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Shorten Your Fly Tying Learning Curve: 5 Easy Tips

By Frank Landis

TCO Fly Shop and Relentless Fly Fishing Guide

Spring is just around the corner! The days are growing longer and it’s time to fill your boxes! Here are some fly tying tips to help beginners, and maybe others too, lessen the learning curve and get better at tying a little faster. Fly tying is not an easy art to master, but you can become reasonably proficient faster than you might think if you keep a few key things in mind. Here are 5 tips to help you out!

1. Get Repetitions

1. Get Repetitions

The result of practicing just one pattern in a few sizes…

The number one tip that I give to beginner tiers is the same thing that I do myself when I’m looking to learn something new in the tying world. Get reps! Whether you are learning to tie your first fly ever, or are struggling to get better at spinning deer hair, repetitions are your friend. When I say this, I don’t mean 3 or 4 attempts. I mean tie an entire pack of hooks before switching patterns. I promise the 25th fly is going to be a lot better than the first three. This might not sound exciting, but this is the fastest road to becoming a competent fly tier. So many beginners are eager to try new things, so they jump around from pattern to pattern and never really get good at any of them. Once a fly is mastered, switch to smaller and smaller hooks until you lock down the smallest sizes. At that point, you’re ready to switch up patterns and try new techniques. 

2. Count Your Thread Wraps

2. Count Your Thread Wraps

Counting thread wraps will help with control and proportions.

For many patterns you learn when starting to tie, you don’t need to be very precise to tie a nice fly. For instance, nobody will notice whether your woolly bugger has six extra thread wraps under your chenille. On the other hand, just a few too many wraps on a parachute dry fly in the wrong spot could easily crowd the eye and ruin your fly. Being precise with your thread wraps on simple patterns is a practice of discipline. So often, I see even very good tiers give random extra thread wraps that serve literally no purpose. I catch myself doing it too. After my marabou is secured I may throw in a couple extra wraps just because. That’s a mistake that will become apparent as you tie more difficult patterns, or patterns that get worse with bulk. Make sure every wrap serves a purpose. Securing material, moving your thread position, putting down a thread base, and whip finishing are all good reasons to make wraps. More wraps does not mean more secure. Tie with deer hair to see this in action. Counting wraps, even on easy patterns, will quickly elevate your skill level.

3. Learn Techniques, Not Patterns

3. Learn Techniques, Not Patterns

The fiction vs. the real.

Fly tiers are obsessed with patterns, sometimes too obsessed in my opinion. If you want to have a balanced set of tying skills, practice the techniques and not the patterns. A mindset too focused on specific patterns will have you worrying about the wrong things. Whether you use pearl or opal tinsel, the dubbing color you use, whether you rib with mono or wire, whether you use hackle fibers vs micro fibets for tails… None of these considerations will impact your tying skills. Yes, they could change how your fly looks to varying degrees, but you are still doing the same thing. My advice is to practice skills instead of patterns at first, then incorporate the skills into patterns once mastered. A good example is securing a caddis wing that uses elk or deer hair. Instead of worrying about all the different possible bodies a caddis could have, first just get good at tying in the hair wing. Have one hook on the vice with a razor blade handy. Lay a thread base, tie in the wing, see how secure it is, then cut off and repeat until perfect. Once this is mastered, you have the most critical skill in tying various hair wing patterns down, allowing you to branch off however you prefer. 

4. Staying Consistent

4. Staying Consistent

Filling boxes is satisfying and great for consistency because you can see your mistakes and successes.

Consistency is a hallmark of a skilled fly tier. The best tier’s flies look like clones of one another. We’ve all seen the immaculate boxes on social media with rows and rows of flies that are identical in profile and proportion. So how do you achieve this level of perfection? For one, my advice about repetitions still holds true. Outside of that, my tip is to use your tools, vise, hooks, and other regular tying materials available as your unit of measure. Rather than thinking in terms of millimeters or fractions of  inches, think in terms of hook shank lengths. Your tail lengths are much easier measured and visualized by saying “one hook shank length” versus 8 mm. I often cut the shucks of my dry flies after tying in a long piece which helps save material. I use different points on my vice to make sure I cut them to the same length every single time.For example right where my vise jaws angle in is where I cut my shucks for a size 14. It doesn’t really matter how you do this, but there are many easy and convenient ways to get great consistency. Strive to be consistent enough that you have the same confidence pattern to pattern when fishing. You don’t need an immaculate level of consistency, but the differences between flies of the same pattern should be minimized as much as you can.

5. Tying with Others

My last tip to shorten the learning curve is tie with others, especially those more skilled than you. In my first years working at TCO Fly Shop, my tying jumped levels by watching and taking advice from a number of people that were good at things that I was not. If you don’t have people to tie with, TCO offers a number of awesome tying classes throughout the fall and winter months. They are inexpensive, and give opportunities to meet like minded people as well as learn from some great instructors. Take advantage of these opportunities!

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this inspires some of you to get on the vise and gives these ideas a try. Spring is just around the corner so get your bugs ready!

-Frank Landis

Instagram: @frankflyfishes
Email: franklandisflyfishing@gmail.com

Shorten Your Fly Tying Learning Curve: 5 Easy Tips

Shorten Your Fly Tying Learning Curve: 5 Easy Tips

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