Sometimes a guy just has to blurt out some ideas. Not particularly organized ideas, perhaps, but hopefully some ideas that will help novice fly tyers. If this sounds like you, the I invite you to view this video and see if you might pick up a few useful thoughts and improve your own fly tying strategies and skills.
Key themes illustrated here include:
To start, make sure your bench is well lit and all of your needed materials are within your reach.
1. keep your desk clean; apply cement of some sort at various stages as you go thorough the tying process.
2. place a sample fly on your desk to provide a template or example of what you want to achieve in terms of shape, size, proportion, and so forth. Place each finished fly alongside the sample fly as you go. This makes a great opportunity to see if your consistency is good. Make adjustments as you go if necessary.
3. assemble materials for several flies before you start, probably for at least a half-dozen flies or more. This includes your hooks, body materials, tinsel, tail material, hackles, wing materials and so forth.
4. Keep your cement applicator close and easy to use. The bottle I use in this video is a good example.
So there you have it.
Jay Nicholas – September 2017
