t.z. | Friday, 1 January 2016
2016 ... blimey. Time flies (pun intended). Welcome to the new year. I am really looking forward to the next 365 days of which I will try again to go fishing and have a good time as much as possible. I wish the same for each and every one of you fantastic sexyloops people ... however - be careful. Hanging around this place is infectious.
My goal is to continue helping Paul spreading the FF virus. It´s so much fun all that stuff "fly". Casting, fishing, tying ... and being out there. Having fun and feel part of "it" - whatever the fuck that is.
I was more than proud when Paul asked me to write down my thoughts on fly tying. I strongly believe every fly-fisher should tie his own flies. I won´t go into why most of the stuff one buys in shops is pretty hideous crap - that would be not so very fair, even though it is. I see every self made fly as a masterpiece. Time spend thinking about fishes prey, the flies construction and why one wants to build a fly in a certain way is very valuable. Each minute doing this makes you a better fly-fisher or say "nature person".
The SFTS - sexyloops fly tying school - is meant to give you the right tools in your hands to come up with your own flies. I explain certain patterns, but mostly for communicating some key techniques and philosophies. Basic handicraft of you so will.
So here we are ... wrapping up what has been presented.
On September 18, 2015 I wrote about opus manuum - handycraft. Doing things with your hands. Bringing imagination to life. Imagination is the key. Without it you can not create. You have to have an idea in your head - long planned or rather spontaneous - to create something. Fly tying is bringing an amazing amount of imagination to life. An imitation of life if you so will. This takes technical skills which can be learned. Don´t be afraid. It is not that hard, but very very rewarding on many levels. The most obvious reward is that you´ll be catching fish with your creations. I am sure you will. The other is the very process itself. Making things with your own hands is very cool. Looking at your „finished product“ fills you with pride. It should. Even Paul does it. So in the next few weeks I will be following up with explaining the techniques I use for tying flies. Once learned the basic techniques you should be able to tie pretty much any pattern. The basics are pretty similar for all flies.
Please visit the Board's fly tying section if you have questions and ideas. Don´t be shy to ask. Sexyloops is the most informative website on matters flyfishing and has a broad rooster of very helpful people around which can answer pretty much any question about the topic. - warning: there might a good deal nerdiness involved. If you want to learn fly tying you can also get in contact with me directly. I have taught the subject for some years and since Skype & FaceTime even direct tutition to someone very remote is not too big an issue any more.
In part 2 we talked about THREAD. How to attach it to the hook and how to finish the fly with a whip finish knot. What happens when it breaks and so on. Check it out if you haven´t done that already. http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-2-thread
Then we right away hopped into cold-water tying a tiny little dry fly - the black gnat. A killer pattern by the way. This fly features a technique I use very often - twisting brittle stuff around the thread to reinforce the construction. Part 3 - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-3-your-first-fly
In part 4 that „twisting-brittle-around-sturdy“ technique is used again to tie the famous PTN Pheasant Tail Nymph in its original way Two new modules were added as well. The TAIL, and the WING CASE module, if you so will. Part 4 - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-4-ptn
So in part 5 - we put the „TBAS“ technique into use again. The Red Tag is consisting of three parts. Tail, body and hackle. The tail is made from red wool, the body consists of peacock herl and the hackle is done with a cock feather. Pretty straight forward. If you have mastered the Black Gnat, the Red Tag will be piece of cake. It is a „separated“ Gnat if you so will. http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-5-red-ta
In part 6 we stepped up quite a bit and learned to tie a pretty complex pattern. The famous Klinkhamer. Some say it was sort of a revolution in fly design. Even though halvf of the fly is submerged, it´s a dry fly. Even purists agree, I hope. Anyway - you will benefit fully from the modules and techniques we have covered so far. http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-6-klinkhamer
Part 7 is about tools and how to organise your materials. This was covered for the most part in this article
http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/organizing-tying-materials
Part 8 is about books - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-8-books
Part 9 is about entomology for kids - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-9-entomology4kids
Part 10 - the bead head nymph - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-10-bead-head-nymph
Part 11 - dubbing - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloopps-fly-tying-school-part-11-dubbing
.... and of course it will go on in 2016. Many things to look forward to. Flies and technieques for fly tying which will make you catch more fish. There is no doubt you will. Happy 2016 .... tight lines and thread ;-)
And a quick message from Paul ...
I hope this series is going well for you.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!
Cheers
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