Getting started fly tying

You can get a cheap vice that works well. The best value-for-money I think is the basic Regal Medallion with a C-clamp, it retails for around 250 euros. You can get cheaper ones if this is out of your budget, but this will last you a life time and never fails. Don’t skimp on the scissors either. Get good ones - spend 23-30 euros. Choose a bobbin holder with a ceramic tip. They are definitely the best and there er cheap ones on the market today. The needle can be a darning needle, the hackle pliers can be cheap ones too. They can have slightly rough jaws that will shear the hackle, but a little sand paper or a fine file fixes that.

You’ll need thread. Just get a white to begin with. You can dye that any colour with markers. I always recommend a 6/0. I happen to like UNI, but others are good too. Most will probably recommend a GSP thread today. The *are* strong, much stronger than a UNI 6/0. But a 6/0 is strong enough and a stronger thread won’t give you stronger flies. GSP threads are incredibly slippery, which isn’t good. Knots aren’t as secure and securing slippery materials (like squirrel hair) with slippery thread is a nightmare. A lot of tiers use a dab of superglue, but superglue dries glass hard and creates small edges that’ll nick even a GSP thread. GSP thread is also so think that it can cur through many materials, notably foam and rubber, but lots of others too. It has its place, I sometimes use it too (rarely) and finally, it’s stupidly expensive compared to a UNI or other “standard” thread.

Which materials to buy? Don’t get a beginners set - never ever! It contains a lot of stuff you’ll never use. Talk to some of the experienced anglers, where you fish. Paul recommended some patterns for winter still water. Buy the materials for them and build from there. That’s the best strategy.

As an example, lets take the omni present Red Tag. First of all, you’ll need hooks, thread, red wool yarn, peacock herl and a brown hackle. I’ll guess that you can source all that for less than 50 euros. And it’s all useable for other flies down the line. 

A Red Tag is an easy, simple fly to learn, but if done right, it’ll teach you proper tying tecnique. All files will teach you to tie in materials and wrapping them, thread control, wrapping a hackle and you can take the same fly one step further. Tie the palmer version as well and with a lighter wire hook, the dry fly version is an excellent allrounder.

Here are a few pointers: Minimise thread wraps to secure materials. Tying in a front hackle, for example, never use more than 5 wraps. Keep an even body. On a Red Tag, secure wool yarn and peacock herl along the entire shank of the hook. Clip off the tips of the herl before tying in - they are very brittle. Leave space for the head! This is important. It avoids “crowing the eye”, as we say. The fly looks better and more importantly, it makes sure you can actually tie it to the leader.

There are plenty of good books to get you started. Peter Gathercole’s books are really good:

https://www.sexyloops.com/tackle/ftbeginnersbible.shtml

There’s is so much information on YouTube, but lots of it is bad - really bad. Check out Davie McPhails videos. He had excellent tying technique and does a good job of making you aware of pit falls in different types of patterns.

Don’t begin tying flies to save money! Over a 30-years period, unless you go professional, you’ll spend much more on materials than you would having bought the same flies over and over again. But tying your own flies is a great satisfaction, allows you to fine tune, experiment and it’s not a bad feeling to catch a fish on your own flies.

Have a great weekend!

Lars

PoD: A basic Red Tag wet fly. This one took me less than five minutes to tie, including digging out the materials. The first ones will take you half an hour :-). But is really is omni present for a reason. It’s an excellent fly, both as wet and dry. I have in my salt water box, my rive box as both wets and dries and even a few variants on my salmon boxes!