# vise to water time



## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

A few days ago I tried to con a campfire into taking me fishing. He recently bought some flies at Cabela's that worked okay for him and he described them so I gave it a whirl. I had tied up about two and a half dozen various nymphs and offered him his choice of a half a dozen. Well he chose *all* the glass bead nymphs that he had described and when he bailed out on the fishing, I scrambled to tie a couple. I figured about an hour and a half passed between these guys coming off the vise to the time they were dragging the bottom of the weber. I also did okay with them. Any of you guys tie stuff up right before you go out?

Tying a few up on my way out the door:
[attachment=1:z7vbme9a]glass bead fly.JPG[/attachment:z7vbme9a]
The assortment I offered campfire, minus all the glass bead caddis nymph thingies:
[attachment=0:z7vbme9a]fly assortment.JPG[/attachment:z7vbme9a]
I still consider myself a novice fly tier, and I experiment a little. The bead head sow bug in the middle of the picture caught the biggest fish of the day.


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

nice assortment for a night before tying bender! i've spent many late nights and early mornings at the vise myself. Nothing like waiting 'till the last minute to crank out 3 dozen flies!


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice looking flies. I've done some last minute, usually try to have them all worked out a few days in advance.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Spent many evenings under the coleman lantern tying what was happenning that on the river that night.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

When I fish the Green, I tie what I need for the day.
If I tie a bunch of flies before I go to the Green, the flies that I ties are usually not what the fish are bitting.
My son has tied flies in the truck as we travel from camp to the river.
Now that's last minute!


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

Not bad tying at all scott_rn. That sow bug in the middle is very tasty, nicely done.

It seems like I am always scrambling to tie up something before I head out. Either for myself or the folks I am going with. It's a never ending process and you will most likely feel like you can never have enough of what you need.

When I travel somewhere where I won't be coming home, I take my fly tying stuff with me. It never fails I will only have one fly of what worked best on the first day. So I usually end up tying a couple dozen that night for the next day. Tying my own flies has saved many trips for me.


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## troutwhisperer (Jan 1, 2009)

I tie up & stock up on all my favorites during the winter months, gives me something to do when you can,t get out. But I know alot of die hards will tie them right by the waters edge to get a better match of the hatch.


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

Theres not a much better feeling than hooking up on a fly you've tied yourself. In the past 5 years or so I believe about 70% of the fish I've caught in the local lakes have come off flies I tied myself. I'm still a little sloppy for dries and small nymphs but I tie a mean bugger and occasional tasty looking pt and hares ear!


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## ScottyP (Sep 12, 2007)

When I get off work at 0600 today, I plan on taking a little nap, tying up some midge clusters and BWO and hitting the water by noon. I tie right before heading out alot this time of year. It keeps me from getting on the water before anything is happening (on top).


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

> But I know alot of die hards will tie them right by the waters edge to get a better match of the hatch.


I guess I fall in that group then. One of my favorite times was back in the mid 90s. A buddy and I decided to blow out of town and hit the Henry's Fork for a five day hard core trip. We lived out of the car, eating mostly polish dogs on the propane grill and mountain dew.

Anyway, we were fishing the PMD hatch at Herriman State Park and couldn't hook up with anything. We'd spent several dollars at the local shops on the alleged hatch matchers. That didn't work. So out of frustration, I left my buddy flailing his line and set my rod on the bank. I went to the car and brought my vise and supplies right to the bank. So with my feet dangling off the edge and in the water, I started a fly. I reached down on the water and plucked one of the PMD sailboats going by and studied it. Held it to several colors of dubbing. Matched the quill wings to just the right size. I finished the fly and handed it to my buddy. First cast and he nailed a fish. So I tied up one more for me the same way and left the kit on the bank and fished out the hatch. It was a beautiful thing. Once the hatch stopped, we headed to the car, broke out the portable bbq and enjoyed some polish dogs and dew. Then we each tied up half a dozen more of the bugs. And the next day, they didn't work. Urrrrggggg. The joys of fly fishing.

The whole experience I can only compare to what born again Christians refer to as the "rapture moment." I was baptized into the religion of fly fishing that day.


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

@GaryFish - Cool story! Bet ya'll were pumped for the next day too?!


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Mmmmmm. I guess I'm a dope. I tie the same old patterns for the hatches that seem to come off every month, every year. I always seem to catch "some" fish. Enough to keep me happy and sometimes more than enough. Then there are the old standby attractors, nymphs and dries that seem to work all the time. Maybe I just fish places where the fish are easy???


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

My ADHD gets in the way. I took several lessons, bought all the tools, spent a pile of money on the idea of tying my own flies, but I am NOT a fly tying guy. For one, I get distracted too easy, I also have very unsteady hands thanks to a few head injuries, and I am just not artistic in any way. I am amazed at the talent many here display though. I have to resort to paying others to do the tying for me. FWIW, I do have some nice tying gizmos with little/no wear and tear.


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## cheech (Sep 25, 2007)

proutdoors said:


> My ADHD gets in the way. I took several lessons, bought all the tools, spent a pile of money on the idea of tying my own flies, but I am NOT a fly tying guy. For one, I get distracted too easy, I also have very unsteady hands thanks to a few head injuries, and I am just not artistic in any way. I am amazed at the talent many here display though. I have to resort to paying others to do the tying for me. FWIW, I do have some nice tying gizmos with little/no wear and tear.


Maybe those gizmos need to end up in the hands of another SP resident....


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

cheech said:


> Maybe those gizmos need to end up in the hands of another SP resident....


Yeah, I heard what you were going to do with your fancy new fly tying scissors :shock: 
Keep it sterile and for crying out loud try to find some lidocaine


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## scotty0902 (Feb 3, 2009)

Yesterday I caught my first fish on a self tied fly. 
I was fishing a two fly rig(one of my own, and one from mickey finn's in kaysville) I was so excited when i pulled my own fly out of the fish's mouth.


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## Guns and Flies (Nov 7, 2007)

scotty0902 said:


> Yesterday I caught my first fish on a self tied fly.
> I was fishing a two fly rig(one of my own, and one from mickey finn's in kaysville) I was so excited when i pulled my own fly out of the fish's mouth.


That is great! I am still learning all about tying and have caught a few last year on my own flies. I hope to be able to get to where some of you guys are as far as detail and accuracy. Some fun stories here. This fly fishing thing is exhilarating! I love how unpredictable it is, you never know what to expect out there.


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