fly fishing

[puck4350]

For the fly fishers on the forum:

There is a Scottish guy, Davie McPhail who is a genius fly tier. The best. If he made frames he would have a wait list into eternity. Frames would be made of pixie dust glued with unicorn breath (yeah, maybe a little hyperbolic).

You can buy some of his patterns on ebay, and they go for very reasonable prices. I've bought a half dozen from him and they are works of art. Additionally, I've spoken to him several times, and he is thoughtful, humble, smart, and eager to help other tiers.

The link below is to his utube site where he has dozens of flies he demos, giving materials and helpful tips in addition to tying the fly. Great stuff.

DavieMcPhail's Channel - YouTube

Enjoy. If you've every tried to spin deer hair unsuccessfully, and if you've spun deer hair you have, or ended up with all your dubbing on the desk top instead of the thread, you'll be in awe of his mastery.

Disclaimer: no connection but as a happy customer and jealous admirer cause I'm a fly tying piker.

Mods: feel free to move this if it's in the wrong spot, but I posted here because the page says any and everything here.

[billrick]

Thanks for posting that ... very cool. Fly tying is on my list of future hobbies. For now, I'm throwing mass produced flies equivalent to Taiwanese aluminum.

[WayneJ]

I consider myself a good fly tier, but some of these guys (like Dave) are on a different level.
Fortunately, for me, the trout in my parts are dumb and like my less-than-perfect flies just fine.

[XR2]

Too broke and cheap to buy flies. Learning to tie my own over the past few years.
I've found the uglier and messier the fly the better it works for me. See the nasty little lump in this beautiful brookie's mouth? I did that. Made the rod used to throw it as well. Now I need to learn framebuilding. :D

Married wing flies are a goal of mine eventually.Just hang 'em on the wall and look at them.

[classtimesailer]

Fishing with my own flies after the first dozen because I quickly saw that materials and my time were cheaper. I was thinking the other day that most flyfishers, flytyers, rod designers are for the most part as willing to share as most cyclists, mechanics, frame builders. Now I'm reminded of something that my son said a couple years ago: "Why are all the people who do our hobbies such geeks?"

Jeff

[puck4350]

Yep. It is silly to pay retail prices for the simpler flies like San Juan worm, Y2K, or wooly bugger that anyone can tie with an inexpensive vice and minimal tools. Add in the satisfaction of catching fish with your own flies and you have a winner.

There are lots of sites with fly tying video, Ohio Fisherman comes to mind, but Davie's work is the best I have seen, and that Scottish accent is a pleasure to listen to.

[classtimesailer]

Yep. It is silly to pay retail prices for the simpler flies like San Juan worm, Y2K, or wooly bugger that anyone can tie with an inexpensive vice and minimal tools. Add in the satisfaction of catching fish with your own flies and you have a winner.

There are lots of sites with fly tying video, Ohio Fisherman comes to mind, but Davie's work is the best I have seen, and that Scottish accent is a pleasure to listen to.

I didn't say anything was silly. Perhaps you were offended by the geek reference. You should see me dressed for FF or Cycling or Model Railroading or Spearfishing. All Geek outfits to an outsider.
BTW, those aren't flies.
Jeff

[puck4350]

Uh, Jeff, I wasn't responding directly to you, just a comment in general. No offense taken and none meant.

I would quite agree with your comments.

[Tom]

I am sure this will draw the ire of some... but in the world I was taught FF in your were not a FF unless you tied flies.

Pfft. I suppose you never slaughtered a sheep and drew the gut to make your own leaders. For that matter, I bet you never boiled down your own beetles to make the shellac you put on the rods you built.

[ashwa64]

i'm a ken iwamasa fan.

Ken Iwamasa

[cody.wms]

Pfft. I suppose you never slaughtered a sheep and drew the gut to make your own leaders. For that matter, I bet you never boiled down your own beetles to make the shellac you put on the rods you built.

You didn't really make the rod unless you've swam to China and harvested the Tonkin cane yourself.

[XR2]

Damn. Some guys..................it's just fishin'.

[WadePatton]

I am sure this will draw the ire of some... but in the world I was taught FF in your were not a FF unless you tied flies.

yousir can take a goddamn flying leap and land on your idiotic trollistic ass. fuck you and your trolling. (is it swoop?)

this is fishing.

i learned to catch trout. then i learned to catch trout on artificials. then i learned to catch trout on artificial on a FLY RIG...whoooheee, different world. and gdamn not simple either.

i learned more. and more and got the fly-tying kit from whatever retailer-was-popular at that time for wanna-be-cane-rodsmen. later learning that _native monsters_ (instead of the eternally hungry stockers i'd learned to catch) weren't _too_ difficult for a seasoned angler to tease into a bite now and then-if he wanted to drive a couple hours or so to the East.

that's when i quit.

in one of my extraordinarily RARE instances of sanity in my pre-35 years, i said no--that this is going to get out of hand, i'l have 10k worth of gear in my hand to catch a fish i'll kiss and release. eff it.

let's go fishin'.

i then got too light in the wallet to release fish, and although i love the idea of the perfect fly on a perfect hand-tied taper kissing the riffle with the grace of a gnat, and seeing that lifelike lure sucked under with such unviolent force as to shock-start the battle of angling, surely _almost_ to be won by the combatant wearing the hat.

