Lindsay Simpson likes to tie flies and tells us why
I love to tie flies, I just really enjoy it. I really like getting a new fly box and filling it with flies whether it be river or stillwater patterns. I take a bit of pride in my efforts and if the fly does not come up to par it gets chucked in the recycle fly bin! The hooks are then stripped for re-use at a later time. That’s the fly tyer in me talking but the fisherman in me knows better.
I know that if I can get my flies to the right depth and retrieve them at the right speed that I will catch fish, regardless of how neatly the fly is tied or how much it looks like a natural food item. Trout will eat just about anything and over the years I have found all sorts in the bellies of trout, from cigarette butts to elastic bands. A great friend of mine ties the worst looking flies you can imagine, in fact one of his catch phrases is if it’s got more than three ingredients’ it’s not for him. Some of the flies he uses look like he has covered a hook in super glue and tossed it into the fly tying waste then left it to dry. The creations are absolute abominations. Here is the pinch though; using these things that I would often refuse to even attach to my line he will quite literally catch a bucket load of fish!
So, as anglers surely our goal is to go and catch fish, so why on earth do we need to take hundreds of different flies in umpteen different boxes? Well I suppose the answer is we can and there is a whole industry built up around the fly tyer. I think if I woke up one morning, gave myself a good slap in the dish and said right you’re going to Rutland you can take only ten patterns, I think I could do it. Going river fishing may be a bit different but I think I would get away with maybe fifteen patterns for most occasions. Naturally that never happens; I go armed to the teeth akin to taking a machine gun to go squirrel hunting. Yet sometimes I still manage to fail in a legendary way.
Fly tying has come a long way in the last twenty years, I remember raiding my Gran’s wool basket to tie Baby Dolls. Natural furs and feathers were the products of choice and there was just not that many to choose from. Now we are completely spoilt for choice with various online companies that can have your brand new shiny fly tying stuff on your doorstep the next day! It makes me smile when I hear anglers talking about various patterns and it’s got to be tied with GM275-8Z second batch not the first batch because that was shite…lol. God knows I am guilty as the next guy when it comes to must-have materials. I heard a story once that if you were in Scotland it would not be an uncommon sight to see cars driving round with fritz dangling from the window so that the Sun could bleach it to the correct shade. Really, you need to be a wee bit mental to think it makes a blind bit of difference to the fish, with the a brain the size of a pea.
It also plays a great part in confidence whilst fishing. As an example, I remember fishing with Al Owen once and on the first drift I took a couple of fish and told Al what I was doing. He did not even blink, didn’t change his flies. He only replied that what he had on would work and they would come. Even after I had netted a third fish he stuck to his guns. Sure enough by the end of our day Al had finished while I languished on six fish. A valuable lesson was learned that day and it was the need to be confident what you’re fishing with. As long as the confidence is there they will come, well mostly or it would not be fishing it would be catching.
So, what’s the point? The point my friends is that it just makes us happy. I get a great deal of satisfaction from tying a fly that’s pleasing to the eye. I don’t really care that the trout and grayling don’t care a jot. It makes me happy and that’s what matters. The excitement of getting a big fat envelope of new goodies to try keeps me going through the dark winter months. I spend a lot of time looking at the works of others and scouring YouTube for hints and tips on improving. So, I am not suggesting for even one minute that we should stop tying complex and interesting patterns. In fact, I would encourage you to hit the vice and let your imagination run wild. You never know you might invent the next Shipman’s Buzzer or Killer Bug.
Read more from Lindsay at I-FlyFish