well today I start my fly tying journey. the wife signed me up for classes for the next 6 weeks. if you had seen my recent ties you would know why she signed me up for classes. I hope to have some decent pictures to share soon. here is a list of things I hope to get better at.

1: learn how to use a whip finishing tool, I do it by hand now.

2: learn all about hackle and how to wrap and tie it better.

3: tie parachute fly's.

4: tie a nice BWO.


Brian

there is alot of great info online once your done with your class .
http://flyanglersonline.com/tyingmenu.php
 http://www.kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx
http://www.hatchesmagazine.com/?utm...=FTFFooter

thanks, I used to frequent this site, it seems like one of the better ones.

there is times when you need to do a hand whip finish. there are a few different tools a half hitch tool and two different styles of whip finishers.
http://copperfly.net/whipfinish.php

Hey Brian, if you haven't already done so you should head over to http://www.flytyingforum.com/. It's a really helpful bunch of guys that share the obsession and are happy to help out tiers of all skill levels.

Thank you utfisher, i'll check it out. how have you been doing?

well last night was fun, accomplished the first thing on my list. I struggled with the whip finishing tool for a while but then it all clicked for me and now with a little practice I should be good to go. we did the san juan worm and the zebra midge in a size 18. both fairly simple flies but still interesting to learn.

But those are skills that are laying down the foundation to other flys.

next class will be the Pheasant tail nymph and wooly bugger I believe.

two really good flys . sounds like by the time your done with your class you should have a decent set of flys and a good start. There is nothing like getting the one on one instruction because they can see were you are having problems and help you to solve them . Beware though after a while you start to look at things and say hmm i wounder if i could use that to tye a fly .
be fare warned i don't recommend you try to use your wife's pearls for a bead head nymph.You could but i don't recommend trying it .
also some materials are cheaper if they are not packaged for the fly tier. craft stores,garage sales and dolor stores are a good place to get some materials cheaper.

you got that right tosser. Luckely the wife does not have any pearls. I have found that the craft store is a great place for certain feathers and beads. I have also found thier prices are good on sheets of foam. are you aware of any differences between thread from a craft/sewing store and thread that is specific to tying other than some being waxed?

Well last night we did two versions of the prince nymph. one regular and the other with a beadhead and rubber legs. my rubber leg one turned out better than the other. we also did a copper john. we were going to do the hairs ear but ran short on time. so far we have done.

san juan worm
zebra midge
wooly bugger
pheasant tail
prince nymph
copper john

I think it is pretty cool to see myself learning the skills and seeing the fly's looking better each time.

Brian

Whip finishing? I whip finish all my flies, and my wife refuses to use the whip finishing tool and has tied hundreds of different flies and pretty well, I might say. Personally, I'll stick to the tool. It looks like you are getting the basic and more common flies done. Heck, that copper john still gets me. My zebra and tiger (I use them more than zebras) midges get used on the local rivers more than anything else. What's your smallest flies so far? Tying size 26 is fun.

Troutinator. right now I am more comfortable with finishing by hand but what i am doing is throwing on a couple of half hitches and then using the whip finish tool. that way the fly doesn't come unraveled when i screw up the whip finish, i use it because I want to become proficient with it. right now my smallest fly that i try to tye is a #18 zebra. I have no idea how anyone does a 26 even with a magnification lamp. What do you tye the tiger with?

Brian

The smallest i tied is a size 22 royal coachman wet.   My wife gave one of her regular customer at work a few size 18 copper creepers  I tied up  and they asked  her if I could  of tied them any smaller .
  So of i went to be a smart ass . I used peacock ice dubbing and red 6/0 thread for the body .It was a challenge but my wife said she turned to her husband and said you just had to ask .

Sounds like your doing a lot of grate flys Brian.

with the pheasant tail you could sub some crystal flash for the pheasant tail fibers . like say black or root beer crystal flash now you have a new pattern using the same technique .
That is what makes fly tying so fun .

I did one pheasant tail with pearl tinsel for the wing case and added rubber legs instead of using the pheasant tail fibers for the legs. I gave that fly and a few others to a sales rep who visits me at work and he was going to give them a try. unfortunatly I have not had the time to use any yet.

Another tip :make as many friends as you can, you can always swap materials , flys and skills ,you can also learn from one another as you go along.  One never knows to many fly tiers AND most are very happy to help you .

When you do the hairs ear nymph perhaps you will do one regular dubbing method and one using a dubbing loop .

