New to fly tying

Jim Allen

Jim Allen

Steelhead
I have been wanting to give this a go for some time. This will be a challenge with Parkinson's disease that forced my early retirement. I have purchased an entry level rotary vise and a tool kit. I thought I would seek the advice of some local experts as to what are the essentials I will be needing. I am hoping to tye nymphs and drys for the Yakima river. Thread, hooks, feathers, dubbing, crystal flash and so on. Also where to purchase without breaking the bank.
 
Jim Allen said:
I have been wanting to give this a go for some time. This will be a challenge with Parkinson's disease that forced my early retirement. I have purchased an entry level rotary vise and a tool kit. I thought I would seek the advice of some local experts as to what are the essentials I will be needing. I am hoping to tye nymphs and drys for the Yakima river. Thread, hooks, feathers, dubbing, crystal flash and so on. Also where to purchase without breaking the bank.
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I'd start with Wooly Buggers.

This book was a big help to me when I started tying, and had an introductory section in materials:

 
 
You're in luck! There happens to be a fly tying expo in Albany, OR this Friday and Saturday. You can pick the brains of a bunch of incredibly technical tyers (not me. While I can tie a great musky fly That'll swim exactly as intended, I'm not exactly what one would call technically sound... :LOL: ).

🍻
 
YouTube is a great resource for step-by-step tutorials. Agreed that woolly buggers and hare's ear are a great place to start. Other than that I would go to the shop where you usually buy flies and ask them to help you pick out the materials for a few of the flies that you would be using on the Yak...avoiding any difficult patterns to start out. Don't buy too much material until you've decided that you enjoy it.
 
If you want, I’m happy to send you a bunch of dubbing, feathers, and various other materials including some hooks that might help you get started. I’ve got more redundancy than I’ll ever need.

Books are great. There are a ton of great YouTube videos for virtually any pattern you want to learn.
 
Jim Allen said:
Zak
Thanks for the suggestion. Just ordered the book.
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You won't regret it! Buying big/whole pieces of natural materials can be cost effective over buying little preselected packs. I think you would go far with a whole natural hare's mask, some showshoe rabbit feet, a bunch of peacock herl, gold and copper colored wire in the "brassie" size, a patch of natural deer hair, a pheasant tail feather, and a Hungarian partridge skin.

Hareline sells "wooly bugger packs" with several patches of long, webby feathers for buggers.

The dry fly hackles get pretty spendy! I think one or two of the hackle feather companies sells an "intro pack" dry fly hackle pack that is half each of a brown and grizzly neck or saddle. Good dry fly hackle feathers are like gold!
 
If you are going to tie all one size of dry fly, the Metz "Super 100s" pack of feathers gives you only the size you need, and each feather ties multiple flies.
 
Pick a few patterns and buy the materials you need and buy the best hooks. No sense on tying on crappy hooks. Pinch the barbs before you tie on the hooks, in case they break. I would suggest wooley buggers as others have suggested and some easy nymphs like stone flies and maybe a copper John or prince nymph. Dries are fun but working with deer hair and other hairs is challenging to start off. Keep it simple, the KISS principle.

Take a class or two from a local fly shop. Or use videos and SBS (step by step). Lots of great books, but seeing it done in person will speed things up!

Enjoy and good luck! Learn how to start the thread and do a whip finish! It's really not that hard. Even I can do it!

Cheers!
FlyBill
 
flybill said:
Pick a few patterns and buy the materials you need and buy the best hooks. No sense on tying on crappy hooks. Pinch the barbs before you tie on the hooks, in case they break. I would suggest wooley buggers as others have suggested and some easy nymphs like stone flies and maybe a copper John or prince nymph. Dries are fun but working with deer hair and other hairs is challenging to start off. Keep it simple, the KISS principle.

Take a class or two from a local fly shop. Or use videos and SBS (step by step). Lots of great books, but seeing it done in person will speed things up!

Enjoy and good luck! Learn how to start the thread and do a whip finish! It's really not that hard. Even I can do it!

Cheers!
FlyBill
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Great advice, but I have never found prince nymphs to be easy to tie. There's like 5 or 6 different materials that have to be placed just so. Very fiddly!

I'd start Jim with something more like a hare and copper, with or without a bead and collar.

What's in your vise?

pnwflyfishing.com pnwflyfishing.com
 
Zak said:
Great advice, but I have never found prince nymphs to be easy to tie. There's like 5 or 6 different materials that have to be placed just so. Very fiddly!

I'd start Jim with something more like a hare and copper, with or without a bead and collar.

What's in your vise?

pnwflyfishing.com pnwflyfishing.com
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True, but I like to tie patterns I'll use and am excited about! Many other nymphs and streamers that are easily tied. These are just my go to flies. The Olive Willy is my goto lake pattern but a simple wooly bugger in olive will do. Or black!
 
For lakes (and even rivers) an Olive Willy is (as @flybill mentions above) is one of the most productive flies ever created...easy to tie and requiring few materials.

Go ahead and fish those early attempts at tying; you'll quickly learn that trout are much less fussy about perfection than flyfishers!
 
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“When a man is standing at the top of a cliff, it isn’t fear of falling that keeps him rooted to the edge — it’s the fear of not being able to resist the desire to jump, just to see what falling feels like.”
― Cristelle Comby, Russian Dolls

Beware the abyss you are about to enter.
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James St. Clair said:
Where are you located, Jim?

Red's is having a fly tying Rendezvous this Saturday, and I am one of the guest tyers. Would be great to see you there!

James
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James St. Clair said:
Where are you located, Jim?

Red's is having a fly tying Rendezvous this Saturday, and I am one of the guest tyers. Would be great to see you there!

James
Click to expand...
James
Thanks for the heads-up. I live in Ellensburg. I will plan on attending.
 
adamcu280 said:
If you want, I’m happy to send you a bunch of dubbing, feathers, and various other materials including some hooks that might help you get started. I’ve got more redundancy than I’ll ever need.

Books are great. There are a ton of great YouTube videos for virtually any pattern you want to learn.
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Thank you for your generosity.
Jim Allen
1802 E 14th Ave.
Ellensburg Wa. 98926
 
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