Why do you tie?

When I am tying I'm not really at my desk in my den. My mind is out on the water and I am casting the fly I am working on. The sun is shining, my casts are textbook perfect, the water is all mine, and the fish just love my fly.

That being said, after 50+ years of tying my finished flies still look like something the cat hacked up on the carpet.
 
It's been a while since I posted. I'm glad to see things have been moving along without me.:D I have spent many weeks at the vise preparing for a January trip to Christmas Island. (Finally) I tie flies because in the beginning, I was too poor to buy flies. My flies looked like dog food. (Still do) But I enjoy fooling nature with something I created. It's as simple as that.
 
I tie because I like to do variations of patterns I have bought that have worked for me consistently and I make a few changes.
while I may not catch as many as my buddy who is fishing store bought flies, I get satisfaction of catching fish on my tied flies.
I've caught a lot of fish in my life and it's not a numbers game any more.
I'm working on two patterns now: a hares ear and the balanced leech.
 
I only tie flies that I can't buy or are too expensive to buy. I don't see any value in tying generic flies that are cheap to buy.

I would say 90% of the flies that I use were tied by me, because I am very particular. I use very basic patterns, for the most part, but things like weight and proportions must be exact.
 
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