Back to the Basics “Fly Style”
30 years ago when I was a young lad, looking into my grandfathers rugged tackle box I found some furry looking flies. Sneaking them into my pocket I ran to the family pond. Not knowing anything at all about fly fishing or casting, the pan fish were probably thinking who is this rookie? It is amazing I never did have to make a trip to the hospital for a hook removal from the back of my head, though my sun faded hat took a beating. The fly rod and line technology back then wasn’t quite as welcoming to a new angler as we have today.
Fast forward to the present, those once furry looking flies now seem to be works of art. Wanting to challenge myself with the switch rod and spey casting, it was time to start tying my own patterns. I had attended a few seminars and expos through the years, but now I had a reason to put what I learned too the test. I quickly figured out that those flies I would tell myself “Yea I can do that, no problem” are harder to do than first thought.
Wanting to cast streamers on my switch rod, I have been mainly focusing on larger patterns. With some tips and tricks from the experienced anglers in the community, I have been able to put some feathers on a shank that resemble something worth showing. Before I get too far along with this fly tying which has caught my interest and pulled me in, I thought I better ensure I know the basics first. The opportunity to attend a beginners tying class presented itself, so it was time to ensure I did in fact understand the basics.
I am a firm believer that without a good foundation in anything you do, the final product will never be as good as it could be. In fly tying, learning the basics allow anglers to stray from a fly recipe per say and create their own personalization’s and understand the how’s and why’s of doing it. The 3 week beginner class at Chagrin River Outfitters should do the trick to ensure I am on the right path of doing things right.
January 30th, 2013 Class #1
I quickly realized that I took for granted some of the things I do know about tying that others just getting into the art of the fly are starting to learn. But, I did actually learn a few things that will hopefully help me through this journey. The first fly being the classic wooly bugger. When tying in your wire, hackle, and estaz yarn you should tie the material in reverse order that you will wrap it. Tie the wire, then the hackle, then the estaz. Then wrap the estaz, hackle, and finish up with the wire. Never thought much about it, but a good tip and the pattern came out nice.
The second pattern was the Caddis Larva. Waxing string, dubbing and whip finishing the head I already knew from my intruder pattern tying, but I never did think about wrapping the wire in the reverse rotation that your dubbing went on. This might be less important on the larva but, it is good info on making a sturdy wooly bugger and locking the body in when using the wire.
Now that the first class is complete, I look forward to learning more about other basic techniques that I can transfer over to streamer and skulpin patterns that I will be tying for the spring fishing.
