Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Who ties their own flies?

Great photo.

Not one of my images, but pirated from elsewhere on the web.

Used to do that, but woke up one day and had more than I'll ever use. Kinda like casting bullets but I've still got 1,000# of lead I need to melt.

been doing a bit with the feathers that I find locally...
don't come across much bright stuff..wonder if I could dye some white feathers.
maybe a sharpie or highlighter would work?

OldmanoftheSea:



Yes. Lots of my materials are indeed roadkill. A near last straw for Cookie occurred one day when I began backing up the highway to scavenage a partially flattened but still attractive Persian cat. I went as far as opening the driver's side door, but left the poor beast in place.

LMAO
One of my friends that ties flies told me I would start scavenging road kill when I start tying flies.
I told him I didn't think I would be doing that due to the amount of road kill I ate when I was young and lived with my hillbilly relatives in Arkansas.

Ha!

hmm never thought about tying a cat-tail...I find eagle, gull and osprey feathers kayaking and the occasional wood pecker or song bird wandering about the woods..

side note:
a pocket full of songbird feathers makes for warm hands on a cold day..

simple pattern




chamois worm under an indicator. Simple and effective



crystal meth egg pattern

As a kid I got a Ned Grey's fly tying kit and had plenty of game bird feathers and various animal hair to use.

I was never good with a fly rod, catching mostly bushes, trees, my hat, and my ears. I did do a lot of dabbling in small trout streams with good success.

My favorite producers were smaller sized green body mosquitos and Adams.

Ned Grey founded Sierra Tackle in Montrose, California after World War II. It grew into a large distributor of fly tying materials. The Ned Grey kits were popular in the 1960s.

I like natural materials the best, but will try anything…once. We used to have a cat that looked like it had mange, it’s multi colored fur made some good flys.
Bucktails, squirrel tails,etc. Have been having good luck with turkeys lately so my pheasant tail nymphs are now turkey tail nymphs.
When we lived in Florida I tied Clouser minnows mostly, they worked in the salt for everything.



Wet wading the Gulf is a lot of fun, just blind casting can lead to some strange, but interesting results.

What is that?

What the hell is that thing ?

Anymore that seems to be optional for me.

What we throw for Big Stripers compared to what local fly guys catch.

I prefer gill net - got better things to do than endlessly flail the water, but you boys have at it.

There are moments of amusement tho.

Torqued asked “What the hell is that thing ?”
It’s a Striped Burr Fish, a kind of puffer fish. Actually a pretty big one. Just another of the goofy fish in the gulf.
Kind of fun for a minute because they blow up and you think you have caught something good…..then the disappointment. 😂

Been tying for the better part of a decade now, although I haven’t done much the last year and need to get back at it. Mostly bass and panfish with some trout and salt mixed in. Probably tied more flies for my old man than me. Apparently retiring means you get to fish a lot. Maybe I’ll get there one day

Just found a photo of the first fly I ever tied…done at the free weekly tying class at a local shop. All the blue hair fell out, I caught a white bass on it and then retired it.