pcray1231 wrote:
The difficult dries for me are .... Spinners...
Seriously? It's just a group of fibers lashed to a hook (I use HI VIS). If you can dub, you can tie a spinner. I think they might be among the quickest and easiest flies to tie, I spend more time on the tails than anything else on them.
My hackles look like bird's nests, fibers going every which way, not neat at all. Maybe its the materials....
Yea, I know. They should be easy. But i don't like doing the wings. Probably because i haven't tied many. I've only tied a few and they never come out right for me.
I don't like doing the feather wings in general, and yes, I have wing burners and all that. On let's say... an adams. The first thing to fall off is the wing anyway, so I just leave it off.
Caddis are the dominant hatches just about anywhere I fish anyway, and I have no problem with down wing or even tent wing. And when I go to a place like Penns, I'll often go with a caddis even if the drakes are hatching. It is something different than everyone else is using and caddis are everywhere. I've only fishd Penns twice and haven't been skunked. not bad for a guy whou used to fish for just the native brookies.
As far as your hackles go, it is probably either the quality, or you are trying to use too much hackle. But does it really matter? I'm betting yours work just fine. I've tied many like that in the past, and they still caught fish.
The way I see it, ... whether it is cooking or tying flies, recipes are just suggestions. You aren't baking cakes here. You are making something to entice a fish.
Take the adams for example. I usually don't bother with the brown hackle and use just the grizzly.
And for FrequentTyer... Isn't Marinaro a type of sauce for over pasta?;-)
Seriously... I don't care all that much what the experts say. I do respect them and their opinion, but to me it's just fishing and I feel better figuring it out on my own. I do tie some with wings, but often I leave them off. It probably makes a difference in slower water, but not in the faster water (IMO). I have some very realistic flies for the calm water when the situation arrises. they tend to be more fragile flies, so I don't use them for most of my fishing. I do what I like to do even if it doesn't make sense to someone else. The less tying articles and books I read the better off I probably am. I learned the basics and just went from there. I don't even own a rotating vice. I feel that I don't "need" one. I've used one before and they are cool, but all the more I tie? I don't need to spend any more money on tying tools.
I wasn't even going to respond to this message, but I figured I'd add a different perspective. I realize I am not typical.
I work with a guy who's dad was kind of famous in the fly fishing world (but I'm not a name dropper). He was an expert tyer and his flies were always in demand. He passed away a few years back. I never met the guy, but he knew through his son that I was into fly fishing. So occasionally he would give me flies (through his son). After he died, his mon started getting rid of his massive amount of supplies. She gave some to her son to distribute to his friends. I got a couple of necks and another handful of flies. There was one or two woven body flies in there too. Now that looks difficult.
My flies look sick next to his. I'll never use those flies, but I do often pull them out to try and imitate.
i also had a chance to buy his old LH Leonard bamboo rod, but I wimped out on that.
