Salmon Fly Tie-Along?

[Pocono]

I came across a book on Salmon Fly tying about a year ago, written back in the late 1800's by a British Doctor, fly fisher who later in life simply dropped medicine and became the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for the UK. His last name was Pryce-Tannatt; the book is entitled: How to Dress Salmon Flies: A Handbook for Amateurs. It was one of several books that was recommended to me when I first discussed Salmon Fly tying with some of the local fly tyers up here in the Poconos. Other books included those by Hale, Francis and Kelson. Of those that I read, I liked this one best because it approached Salmon Fly tying in a gradient of difficulty manner; starting with the simplest flies and progressing to the more complex; adding new techniques that built on previous techniques with each successive fly.

Now, a little background on why I'm proposing what follows. Overall, I'm guilty of being the type of person who heads for the finish line as soon as possible; if there's a quick path the the end then I'm either already on it or I'm looking hard to find it. But, in the case of Salmon Fly tying, I think it would be a big help to me to go back to the basics and to re-build my approach to tying these beautiful, intriguing and effective flies. I've been intending to do that ever since I finished up Pryce-Tannatt's book and I plan to start the journey sometime in mid-September.

The book takes you through 7 different Salmon Fly patterns:

1. a grub pattern (a wingless pattern that teaches how to form the body, the rib and how to fold a hackle)
2. the March Brown (a strip wing pattern that teaches how to mount and place wings)
3. the Black Ranger (a whole feather winged pattern with a floss body)
4. the Silver Doctor (a mixed-wing pattern with a plain tinsel body)
5. the Jock Scott (a built-winged pattern with a jointed floss body - this could be a step too far; I'll have to see as I go along)
6. the Green King (a Spey pattern)
7. the Jock O'Dee (a Dee strip-wing pattern)

I'm far from being an accomplished Salmon Fly tyer, or for that matter an accomplished any fly tyer, but I plan to try to improve my skills in tying up these patterns and although I'm also not a teacher or instructor, I wanted to open up this Salmon Fly tying journey of mine to other forum members in the form of what I'd call a tie-along or a how-to. If anyone's interested in this, then here's how I plan to proceed.

1. I'd start with the first pattern (the grub) and proceed sequentially from there to tie up as many of the other patterns as I can.
2. I'd post the fly that I'm going to tie and the materials in advance and give everyone about two weeks to source the materials that you don't already have. I'll share the sources that I use so that you can have some options.
3. After we have the materials, I'd tie each of the patterns with picture step-by-steps and video where video is better than stills (if I can get the video piece worked out; which I think I can)
4. As I go along, we can share ideas and techniques; what's working, what's not, post pics of what we've tied, etc. If we get a group to tie these flies, then we're probably going to turn out to be a lot better collectively than any of us will be alone; at least initially. We also have some forum members, Ard in particular, who have a lot of experience and who already tie very nice Salmon Fly patterns and I'm hoping that they'll join in to give us some pointers along the way.

I'm figuring that each pattern should take about a month; perhaps less for the easier ones. That's counting the time to designate the fly, post the materials, source the materials and complete the tie. Starting time would be roughly mid-September.

I'm looking forward to it. I hope that there are others on this forum who will join me on this journey. Let me know what you think.

Here's the roster of members for this tie-along, so far:

1. Fysh (John)
2. FISHN50 (Neil)
3. Peregrines (Mark)
4. ChrisinselwynNZ (Chris)
5. Jimmie (Jimmie)
6. Mcnerney (Larry)
7. Joni (Joni)
8. Hardyreels (Ard)
9. Cicvara (Rasevic)
10. Aroostookbasser (Brent)
11. Wovenstonefly (Allen)
12. Kelkay (Kelly)
13. BlueDun (Mary)
14. Futuramille (Jonathan)
15. Timbo05 (Tim)
16. RockyMaley (Rocky)
17. Pocono (Allan)

Pocono

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Everyone,

I think this is going to be great. Especially good for new tiers or anyone who wants to learn how to tie feather wing flies. I know Pocono will do a good job and provide a lot of help for even the very basic tier. I hope a lot of you take advantage of the opportunity.

