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Fly Tying: How to Be Creative and Improve Your Fly
Fishing Vacation
by Thomas Mitchell
Fly fishing is a fantastic pastime. It provides anglers
of all ages the opportunity to fly fish for their
favorite species in what is usually a pretty serene
environment. An exciting offshoot of fly fishing is fly
tying, which is the art of creating one's own flies. The
best thing
about fly tying is that it provides the artist (the one
tying the flies) the opportunity to use his or her
unlimited creativity to either duplicate some of the
more common fly patterns available or to simply create
his or her own versions. The possibilities are endless.
Most fly fishermen will usually diversify by fishing
various types of waters, locations, and species of fish.
However, many of these same fly fishermen suffer from
tunnel-vision when it comes to what flies they use on a
regular basis. Many of these anglers will turn to their
tried and tested flies over and over again while giving
very little or no consideration for new and, quite
possibly, much more effective fly patterns or color.
Believe it or not, many dry and wet flies that are
commonly available today were created for a different
purpose. For example, there are several warm water wet
flies that were designed to catch warm water fish
species such as smallmouth bass but instead have become
extremely popular salt-water flies. Most people, even
many veteran fly fishermen you run into, would never
have guessed that! It certainly is true though.
The key to becoming a successful fly fisherman is to
obviously use the correct fly patterns when targeting
your fish. However, a more important key to successful
fly fishing vacations is to ensure you are armed with
the widest selection of flies that is possible. This
means that if you are a fly fisherman, you need to be
creative when tying your own flies. Be sure to think
outside the box and visit the particular stream you will
be fly fishing and turn over some rocks to see what
kinds of insects and aquatic life you discover. Use this
information and let your creativity run wild while tying
your flies.
Keep in mind that there are numerous fly patterns that
you probably use more often than others and that these
fly patterns can very easily be adapted. If you are a
fly fisherman, take your blinders off and you will be
amazed at how much you can improve your fly fishing
simply by becoming
a bit more creative with the patterns you create while
sitting at your fly tying desk!
Have fun tying and, remember, be creative!
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