There’s something to be said about spending time at the vise preparing a number of flies for your next fishing trip. While relaxing, tying a few bugs, and daydreaming about future fishing days is a nice way to spend a couple hours, there are also times when you need to go into full-on production mode.
As Montana fly fishing guides we are on the water nearly every day of the season. Winter is the time to reload the fly box, and efficiency at the fly tying desk results in a well stocked arsenal of bugs for the coming season.
Here are a few tips and techniques that you can adopt that will allow you to tie faster and more efficiently. Give some of these tips a try the next time you sit down at the desk for a tying session!
Tip 1: Keep your scissors in your hand
One of the biggest tips for tying faster is to get a pair of scissors that you can keep in your hand while tying. A surprising amount of time is lost picking up and setting down your scissors. Experiment with a few different styles of scissors to see what works best. Scissors are the most important tool at your desk so make sure to invest in a good set that "fits" for comfort and for efficiency. Efficiency on the vise allows for being better on the stream and try new fishing techniques.
Tip 2: Pre-cut your materials
Pre-cutting materials for the flies your tying can save a great deal of time. Cutting materials to length prior to tying in saves time spent trimming things on the fly. Rubber legs for example are a material that can be trimmed to length in advance and then just tied in.
Tip 3: Organize your desk
Minimizing hand movements around your desk while tying can also shave tying time off of your flies. The trick to this is to lay your materials out in easily reachable spots that don’t require searching around on the desk to find and pick up. A clean desk is really helpful here.
Tip 4: Tie in stages
Tying more complex flies in stages can be a time saver as well as can help with consistency from fly to fly. Only tying in a few steps and then finding a logical stopping point is a great way to get through multiple flies. Tying in stages improves things regarding consistency as well. It’s easier to just tie a few steps that look the same as opposed to doing an entire fly the same from one to the next. A Parachute Adams has a variety of steps before it becomes a complete fly, so break it down to make it go faster.
Tip: 5: Reduce your thread length
A small change that can add up over time is to reduce the length of thread coming out of the bobbin while tying. It takes much longer to wrap a long length of thread rather than just keeping a short length out the tip of the bobbin. This can be especially helpful when starting a fly and laying down a thread base on the whole hook shank.
Tip 6: Crimp your barbs at the vice
A final tip that saves a lot of time on the water is to debarb your flies once you’re done tying them. It’s easy to remove the finished fly from the vise, turn it sideways, and gently close the vise jaws on the barb to mash it down. This little step can save time on the water and keep you from wondering if you remembered to debarb that hook after tying it on.
Whether you are tying for fly fishing near Bozeman or some place far off and exotic honing your fly tying skills is a giant step forward to catching more fish.