Why Can't I Tie a Simple, Standard Tie Anymore?

[random user]

Sat down tonight with a very simple goal: 2 black woolly buggers and 2 black woolly buggers with small black dumbbells. Quick, easy and simple, right?

End result is that I have a dozen flies hanging and none of the 4 I started out to tie. All woolly-bugger-esque, but none of them 'right'. Have olive bodies with black and brown tails and a black saddle rib. Have teased out black, wool yarn bodies, olive and black tails with purple saddle ribs. Have a couple multiple color buggers with a zonker strip back, a al the sparkle ghost bugger with the squirrel skin back.

I know it is all just semi-standard color substitution stuff and that wooly bugger is a broad and vague term, but why can't I just tie the tried-n-true standard pattern - black marabou tail, black saddle rib counter wrapped with fine copper wire, black chenille all over a lead underbody?

(Was really surprised to see how well the Dark olive, dark brown, dark purple and black all worked together.)

I guess the question is: Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[flytire]

why can't I just tie the tried-n-true standard pattern - black marabou tail, black saddle rib counter wrapped with fine copper wire, black chenille all over a lead underbody?

only you can answer that question.

Does anyone else have this problem?

no. when i sit down i know what i want to tie

 

[bigjim5589]

Random, it's easy to get distracted with all the materials we have available, but like flytire said, it's not difficult to tie something specific if you know what you want to tie.

I love experimenting & when I sit down, often don't know what I'll tie. But, when I have a pattern in mind, that's what I tie.

Just lay out the necessary materials for buggers, and nothing else. Then tie only buggers. Discipline yourself man!

Darn it man, don't make me come up there & flog you with a calftail!

:lol2:

 

[stenacron]

Over-thinking a simple pattern?

Any color combo on a Wooly Bugger will probably catch fish... day in and day out though, hard to beat the consistency of black and/or olive.

 

[Rip Tide]

When I sit down to tie something specific, I like to knock them out as quickly as possible before I get distracted.
If I get to 5-6 before going off on a 'tangent", I call that successful

 

[random user]

When I sit down to tie something specific, I like to knock them out as quickly as possible before I get distracted.
If I get to 5-6 before going off on a 'tangent", I call that successful

:grin: I wish I could be that successful!

I'm always thinking of how to get more out of the fly, make it a little more natural / effective or how to get more blended/blurred subtle hues or colors into it to make it [edit] less [/edit] obvious that it is a forgery or make it move better in the water or something else along those lines.

 

[jaybo41]

Sounds to me as though your "problem" isn't so much of a problem and more along the lines of not sticking with what you intended to tie. Free-stylin is fun and a good thing. I've learned what does and does not work this way. Fortunately as has been mentioned, with buggers its nearly impossible to go wrong.

 

[bigjim5589]

I'm always thinking of how to get more out of the fly, make it a little more natural / effective or how to get more blended/blurred subtle hues or colors into it to make it obvious that it is a forgery or make it move better in the water or something else along those lines.

I think we all go thru phases in our tying where our desire to be creative or improve upon what's already been done gets the best of us. It's easy to want to tie & be creative & improve the flies you tie. But, it's difficult to reinvent the wheel. Perhaps you're bored. Or, perhaps you're materials selection is limited enough that you just want to make the most of your tying. That's human nature IMO.

I've been going thru a mental block lately myself. I don't have a lot of desire to sit down & tie. I'm sitting here putting some finish on the heads of some flies I tied previous & never finished. I have more flies tied than I'll use, so have no real need to tie more. I've gone thru this before & always snap out of it. In the mean while, I'll browse the various websites I frequent & perhaps contribute something that will help someone else. This keeps my head in fishing & tying, and sometimes someone else will post a fly or even a lure that gets me inspired enough to want to tie again.

Don't sweat it, do what makes you happy. Eventually, you'll come full circle & will have little problem tying anything, even established & perhaps boring patterns. Sounds like you may just be bored or going thru one of those phases.

Frankly, as far as buggers go, I much prefer those tied with estaz in the body & flashabou in them to the basic bugger, so I don't tie a lot of them either.

 

[theboz]

The more I tie of one pattern the better they get! If I haven't done one in a while or it's new to me the first 2 are usually lousey! Then as I progress they become better and better with repitition! So for me basically if I need 10 I usually tie twelve and throw 2 on the recycle pile! For me it's like batting practice once I'm in the groove I'm hammering it!

 

[fish4reds]

X2 with estaz. I also tie in hair at eye on belly to make it flip over and come in hook side up to prevent hangups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fredaevans]

:grin: I wish I could be that successful!

I'm always thinking of how to get more out of the fly, make it a little more natural / effective or how to get more blended/blurred subtle hues or colors into it to make it obvious that it is a forgery or make it move better in the water or something else along those lines.

I view a tie (I need the basic) the same as do my cooking. Take the basic recipe and don't screw with it. Now that you know how it tastes the second one I'll start to play .... but alter just one ingredient. Tie a couple of those on different sized hooks; repeat with just a single change, etc.

An example of the above is the simple Steelhead fly called 'The Skunk.' That evolved into the Green Butted Skunk, the Red, etc. 90% all these variations (usually) have only one change from the original. All work.

Now you hit the water and rotate through the ties to see which gets the most attention (YOU HOPE!!)

Fred

 

[random user]

Thanks or the opinions. Lots of good points. Been thinking about it.

Also remembered the day when I would pop open a 100 box of 3906B's and tie 50 pheasant tails and 50-ish hares ears. Then open a box of 14's and repeat. Is odd remembering the days when I was used like slave labour because I had good eyes and fingers.

I think part of the issues is I do it just because I can. I don't have to tie in all one color or match the standard. I know what has worked for me and how much I can get away varying form the standard.

The other things which kept coming to mind is a possible simple appreciation of subtlety, or maybe I am sort of 'punch-drunk' from one too many rounds of the 'game of nods'.

 

[noreaster]

I am a little OCD and ADHD when it comes to tying patterns. I much more enjoy free stylin'.

I have found I will notice the colors of the stream bottom and the general overall feel of the color of the waters I fish. Mostly sandy light browns, to dark browns.

I have been using UV flash a lot mixed in through the soft hackles and backs. As well I noticed that many injuries to pin fish and other little critters show up as almost a milky white color where the tissue is kind of dying. So lighter colored patterns work too.

This is one of my own patterns that has been very productive so far. Uses partridge, uv flash, light brown dubbin with uv flash strip down back, gold wrap, partridge hackle tied in the dabbler style with a few strands of uv flash pinned back with hackle. Fish on!!