Tying Block

[YAKIMA]

Here I am sitting getting ready to tie a batch of fall season flies, and for the third or fourth time now, I tie a few, then just lose intrest and have to put it all away, hoping that I get the feeling back to tie. Every so often I get this and it drives me nuts. It's like I lose focus or desire or something...

Is it just me? I know, have a beer and sit back and relax. Or just force myself to tie a certain number... On and on. I try all these, and I just cramp up and have to walk away from it

Any suggestions? Please be kind.

Greg

[jessejames]

I don't have years of experience at the bench but for me motivation comes from the trip I am planning. If I know I am going to a certain place I can sit and tie, planning on that excursion. It sometimes is only a week or two of planning ahead. I know that right now in the heat we are having here in Eastern Washington it is hard for me to sit and tie for any length of time. I have a lot of other things that occupy my time in the summer months too. Don't push it when it seems like work it will take the fun out of it.
Blessings
jesse clark

[Tim Cottage]

Don't push it when it seems like work it will take the fun out of it.

Good advise Jesse.
I don't know if this happens to every one but it sure does to me periodicaly.
Don't worry about it. It will come back.

It can be a big help if you can leave your tying stuff set up for an extended period of time. That way it will not be such a chore to start tying and you can sit down and give it a go whenever it feels right. Instead of waiting until you are charged up enough to set everything up and get started.

Looking at other peoples flies online or in books can be a big help. Look at your own flies. Maybe you need a new challenge. Certainly there are certain flies that you really like the looks of and would like to tie someday. Well there is no time like the present to start working on them, with the understanding that it may take some time to get everything right.

Don't fight it. If you have to walk away then walk away. No big deal. You have done it before and you can do it again.

I havent tied for a few months but I know that it is there waiting when I am ready. I also know that I will be a bit rusty and will probably have to razor blade the first few flies, maybe a half dozen or so. But if I keep at it, it will come around.

TC

[wet line]

This is really very interesting.

At imes I become very complacent and just want to fill up the empty slots in my box. Well, you know, these flies all worked so just replace them and go on.

However, there is always the nagging question, what is better? That is when the juices start to flow. I start asking myself what I have seen and is there a pattern I am missing. Then I start creating and playing with materials and ideas. I let my imagination play and ride on what it wants. What if i do this and add this or that and so on. I ignore the rules and just play and create.

Dave

[Randy Diefert]

Play with some dubbing blends in a mixer and maybe try to make some different dubbing ropes. Try your hand at dying feathers. Learn a new technique from a magazine article.
Rent a tying video from your locakl fly shop. visit your local fly shop.

[Old Man]

I must be the lazy one here as it almost takes an act of congress to get me to tie up anything. I tie up what I know will work and that is just about it. Nothing fancy for this boy.All my fancy flys come form other people. Or what I can beg off of you people. :rofl: :rofl:

Jim

[kodiaksalmon]

It happens to me I know. One reason I don't tie commercially. I don't want it to become work. I do find that if the "mood" is right, I can tie like crazy. In the winter months, I'll often pull all night tying benders, where I start at like nine o'clock, and don't stop until the sun comes up the next morning. I just get into it and roll. Likewise, I often find it hard to sit and tie on a sunny afternoon.

Unless you're a professional, or terribly short on flies, don't worry about it. Tie what you need, and if you have to buy some to supplement, well pro tiers gotta make money too.

Jeff

[jessejames]

Hey Jim Speaking of tying flies you were going to send a couple of your famous drunken dragons in exchange for that halloween bugger material I sent to you. :confused: :confused:
I haven't seen them did you forget where the post office was. :hmmm:
Blessings
jesse clark

[Tony Mull]

I'm w/ old man on this one. i tie pretty easy patterns, and only enough to get by. wooly buggers and six packs, halfbacks, fullbacks, maybe a scud or two. a couple colors of chronies, elk hair caddis, the occassional humpy. sure i vary the sizes and colors, but it's pretty much those easy patterns for me. i started buying anything smaller than a 16 too. i got other flies but those are the patterns that always get used. them tiny adams, blue wings, and gnats are worth every penny i pay to get someone else to tie. i can barely tell them apart anyway. if a pattern is simple and easy i find that laying out a set number of hooks helps to keep me going as does changing colors every two or three flies.

[guyg]

As an old guy, I only tie a few patterns anymore. Anything below #18 I buy.

As for tying, about the best time to do it for me is on a picnic table in the late afternoon with a beer just before hitting the stream for the evening hatch. I'm pretty motivated, then.

I'm not so good in the winter under the stairs.

[Old Man]

Hey Jim Speaking of tying flies you were going to send a couple of your famous drunken dragons in exchange for that halloween bugger material I sent to you. :confused: :confused:
I haven't seen them did you forget where the post office was. :hmmm:
Blessings
jesse clark


Like I stated above. It takes an act of congress to get me in the mood to tie. Just lazy I guess. And I still have your address as I have the same package the other stuff came in. Or in that lenght of time you moved. Don't worry I'll get them done,but I'm not to sure when. But they are not my flies.It is something I learned one Saturday at AATF in Monroe. Go to Flybill's Gallery to see what they look like. I can tell you what they are made of but until you see how they are done I don't think that one can take off and tie one with just it is tied up with. This doesn't make any sense,but I never seem to either.

