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Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:51 am
by Bubba Zinetti
Greetings fellow anglers. I am in the process of cleaning out and renewing my fly boxes. There are quite a bit of flies that I need to tie, and I have set aside an hour a day, 3 days a week and a few hours on the weekend. I have found that if I am careful, and I try to make a good fly I can tie about 1.75 flies an hour (so I usually finish the second fly). This seems slow to me, but any attempt to speed up the process has resulted in poorly tied flies. The flies are ill proportioned, the hackle is just plain bad and probably won't even float the flies, bad dubbing etc...

I have taken some steps like spending a session preparing hackle for size 16 klinkhammers, and this has helped a bit, but not very much. So, am I slow? How long does it take you to tie a parachute dry fly like a klinkhammer? Most advice will be considered.

Re: Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:27 am
by Vance
Hi, I can tie a caddis fly in about 1 minute. After I lay out all the material on my desk it only takes about one minute. Here goes body,wing and then hackle. The wing I use is from the cheeks of a white tailed buck. They are about one inch long and easy to use. I always put a hackle between wing and eye of the hook. I always squash the barb on the hook before putting in the vise. Dry fly of the Mayfly takes longer because I have to measure the wing before I tie it on the hook. I also put the hackle between the wings with the butts towards the rear of the hook. So here goes wings,hackle, tail, body then wind hackle behind and in front of the wings then tie off. One of the reasons why I put hackle between the wings is after I cut off excess butt it gives the body a nice taper when you wind the body on the fly. Just the way I tie.Happy New Year, Bill the mailman

Re: Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:44 am
by Rusty Spinner
Bubba, take a Sunday (free) class at Shannon's once that opens back up after Covid runs its course. Parachutes are slower to tie, but you should be able to crank one out in about five minutes, possibly more if struggling with the post or wrapping the hackle around the post which is where most struggle. When I guided, I needed to tie flies I could crank out 20/hour or more, and they needed to catch fish. Two flies in an hour would be pure torture. You may not be putting enough pressure on your thread? Hard to know without watching you why your tying is slow.

Re: Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:28 am
by Bubba Zinetti
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:44 am
Bubba, take a Sunday (free) class at Shannon's once that opens back up after Covid runs its course. Parachutes are slower to tie, but you should be able to crank one out in about five minutes, possibly more if struggling with the post or wrapping the hackle around the post which is where most struggle. When I guided, I needed to tie flies I could crank out 20/hour or more, and they needed to catch fish. Two flies in an hour would be pure torture. You may not be putting enough pressure on your thread? Hard to know without watching you why your tying is slow.
Hey Rusty,
I have taken classes at Shannons, we did it for two years running. I tied a few last night, and I find that if I take my time and tie carefully, it does take about 30-40 minutes per fly. However, more than a few people have pointed out that occasional tiers take some time to get "up to speed" I did find that tying the post and tying in the hackle have gotten faster, but I still am slow with the dubbing.

Re: Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 11:08 pm
by Matt Grobert
I think the answer depends on whether you are relaxed and enjoying your time at the vise. If trying to tie faster is not relaxing and the flies you turn out when doing that are not to your liking, that's no fun. Go at the pace that lets you tie flies that you feel are well tied and that you will fish with confidence. There are no hard and fast rules. I do understand that you would like to fill your boxes faster so you have more of the flies you want to fish, but first and foremost tying should be relaxing and satisfying.

I would add that it may help to tie at least a half dozen of the same pattern in a row. This will help you get into a rhythm and feel as you go that speeds up the process with each successive fly you tie, and you will find the finished product improves with each completed fly.

Good luck and have fun!

Matt

Re: Am I slow, or is this normal

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:34 am
by Bubba Zinetti
I have been busy and I didn't see the response that Matt sent. Thanks Matt. I have been slowly getting faster. I changed up from tying for an hour to tying at least 3 flies a session. On Sunday, I tied 7 flies (all Klinkhammers) in one session. It turns out that it is kind of fun and relaxing.