As we head deep into fly-tying season here in the Yellowstone Region, fly-tying is at the forefront of my mind. With a variety of hatches in the region and many trips to prepare for in the upcoming season, there are a lot of flies to be tied in the winter months. I’ve grown to love fly tying just as much as fly fishing itself, and I look forward to winter days behind the vise.
Tying your own flies takes a lot of work and comes with many challenges. It is a daunting hobby and takes considerable time to learn and continue practicing. Not to mention the cost of getting started and purchasing materials for new fly patterns. It’s fully understandable why many anglers buy flies to fill their fly boxes. That being said, there are many advantages to tying your own flies. In this blog post, I go into the many benefits of tying your own flies and what I love most about fly tying.
A Greater Understanding Of Trout’s Food
As a match-the-hatch angler, I love going to the vise to match an insect I observed on the river. One of the greatest advantages of tying your own flies is the desire it brings to learn more about the fish’s food.
When you dive into fly tying, you begin to understand more and more about the food the fish feed on. Most fly tyers look to tie flies to emulate a hatch, so they observe the real insect on the water. Taking pictures, watching the insect move, and noting when trout feed on the hatch. This observation will help you tie more effective flies and gain a better understanding of the trout’s food source. It’s much easier to learn about insects and how they hatch when you have the desire to match it on the vise.
Above and beyond the hatches, your observation of minnows, sculpin, terrestrials, and all the other food items trout prey on will inspire you on the vise. I have many friends who study minnows, sculpins, and crayfish to tie unique streamers with realistic profiles and movements that are almost impossible to find in a fly shop.
In essence, fly tying brings a greater desire to observe the fish’s food and learn everything you can about it. The more you know about their food, the better you can estimate where the fish will be, which leads you to catching more fish, hopefully on the flies you tied.
A Hobby In The Offseason
The winter months in the Yellowstone Region can be cold, snowy, and sometimes unbearable. While there is still plenty of opportunity to get out and catch some fish, our time on the water is limited. Fly tying is a great way to fill the time, build anticipation, and keep fly fishing on the brain 24/7.
After a long winter dreaming of warmer days and rising trout, you can hit the ground running with full fly boxes and a pent-up excitement for the best of the fishing season. More time on the vise in the winter allows for more fishing time and success in the summer. Not to mention the great fulfillment and pride that comes with having a fly box stocked to the brim with your favorite fly patterns.
Fly tying keeps me excited, motivated, and innovating, even when I can’t get out on the river. It’s one of my favorite parts of fly tying. When it’s cold and snowing in January, I can tie some Green Drakes and dream of June on the Henry’s Fork.
It is also extremely fun and rewarding to tie your own flies for an upcoming fishing trip. Maybe you’re going to fish some saltwater or head down south to fish the summer trout season. The best way to build excitement and extend the life of the trip is to spend the weeks before the trip tying flies specific to it. You may end up with more flies than you ever need for a few days of fishing, but the time spent dreaming behind the vise is what it’s all about.
More Control and Quality
Tying your own flies gives you great control over a variety of important factors in fly construction. Rather than being limited to the flies available at your local fly shop, a fly tyer has a wide variety of options when it comes to the flies they tie. Whether it be the color of the fly, weight, movement, hook quality, unique material, or the overall look of the fly, a fly tyer has full control. This allows anglers to solve many problems on the vise that may not be solved with the flies available at the local fly shop.
I have been prepping a nymph box for sight-fishing in New Zealand and the Yellowstone region over the past few weeks. While I can just as easily buy a couple of dozen nymphs at a fly shop, I’d rather tie my own for the customization it gives me. With these nymphs, I have been varying the weight and sparseness of each pattern. Some I have tied with tungsten beads and weight to get down in fast water, while others I tied unweighted to fish just below the surface. I included a variety of nymphs with tungsten and brass beads, both lightly weighted and unweighted, for all sight-fishing scenarios. This is hard to do when purchasing flies, and there are examples like this all over the fly-tying world.
I also know many anglers (including myself) who tie their own flies just to guarantee they have a quality hook to land big fish. Some fly manufacturers use weak, low-quality hooks in their fly production. There is nothing worse than spending $3.50 on a fly and having the hook bend out on the first fish. It’s a great reason to tie your own flies and guarantee you’re using the sharpest and strongest hooks.
Does Tying Your Own Flies Save You Money?
The age-old question: Does fly tying save you money? With how expensive flies have gotten over the past few years, it is a valid question for many anglers looking to get on the river within their budget. Like so many things in this world, the answer depends on a variety of factors. Many fly tyers are quick to say that tying your own flies does not save you any money. With the many materials and tools required to get started, many believe it is just as expensive as buying flies from a fly shop. I agree with this sentiment for the most part, but I think there is a case to be made that tying your own flies can be less expensive if you are intentional about it.
The trick to tying cost-effectively is to tie simple flies in bulk. Many of our most productive trout flies, such as pheasant tails, hare’s ears, woolly buggers, worms, chubby chernobyls, x-caddis, sparkle duns, and zebra midges, are relatively simple patterns to tie. They require fairly inexpensive materials, and the flies themselves can be tied in little time with some practice. I find tying flies in bulk is much more cost-efficient than buying them at a fly shop, since it spreads the cost across many flies. By tying in bulk, you also make the most of the fly-tying material you purchase. This is key to being cost-effective in your fly tying, since much of the tying material for sale is packaged to tie dozens of flies.
The way I tie flies (usually in bulk and with quality materials), I estimate I spend just about as much as I would buying flies from a fly shop. But because of the other benefits mentioned in this article, I feel as if I end up getting higher-quality flies suited to how I fish, all while having fun along the way. This is worth the money and time spent tying my own flies.
That being said, I would not recommend getting into fly tying solely to save money. It’s just really hard to do and would take too much effort to accomplish, even for a budget-conscious angler like myself.
A Lifetime Pursuit
In my opinion, fly tying makes fly fishing much more exciting and keeps me motivated to get out on the water. There is always another technique to learn, a way to innovate, and a problem to solve. It’s never-ending if you keep a curious mindset. Just in the trout world, you could dive into tying nymphs, streamers, articulated streamers, dry flies, foam, or trout spey, and have years’ worth of tactics to learn. While it may not be this way for everyone, for me, tying your own flies is what truly makes fly fishing a lifetime pursuit.
As you can probably tell, I highly recommend anglers get into fly tying at some point in their fishing journey. Many of the best anglers I know tie their own flies, and they contribute a good portion of their success to the fact that they tie flies.
For me, it brings the experience full circle and makes me feel more connected to the fish and the environments they live in. I am beyond grateful to a fishing buddy who bought me materials and got me started on this fly-tying journey many years ago. If you want to start fly tying, the best way to learn is by learning from a friend. YouTube is great nowadays, but I think some guidance from a mentor at the beginning is the best way to get headed in the right direction. With time and many failures, you may experience the benefits of tying your own flies for yourself.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and let me know what you think in the comments!
Nick
