and if you can find spawning redds the bluegills get nasty...... that type of thing will keep a kid interested