I'm not saying I've never watched fly tying videos. When I started fly fishing and tying, Tim Flagler helped me learn to tie big time. That's a super cool resource people in the past didn't have, and I like Tim's channel. His tying videos are presented in a classy manner and they're super helpful.
I believe I've discussed with some frequency on here how much time I've spent watching tightline videos. I feel like it's my go-to piece of advice to new tyers. I certainly didn't tie all the patterns, but my bad habits and I stayed up probably hundreds of nights just watching and absorbing techniques - first from Flagler and then from Craven, Galloup, the Orvis threeway, etc. For better or worse, YouTube was the only mentor I had available.
However, I think my personal disposition is also uniquely suited to hate-watching. I click on tons of stuff the algorithm throws at me that I know is going to be a turd. Hell, earlier tonight YouTube fed me a live stream from the bastard I was complaining about in my first post. I clicked just to make sure he was tying something annoying while singing along to some bullsh!t Pearl Jam song and cracking jokes to his chat. Spoiler: he was 😂The hate makes me strong.
Ok, gotta make good on my assurance that this is not just a social media complaint thread:
If I'm remembering correctly, in Trout (Josh, for whatever reason, the browser is not allowing me to access the text formatting buttons to follow MLA style; please don't deduct points), there's a part where Bergman is canoe fishing with a guide for pike. In his telling, they come upon a fallen tree with a squirrel running up and down the trunk above the water. The guide explains that a large pike lives under the tree and often eats the squirrels. Then - what a coincidence - the squirrel they're watching falls in, and a monster pike pounces on it! Of course, Bergman and the guide hurry over, and Bergman throws in a fly and - lo and behold - he catches that monster pike! What a hero!
This long, boring, disingenuous book, while I'm sure important in the historical progression of writing about fly fishing, is the turd of yesteryear. Did not finish it.