Frank

 

[fyshstykr]

I think I would like to journey down this road too, salmon/steelhead flies intrigue me.

 

[Pocono]

That's great, Fysh! I could definitely use some company.

I hope we can get a few others to come along, too.

I know that we had quite a bit of interest in the Salmon Fly Swap last year, so I'm thinking that maybe some of those folks, as well as some of those who missed out on it, will also want to tie up these patterns.

I'll post more details when I get back at the end of this week.

Pocono

 

[FISHN50]

Count me in..... I'll tie between fishing trips........
Ahh, sweet retirement

 

[peregrines]

Excellent! Great idea Allan, I'm in too. This will be good!

 

[fyshstykr]

Anyone else?

 

[ChrisinselwynNZ]

Allan Im keen

I have found that some of the salmon flies that I have tryed have come out better after going back too basics (because I had taken short cuts that have worked for other types of fly but not salmon).

Chris

 

[Joni]

ALLAN...I am so with you on this, sounds like a blast

 

[Kerry Pitt]

Thank you for the PM. I would love to do this but honestly my stuff is buried under boxes and sundry. I know I will not be ready by mid month, I have to prep and paint about 60% of the walls and I am doing hardwood and ceramic floors that must be done before the snow flies. My apologies, I would have loved to jump in on this one.....Kerry

 

[Jimmie]

Thanks Allan. What a great idea, and opportunity, a "Tie-Along". Count me in.

 

[mcnerney]

Allan: I have ordered a copy of the book from Amazon, count me in!

Larry

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Everyone,

Wow, some good tiers interested in this program. I want to encourage some of the newer tiers to jump in on this also. Allan intends this to be a learning process and tiers of all levels can benefit. So if you have a vise and are willing to learn some new techniques, this will be fun.

Frank

 

[Ard]

I have a thread in general discussions called 'we all have something to learn' and I have plenty to learn so................ I will be a participant also. This will be a good thing.

Ard

 

[Pocono]

Thanks for the interest, everyone! It looks to me like we're getting a really good group of tyers together, but there's plenty of room for more, since this isn't a swap and we don't have to tie up 10, 12 or more of any given pattern; just one each of as many of the patterns you like.

So far we've got:

Fysh
FISHN50
Peregrines
ChrisinselwynNZ
Joni
Jimmie
Larry
Ard
Pocono

Let's see if we can get a few more. In my mind, I'm thinking that 12-15 would be a good number to exchange ideas as we go along and to share our experiences at the vise, but there's really no limit.

I'll post on the materials for the first pattern, the grub, after the Labor Day weekend. Everybody enjoy their holiday!

Pocono

 

[cicvara]

Allan Thank you for the PM. Count me in.

Rasevic

 

[wovenstonefly]

Thanks for the PM, I hadn't see this thread, count me in.

 

[Pocono]

We've got a dozen tyers in on this tie-along, so far. That's great!

Welcome to Cicvara, Aroostookbasser and Wovenstonefly.

I'm going to put the roster on the first post on this thread, so that everyone can see who's participating without having to go from page to page
.
There's still room for more, since this is not a swap.

So, go ahead and sign up if you're interested in learnig to tie Salmon Flies. I think that his will be fun!

Pocono

 

[kelkay]

There are a few flies I see on here that I would LOVE to tie. I will need to order materials if it is not too much money. Some I will already have on hand probably. So please put materials in advance as much as possible. Nothing gets to me more than ordering, and they say they have it in stock, then they put me on backorder forever. Been there and done that way too many times. Anyway, this does sound like fun, and I cannot wait to get started.
Kelly

 

[Pocono]

There are a few flies I see on here that I would LOVE to tie. I will need to order materials if it is not too much money. Some I will already have on hand probably. So please put materials in advance as much as possible. Nothing gets to me more than ordering, and they say they have it in stock, then they put me on backorder forever. Been there and done that way too many times. Anyway, this does sound like fun, and I cannot wait to get started.
Kelly

Kelly,

Yes, I've been there before with backorders; the materials are always backordered when you need them most!

I plan to post some of the sources that I use, along with the materials, to try to speed up the sourcing process. Having said that, a lot of the patterns will use materials that you probably already have on hand.

Welcome to this tie-along!

Pocono