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When is enough enough

2K views 25 replies 16 participants last post by  rich_simms 
#1 ·
So I was sitting at my fly tying table last night and I went and pulled out my fly boxes. Well they are full. Basically no place to put the 5 new flies I tied. So here is the question. When is enough flies enough?

It sucks because I love to tie. So what are we to do? I went through and cleared out all the old flies that were falling apart or rusting hooks. But I still have a full box of brigth flies, darker summer flies, a small box of speys, and a fly wallet with black leeches.

The cross that we all have to carry. Is it bad to hope to loose a couple of flies an outing?

JJ
 
#2 ·
Tie for future swaps; tie for your own free time next year, tie to give-away to friends, but if you love to tie, why, short of personal box storage, should you stop - can you not find a cigar box or two to squirrel away stock for the future?; jealousy rules here, as I'm certain many of us would love the luxury of extra time to tie - is it possible to sell some of your work? - regardless, Keep up the good work :)
 
#4 ·
I have the same problem, all wallets and boxes are full, way to many flies, and I still want to tie more. It is sickness I think.

Last steelhead trip only needed two patterns and other hundred types, etc.. were not needed.

I was smiling when I lost flies, finally put a couple in the trees the last day and felt better to justify tieing some more

A fly fishermans dilemna for sure :whoa: :whoa:
 
#5 ·
Oh well.. I have the same issue... I can give them away... save them for display... but I know I will not use them all... But I enjoy tying them, holding them, looking at them, looking at them from different angle... figuring out how to creat new ones.....Twisting them around in my flingers... testing the hooks... placing them down in different configurations to take pictures.... STOP Typing JOHN...get a grip for God's sake!
 
#6 ·
Doublespey,

Hey I am not lucky enough at this time to have a job like Sinktip, you, Kush, etc to fish when ever I want. I work for the evil empire. Pays the bills and hopefully I get to retire early to fish year round at some point before I get old.

If I could find someone to pay me to fish, not guide just fish, I would be set. :)

My flies are functional flies not suitable for sale. Iwould rather give them away then sell them anyway. I never wanted fishing to be work anyway.

JJ
 
#7 ·
Being one of the tiny number of folks who have

ever held a spey rod, let alone fish with one makes me a bit of an oddity (No don't comment back on that one!:eek: ) Find one of the best ways to get folks into fly fishing, even if it's with a spinning rod and bubble-float, is to give them a handfull of flys to play with. Great to see somebody a week or so later and hear they took a fish or two with your toys.

I tie to keep my self from going completely nuts with what's on TV. Even with cable and a dish there probably isn't an hours worth of watchable TV most evenings. So better to tie than give Joan one more reason to consider the use of a heavy blunt object:whoa:

fe
 
#8 ·
Hey Striblue,
If you had not stoped typing would you have gone so far as to say that you fill the kitchen sink, bath tub or use the backyard wading pool to test out your new creations? :hehe: Some days they look so good in the vice and ya just got to somehow try them out to see if they swim as good as they look.
Hope you are hooking plenty of stripers now.
OC
 
#11 ·
I tie flies the night before I go fishing. Hardly ever lose them. Gave a couple away and the last fly I fished on the last day of the season I stuck in the top of a broken off fir tree. Don't know why, wonder if it will still be there next year. Anyway, I am a few flies short of a full box. LOL.
 
#12 ·
Hmm - no time to fish ... loves to tie flies ...

JJ, I think I have the answer.

- 1 doz. Lemire's Thompson Caddis #6
- 1 doz. Black Marabou GP - tubes please - 5"
- 1 doz. Doc Spratley Green-Butts #4
- 1 doz. Doc Spratley Green-Butts #6
- 1 doz. Dana's Thompson Stones tubes 1"

I'm off to Cape Cod in July - so:

- 1 doz. Juro's Deep Sand Eels
- 1 doz. Popovic's Small Squid
- 1 doz. Chernobyl Crabs
- I'll get back to you when I know more of what I'll need

If you can manage a bit of a rush order - I'm leaving for Sheridan Lake the day after tomorrow -

- 1/2 doz. Black Leeches
- 1/2 doz. Brown-Green Leeches
- 1 doz. Black Chironomids
- 1 doz. Green Chironomids

That should help you out - thanks!
 
#15 ·
Wait a tic........

Sparkey, are you using flies tied on jig hooks under your strike indicators????? Hmmmmm????? Shame shame on you. :)

Now, onto flies. I'm anal about my flies. I'll tie up some, then realize a few months later I tied them like crap, then give them away/sell them and retie them up. LOL, have about 3 foam filled fly boxes and a couple open boxes for stashing my summerrun flies. I fill them up, empty them out (either manually in the river/tree or to another person) then retie. You NEVER have enough flies. So, just keep tying. If you enjoy it, who cares???? My girlfriend simply shakes her head and smiles. Hell, you could be doing worse things with your time, like yardwork, carwork, work work. I'll take fly tying anytime. :)
 
#16 ·
My fly fishing club has a raffle at each monthly meeting. Items are misc. accessories, plus collections of flies tied by members (for which they receive a few free raffle tickets). Used to be a half-dozen flies was typical, but some of our best and most prolific tiers now routinely donate boxes of several dozen great flies. And every year or two, we hold an auction to fund our conservation projects, where many a larger collection of fllies gets bid for.
When steelheading, in addition to one or two swingleaf boxes (one just for weighted flies), I carry a Skoal box stuffed with rejects and simple patterns, labeled "Cannon Fodder."
 