How many classes do you have left ? (4)
AND do they offer more advanced classes too ,or will you be on your own after that .

I have 3 left. I will ask about the dubbing loop method. I am a little familiar with this method. My boss is a hunter and has promised me deer hide, pheasant and duck. he even has some goose he is bringing for me. the first weekend in april there is a fly tying expo about 5 miles from my house and I plan to attend and sit in on some instruction. the nice part is there is a 1 dollar entry fee. here is the site for it www.wasatchexpo.com

Here is another link you may like . http://www.youtube.com/user/DavieMcPhail

Looks like a good time . And It's is a greet place to get things at a decent price .

looks like a great site Tosser. I added it to my favorites.

He dose a lot of submissions for hatches.

Posted By bpetersen on 22 Mar 2012 03:56 PM
Troutinator. right now I am more comfortable with finishing by hand but what i am doing is throwing on a couple of half hitches and then using the whip finish tool. that way the fly doesn't come unraveled when i screw up the whip finish, i use it because I want to become proficient with it. right now my smallest fly that i try to tye is a #18 zebra. I have no idea how anyone does a 26 even with a magnification lamp. What do you tye the tiger with?

Brian

My size 24 tiger midges are very simple, in my opinion.  I simply slide a size 1/16 dia gold bead only a size 22 or 24 TMC 2488 (but I'm sure others will work).  I make a quick wrap with black thread from the bead to halfway around the bend.  I return to the bead and place a strand of small dia copper wire on the top of the hook, sliding it into the bead.  I tie it into place and keeping the wire on top, I tie it back down to the middle of the bend then bring the thread back up to the bead once again.  At this point, I make tight wraps with the copper wire with even spacing (spaces about the width of the wire) up the bead and tie it off.  Once I trim the wire, I'll add a piece of crystal flash on top.  We catch (or lose) about 90% of our local trout on these midges.  I've sure you've seen the posts of our catches.  Of course, you can vary to silver beads and silver wire, or even red wire, or different color beads or even thread.  Heck, rarely do more than 2 or 3 of my midges ever look alike because of the variations.  I fly tying friend gave me a small bag of colored beads a couple of years ago, so I now have beads in green, black (I do like the black), clear, pink, red, as well as gold and silver.  For tying, I use a large magnifying glass with a light and a pair of cheap reading glasses.  However, my wife (who's still a young 43) can tie these size 24 midges without the use of a magnifying glass or reading glasses.  Simply amazes me.

I'm starting to experiment with some new designs and material to match some midges I found in the river.  How do some of these look?

Very nice. I have not worked with the tubing before but it seems to really look good to me.

Last week in my class we did hares ear nyphs and the chernobyl ant. I have ties the chernobyl before but not with a poly yarn and crystal flash wing. I can really see why folks say tying is addicting, you see how someone else does something and then a bunch of other ideas start popping up in your head.

One more thing, at the beginning of this thread I mentioned that one of my goals was to learn how to use the whip finishing tool. I was just using half hitches but wanted to know how to do the whip finish anyway. well for a while I was really struggling and I felt clumsy using the tool. I would throw on a couple of half hitches before I started the whip finish so in case I screwed up everyting still held together. well I think I finally picked it up and it seems like second nature to use the whip finishing tool now.

Brian

I use a Thompson style whip finisher or whip finish buy hand . I have used a ink pen or turkey feather for a half hitch tool in the past but prefer a whip finish and I double whip finish my flys .
just my preference.

well finished my last class( i need to make up the class that we did elk hair caddis). we tied parachute adams and I was pretty happy with how they turned out. i will try and post some pics at some point.

It sounds like you have a rely great set of flies that should work anywhere Brian . Glad you decided to give it a go as i am sure you will find much enjoyment out of it .There is nothing better then catching a fish on something you made .

Yep Rod Tosser. Im hooked. now I just gotta get out and use them. I was gonna go out last weekend but ended up having a family emergency. I am amazed at how easily little boys can hurt themselves.

bpetersen ... I hope the family emergency is over and wasn't too bad. Kind of concerned that it's been over four months.
If everything is NOT okay, I hope it's getting better ... my best wishes are headed your way.
If everything IS better ... where are the pictures ????

When you find your skill set in fly tying, check out trout nut, a website providing aquatic insect pictures and information down to the genus and species which can be a huge tool in locking into the bite of a given stream.