IOW: the pounds of fish divided by the hours/dollars of effort indicate [to me at this time]* that fly-tying is superseded by hanging bluegills on a bush yo, I say yo.

*AND it is entirely possible to enjoy the "coarser" forms of angling as it is the "finest"**

**bro of mine probably has in rods what Pucci has in biciclettes.

ALSO, bulk deer hair available here. Just axe.

[WadePatton]

effing 10-minute rule caught me out.

where-ever you think it needs more or less or different words to read better or more accurately, you just go ahead and put them in. i was going to but it's too late for that now.

note you are responsible for your own spelling, punctuation, and grammar. until 600 seconds expire, after that it's not your problem.

10-Q

[WayneJ]

yousir can take a goddamn flying leap and land on your idiotic trollistic ass. fuck you and your trolling. (is it swoop?)

this is fishing.

i learned to catch trout. then i learned to catch trout on artificials. then i learned to catch trout on artificial on a FLY RIG...whoooheee, different world. and gdamn not simple either.

i learned more. and more and got the fly-tying kit from whatever retailer-was-popular at that time for wanna-be-cane-rodsmen. later learning that _native monsters_ (instead of the eternally hungry stockers i'd learned to catch) weren't _too_ difficult for a seasoned angler to tease into a bite now and then-if he wanted to drive a couple hours or so to the East.

that's when i quit.

in one of my extraordinarily RARE instances of sanity in my pre-35 years, i said no--that this is going to get out of hand, i'l have 10k worth of gear in my hand to catch a fish i'll kiss and release. eff it.

let's go fishin'.

i then got too light in the wallet to release fish, and although i love the idea of the perfect fly on a perfect hand-tied taper kissing the riffle with the grace of a gnat, and seeing that lifelike lure sucked under with such unviolent force as to shock-start the battle of angling, surely _almost_ to be won by the combatant wearing the hat.

IOW: the pounds of fish divided by the hours/dollars of effort indicate [to me at this time]* that fly-tying is superseded by hanging bluegills on a bush yo, I say yo.

*AND it is entirely possible to enjoy the "coarser" forms of angling as it is the "finest"**

**bro of mine probably has in rods what Pucci has in biciclettes.

ALSO, bulk deer hair available here. Just axe.

Good point made here Wade.

With all the fancy fishing shit I have, my best day of fishing occured as a child using a wooden block wrapped with some green string, from which 3 hooks dangled.

I loaded each hook with worm parts, heaved it into the water and minutes later, hauled in three large fish. Repeated this several times that evening while my father, several uncles and a few neighbors casted their rigs feverishly with not a single netted fish. Not sure why or how it happenend, but I got to ride in the front seat of the pickup on the way home. As a child, that was like being king.

[WadePatton]

Don't get me wrong. I love fishing and every form of it. I just don't partake of the delicate act of fly-fishing anymore. Some quote somewhere is that "Fly fishing is to fishing what ballet is to walking" sums it up nicely. While i've released a million or two fish, I now keep nearly all when I get to go (see video at my FB). I was kinda p/u/i last eve.

carry on with the tying and dressing and lofting of those #14's toward those silly fishes...it's a hoot.

[mainemike]

i used to be obsessed w/fishing: baitcast/spin/ulatralight/fly and ocean of course. i tied my own and used store bought too. i think i was about 15 at lake winnipesaukee and took the canoe out far. i had my own big streamer tied and let out a mile of lead core: strip it off, paddle away, strip it off, paddle away. i slow reeled in for what seemed like an hour. as the fly came just into a view a long silver ghost was moving slowly behind it and i just started shaking/freaking out not knowing what the hell to do. i paused, reeled again and wham. boated a big landlock salmon and was quite pleased w/myself. tonight i'm going smelting, a redneck brand of solid maine fun we'll be frying them up as we catch em w/garlic and onions paired w/budweiser and hydroponic. just like this. yup

[Chad]

We use frozen smelt on tip-ups to catch pike. It appears the frozen smelt are probably better eating than the pike.

Reminds me of the night we drank too much while cleaning the pike, threw out the meat and cooked the y bones... The asparagus was good.

[puck4350]

I didn't realize I was developing a thread for purist/non-purist fishers of all flavors (can you say steel/carbon?).

I thought I was posting about Davie McPhail and his abilities as a tier. I hope some of you actually go to the site and get something out of his demonstrations.

My bad.

Carry on.

[WadePatton]

aye, sometimes we don't follow the lines in the road...

back to tying flies...one of the things that told me to quit while i was "ahead" was the streamside meeting with a guy who had about 200 flies in his box of maybe three patterns. That and nearly all the local trout are tailrace stockers. I'd be much more likely to go nuts if that weren't so. well, i'm nuts but just not tying these days. cheers and tight lines.