#17 ·
Hey 69er-
Speaking of heavily weighted flies and the such...Mr. Doublespey informs me you have some killer strike indicators!! I am dying to see some and give them a try this summer on the Stilly! :devil:

...word has it, they have Fortson written all over them. :)
 
#18 ·
Ahhh, Brian let cat out of the bag eh?

You heard about my old strike indicators. Yeah, I hated using corkies and actually using full sized dink floats like some people we know LOL :D

Yeah, I did some experimenting quite a few years ago. Ran out of SI's, and used what I had laying around. Which, of course is similar to a dink. But got creative and did a little switch and modifying. Makes a great SI and gives a keel/hull effect when used. Pretty effective.

Hey Brian, should we let Sparkey in on my SI's???? He'll see them and go DOH!?!?! "Why didn't I think of that?". But, I rarely use SI's anymore, but when I do, these come out to play.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Jeff said:

Hey I am not lucky enough at this time to have a job like Sinktip, you...
Notice that both Brian and Duggan have government jobs...I hope they feel guilty fishing (wasting money) on the taxpayer's dime. :tsk_tsk:

....you know what, they are smart.

I've go it!! Open a government run flyshop...that way I can waste money and do whatever the Hell the want, i.e. fish whenever I want!! :devil: :razz: :hehe:
 
#20 ·
Kush OK I deserved that. You know I was just poking fun at you guys. :) Jeaously sucks sometimes. Besides I could never tie flies as good as you and I don't tie tub flies yet.

I just have to stay away from the vise until I loose some flies. :)

JJ

15 days to the season opens up.
 
#21 ·
Interesting to look back on what I've used for strike indicators

over the years (60 in a few days).

First 'indicators' were cut down wine bottle corks painted a bright colour. Half a cork (tapered on one end) for fly rods, two glued together for float rods. Drill a small hole straight through for the fly application and hold in place with a broken off toothpick.

With the double 'cork' I'd drill a small hole at a 45 degree angle in one, and a 45 degree angle in the other direction on the bottom. Slip the line through, wrap around the body of the cork a couple of times then down through the second hole. Tention held the whole thing in place. Works very well even today ..... and you've got to drink one or two bottles of wine to boot to produce the 'basic materials.':rolleyes:
 
#22 ·
You're Busted!!

Sparky . . . if Dennis reads this thread!:tsk_tsk: :tsk_tsk:

I'm also dying to see Dana post the Ed Ward chronicles on the Spey Pages, as the letter had some telling analysis of Indicator Fishing and the psyche of those who fish this way. ;)

Jeff - I do envy your prolific tying. And I've got the perfect solution to your woes that won't even require purchasing a new fly box. I'll teach you to tie tubes, you've just gotta let me use the rejects!!:D

I used to love to tie, but now I'm a "necessity" tyer and usually whip up 3-4 flies just before going to the river.

We've all got our Vices :devil:

DS
 
#23 ·
DS-
I kept my indicator fetish as quiet as I could but he finally discovered my darkside (well, one of the many... :devil: ).

Dennis is very quick and after watching my casting stroke (chuck'n'duck...even with a straight dry line), he came to the realization that I AM an indicator fisherman. :eek:

Oh well...just cant do it in my K-man hat! :hehe: ...or at Deer Creek anymore! :hehe:
 
#24 ·
IMHO, Indicator fishing is just as much a variance from acceptable pure fly fishing techniques as chuck and duck fishing.

If the old timers I fished with back in the 1960s and 1970s on the famed NYS Catskill Rivers (Beaverkill, Willowemuc, Esopus etc) saw you fishing nymph or streamers you were considered a bait fisherman and would ridicule you. I was in my 20s then and did use nymphs and streamers as I still had the sickness of wanting to catch a lot trout and big ones. I had to hide from the old timers many times going around the river bend where they could not see me with nymphs or streamers.

Only thing acceptable to them was dry or wet flies.

Remember they call this area the crade of American fly fishing so there were a lot of purists. This is where Schwiebert, Wulff, and other FF icons congregated. Now where the American Fly Fishing Museum is.

There were no indicators than. I don't think they came out until the 1980s. Tried them a couple of times for regular stream trout and did not care for it. I am an old trout nymph/wet fly/streamer dredger which is why I fit right into steelhead and salmon fly fishing.
 
#25 ·
A goverment owned fly shop

with "Sparky" at the wheel??? I'd much rather see that then a lot of the other nonsense they come up with to piss away my tax money.
 
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