Home made fly's vs manufactured fly's

spmpdr · Feb 3, 2012

So recently i was lucky enought to obtain some hand tied homemade flys (thanks again flybum) and am curious which fly you guys believe gets more strikes a homemade handcrafted version or standard every day flys you could purchase either online or at a local store. Just curious which one you experienced angler prefer and why? Ill be comparing zebra midges and rainbow warriors as well as some other " like" midge patterns .

bigsteel · Feb 3, 2012

I dont think it matters to the fish whether it is hand tied or not,but i definitely prefer my own hand tied flies,its a great feeling catching a fish on a fly you have tied yourself,very rewarding.

when you buy them at a store its just some fly that they made overseas.they use the cheapest material to get the job done,with my flies i use the highest quality feathers and material i can find.

steelhead_slayer · Feb 3, 2012

dries definitely hand tied. store bought nymphs work good, but i've fished store bought next to hand tied on a double fly setup and 100% of the fish hit my hand tied flies.

JeannaJigs · Feb 3, 2012

I use whatever dave hands me.

That said, as far as tying your own, I don't tie flies, but I tie jigs...and it's the best feeling in the world, better than christmas when you were five, to catch a fish on something you tied yourself. Hell, I give my friends a bunch of jigs, and get stoked everytime someone says "oh it was on your [insert pattern here] jig", even if i'm not on the water and i get a text about it at work, it's rad and totally makes my day every single time. Never gets old.

Trout · Feb 4, 2012

As long as the fly is decently tied doesn't really matter - unless maybe you are fishing a river like the Henrys Fork or Metolius where the trout are very picky. To get started in fly tying you are going to spend around $200 or measured in store bought trout flies at $1.75 each --- about 114 flies. Of course you will spend more money and may need a lesson so lets say $300 --- which is 171 trout flies. Thats the basic economics plus your time invested.

My theory on hobbies is that each person naturally seeks or hits their own intrest level or depth. Which varies by hobby -- unless you are OCD - or bi-polar - or just a nut case. Some folks here fly fish very well - buy their flies - have a local shop take care of their gear. And some folks are tying their own flies - building their own rods - tying tapered leaders. For me tying my own flies or leaders was just a natural progression and it made sense. Well --- my $150 fly vise has yet to make sense to my wife ... along with at least $100 in tying supplies ....

In beer brewing I've moved to partial mashing --- I have no desire (zip - zero) to move to all grain. I understand the all grain process etc. ... just not going to happen. I've reached my depth of interest. On the flip side I have a friend who was so into fly fishing in the '90s he use AutoCad to design a salmon/steelhead reel and had several machined out of aluminum ... I've got one. But then Charlie has both OCD and bi-polar tendencies. And even within tying flys I have my limits or level -- complex or very small flys are the ones I buy as needed.