how am I doing?

[spec5]

These are my first few flies so far, what am I doing right/wrong?

[webrx]

They look as good as my first few, and I caught fish on those. The best thing you can do is look at actual bugs you are trying to imitate, either live or on the web, and see how closely you can come to color, tail and wing size, proportions, etc.

Keep it up, you will get better with the more flies you tie.

Dave

[Hardyreels]

Spec,

Your nymphs are looking as good as some that I tie and I didn't just get started at this so you are doing good. The dry flies need to be made a little less 'bushy' making them more on the sparse side will give them some definition when they are floating in the surface film. The big bushy ones will be your fast water flies where the fish have little time to make up their minds about grabbing something.

All in all you are on track, don't be shy about posting questions and showing your tying. When you go fish with the flies post a report about what happened and what you were using and the suggestions will follow. Of course if you go out and have a great day with no questions ask we always like to hear that tale too.

Ard

[texastroutbum]

Seems to me as first flies you tied, they look amazing. Many of them look like my first flies that I tied.
If I have to add my comments on your flies, it seems that the size of hackle for parachute Adams are bigger than they should. And you seem to use dubbing more than necessary for the body.
All in all, how they appear to us does not matter. What really matters is how they appears to fish. To me, you will catch with the flies you tied. Good luck.

[spec5]

Thanks guys! I don't have a dubbing tool so I haven't mastered that yet, I have to spin it on with my fingers...I'm using some bottom line tools for the time being...once I get some good experience under my belt I'll upgrade everything.

I've already got the "bug" so to speak...spent another chunk of change on tying materials and hooks tonight!!!

[GeorgeMcFly]

not bad for your 1st few! alot better than the ones I tied up for sure! I will critisize a lil tho to help you out. Frank Whiton did to me when i posted my 1st ones and I improved from it so I will try and pass it on. try making your nymph or dry fly tails about the length of the hook shank. also on dries you don't need alot of dubbing or even a tool to loop it. just use a very sparse amount and twist it on the thread like you are doing. you don't want it to get wet or heavy and sink. you can make buggy nymph bodies with a dubbing tool tho if you want. another thing. try to picture your fly while you are tying it and try to get the proportions just right. you can always redo a step if you tie something in to long or too short. make sure you measure your lengths! this will make your flies look perfect. also i see you got materials. try Fly Tyers Dungeon | Fly Tying Supplies materials are so cheap but they are quality and help you build up a nice supply of material!!! most stuff is $2 or less. don't pay $15 bux for a pack of dubbing when you can pay $3 bux for a 6 pack or so or why pay 5 bux for flash or rubber legs or whatever when you can get then for $1.50! dubbing,flash,hair,ep type fiber etc is $2 or less here!!! also for ideas on certain styles or ideas watch this show! its 30 min shows! about 30 of them with 3 flies a show! good to get ideas and tying methods down! http://kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx good luck on your journey! This is a life long sport! just wait till you hook up with fish on flies you tied yourself! nothing beats it!

[spec5]

Thanks for the advice and critiques! I tied a couple more last night and could really tell a difference just from what you guys told me...I watched a video on whip finishing but forgot to use it (I think half hitches look tacky).

I really wish I would have read the above post before spending as much as I did last night on supplies though lol

[ausablebrown]

Not bad for first flies; not bad at all. Two those nymphs in there looked downright USA made! I'd be proud of them, I'd proably stick one of them on my lucky hat and never fish with it. One thing that helped me was, as one mention already, was to get a picture of what you want the fly to look like. I liked to have an actual fly sitting right there in front of me and then try to reproduce it.

And also was mentioned, until you have the proportions in your head as second nature without measuring, be sure to measure before you put the stuff on the hook. A fly with one feather misproportioned can be doomed to mediocrity! Do you have a hackle gauge? Also on your dry hackles; are you using rooster neck, or saddle, because as Ard said, they looked a little bushy. I didn't understand the difference between neck/saddle hen/rooster feathers at first and I made alot of my famous "BED HEAD ADAMS" FLIES. If it is rooster, just use half the feather, instead of winding the wholE feather on there.

[spec5]

Originally Posted by ausablebrown

Not bad for first flies; not bad at all. Two those nymphs in there looked downright USA made! I'd be proud of them, I'd proably stick one of them on my lucky hat and never fish with it. One thing that helped me was, as one mention already, was to get a picture of what you want the fly to look like. I liked to have an actual fly sitting right there in front of me and then try to reproduce it.

And also was mentioned, until you have the proportions in your head as second nature without measuring, be sure to measure before you put the stuff on the hook. A fly with one feather misproportioned can be doomed to mediocrity! Do you have a hackle gauge? Also on your dry hackles; are you using rooster neck, or saddle, because as Ard said, they looked a little bushy. I didn't understand the difference between neck/saddle hen/rooster feathers at first and I made alot of my famous "BED HEAD ADAMS" FLIES. If it is rooster, just use half the feather, instead of winding the wholE feather on there.

Nope, no hackle gauge...I think the book I was using at first steered me wrong w/ the Adams...the book called for TWO hackle feathers, and no, I didn't cut them...I'll have to tie a few tonight, maybe give the parachute another shot too

[ausablebrown]

Some recipes will call for two feathers, a brown and a grizzly, this gives more color variation in the hackles. It also makes it very fluffy if you wrap them too many times. I rarely use two hackle feathers on a hackle unless it is a really big fly that needs to be fluffy and/or float really high in fast water. You also want to be certain that you are using rooster neck/cape for your dries. Using saddle, and/or hen feathers will really mess up your dries, both the way they look and the way they float (or don't!) on the water.