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TOOLS The first investments needed to begin fly-tying are quite small. The important tool is the vise. The price of a basic model for a beginner is 10 to 20 euros. You have to buy from the fishing-store bobbin holder , fly-tying thread, hacklepliers, varnish (clear) and flyhooks, too. At home You most probably can find scissors with sharp tips (fingernail scissors), tweezers, needles and toothpicks. Fly-tying materials are possible to find at Your home, too, especially, if someone in Your family has knitting or other fancywork as hobby. A lot of fly-tying is to know different materials – how they act in tying and how to handle them correctly. Fly-tying is a skill with disclipline: every type of flies has its own certain relationships between different parts of the fly. These rules are worth of following. Many of the flytypes have developed during tens of years, even over hundred years. That time the swimming and outlook of these flies have pleased fishes and they still do. Fly-tying is a skill of hands: You can become good and better and better only with practice and practice.
Bobbin holder: is a holder of the tying thread. Put the reel between the jaws and pass the thread through the pipe. Usually the pipe is made of metal can be finished a little bit roughly, which perhaps makes some problems with thread. You can even this roughness by polish the pipe with coarse woolen yarn. A good buy for a beginner is a ceramic bobbin holder. It is more expensive than normal models, but it saves the thread from breaking. Of course using too much power breaks the thread. Try to learn the right way of handling the bobbin: Add or reduce the length of the thread by rolling the reel with Your thumb, forefinger and middle finger. When You add the length, do not pull straight from the bobbin. Fly-tying thread: Use always the special threads purposed for fly-tying. The advantage of these threads is, that they are waxed in the factory. Earlier, when usual threads were used, they had to wax while tying the flies. Waxing makes the dressings stronger. The fly does not become brittle, when it wets and dries several times. Most common is used black thread, but red, green or brown are mentioned in many dressing-recipies. The thicknees of the threads is defines with /0-tables. The smaller the number infront of /0 is the thicker the thread is. Large dressings like salmon-flies and streamers are tyed with 6/0 thread. Most commonly is used thread in class 8/0. Very small midges and insect dressings are tyed with 12/0 or special thread like Spiderweb. Scissors: Nail-scissors with straight or curved tips are suitable for fly-tying. Save the sharpness of the tips: Cut wiyh the tips only soft materials. If you have to cut hard materials like wires, use the lower part of the scissors. A good solution is two pairs of scissors: One for soft and one for hard materials. Hackle-pliers: This tool is important, when a hackle is tyed with a feather. The other way to use pliers is, when a dubbed body is made. The best way to learn, how to use this tool, is presented, when we are tying different flies. Tweezers: are a handy tool, when You have choose small materials or hooks from a box. Tweezers help, when You have to put hairy materials in a dubbing-loop, too. Needle: is needed, when some hair has to be picked out of dubbing or when You have to handle the tail or the hackle neater. A needle or a pin is ok as dubbing-needle. If You are handy, You can make yourself a nice dubbing needle like they sell in stores. Take a piece of wood or plastic (pen or ballpoint pen) and set a needle in with glue. Do not use the dubbing needle for varnishing flies. Save the needle clean for the works that need accurary. Toothpick: is a tool, when You have to varnish the head or the body of a fly Varnish: The varnish is used to make the priming for the dressing. When the first layer of thread is varnished, it fastens all the other materials on the otherwise quite slippery hook shank, too. It is enough, that the priming is varnished. Second way to use varnish is when the fly is finished: Varnish the head of the fly. This makes the dressing and whip finish durable. Mostly used is clear varnish. Black and red varnish is needed in some larger flies. WARNING! In the picture You can find that the bottle is open. This is absolutely sure way to cause a terrible mess on your table. Close the bottle allways when You do not need the varnish at once. Your table stays clean and the varnish does not dry out.
THE KNOTS There are only three different knots You need in fly-tying: The start knot, half hitch and whip finish. Now we learn the first two of them. When You tie 3-5 half hitches at the end of dressing, it compensates the whip finish, which we learn later. The learning of the knots is easier, when You first practise them with a thicker thread than tying thread. In the following pictures the knots are tyed with 30 lbs backing line. The Start Knot
The Half Hitch
In the next lesson we tie the first fly: Red Tag
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