Jim

[Desmond Wiles]

If your losing the desire to tie, then don't tie. I agree with jesse, if you do it like it's something you have to do, then the fun is completely dried out.

I tend to have no problem tying 6+ flies a night if I've got an upcoming trip. But if nothing is going on, and I just need to replenish my box, or add some new patterns, I usually can't decide where to start and so my focus is lost and I end up with only 1 or 2 tied.

I have a friend who has to litteraly force himself to tie trout flies, and usually it's late at night the day before a fishing trip. He says that unless he writes down a list of flies, he just has a hard time focussing. ADD maybe?

[jessejames]

There was an article in the local Spokane newspaper about the 80+ year old woman who owns Terry Tied Flies in Spokane. She said that she used to tie 30 dozen a day but now she has slowed down some. It showed here tying bench and the vise was a old non-rotary model. I wonder if she got "tyers block".
Blessings
jesse clark

[2 Much Fishin]

Wow! That is a fly every 2 minutes for 12 straight hours!! That would drive me crazy...if I could do it :p

[Desmond Wiles]

Are you kidding? 30 dozen? that's 360 a day! Let's suppose she worked 10 hour days. That equals out to be more than 1 every 2 minutes.... Wow!

I suppose if I was that fast at it, I'd start up my own fly tying company.

[YAKIMA]

Thanks guys... It is nice knowing others have this block at times too. I think I'm going to run over to the fly shop, take a few deep breaths, sit back and shoot the bull with them, and maybe pick up a new bobbin, threads, dubbing, and turkey tails. Ah hell, maybe a line as well... If that doesn't work, I'll go throw a line somewhere with what I have, realize I don't have what I really should be throwing, and shame myself into motivation. That has worked in the past.

Greg

[TheShadKing]

When I drag my iPod upstairs to the tying bench, I can crank out flies like nothing doing for hours on end. :thumb: If I don't, it's just a couple, maybe a half-dozen and I'm done.

I'm actually happy either way ... I tie enough to keep ahead of the power curve even at a slow pace ... but probably this is as much a testament to not getting out fishing enough as much as anything.


Rolland

[Tim Cottage]

Are you kidding? 30 dozen? that's 360 a day! Let's suppose she worked 10 hour days. That equals out to be more than 1 every 2 minutes.... Wow!

I suppose if I was that fast at it, I'd start up my own fly tying company.

A few years ago, in the early spring, I had the good fortune to have a casual conversation with A.K. Best. He is a one man tying company who ties some of the nicest commercialy available fies you will ever see. He had just finished up his orders for the year. I asked how many flies he typicaly tied each winter.

His reply...... about 1200 dozen.

TC

[kodiaksalmon]

I'm glad to be reading these posts, and know that I'm not the only one who has these tying problems. I always thought I was just a lazy slacker who didn't tie my fair share of flies.

And as far as the professional tier's numbers, a good friend of mine is a professional tier in Kodiak, and you'll ask him, "how many," he'd tied today, and his response will be like, "15," "20," "25," and so on. He counts his flies by the dozen, and he regularly ties 25 or more dozen flies a day. And to watch him do it, was pretty incredible. He'll have a pile of a hundred completed flies on the table in front of him.

Of course he's as single as a guy can get, and he keeps some pretty weird hours, so I guess finding the time wasn't an issue for him.

Jeff

[MrP]

I love tying; it's incredibly satisfying. Getting ready for a trip motivates me and filling my "supply boxes" with old standards also motivates me. I enjoy it more in the winter when I can sit at the vise, tie, listen to music, and daydream. I've kept a fishing journal for over three decades and I've also kept a tying journal for quite a few years. Reading through my fishing and/or tying journal helps get me started sometimes. Still, there are times when the mood isn't right so I just leave it alone. In the 70's I built about a dozen rods. (I sold some of them and gave the rest away these last two years.) As I was divesting myself of "vintage" tackle" I started building rods again with modern blanks. It's not the same as fly tying but it was also very satisfying. When I had finished building a couple rods my energy and desire to tie flies was back.

[Daryle Holmstrom]

Ok, everyone ties one every once in a while, whats their favorite with a photo.

Daryle

[Old Man]

My favories are the Elk Hair Caddis because they are so easy to tie. And with my shaky hands they are stilll a chore. But now I've been playing arounf with Stimulators. But alas no pictues as My camera took a drink and now it's shot. So much for a digital camera. And this is the second one that got wet. I must be hell on them.

Jim

[luv2fly2]

it is about time for a bunch of chernobyl ants with long legs. skate them and keep them moving on the surface. if that does not work then kick back with a cold busch light. mike w

[Daryle Holmstrom]

When I get bored I have other hobbies to perk it up, digital photographty, metal detecting and fly fishing (of course it leans toward your post but I thought I'd throw it in for fun)

Daryle

And I'm shopping for a motorcycle for a new toy