Fly Tying

Are Brownliners Tying Today’s Most Creative Flies?

September 9, 2008, by Tom Chandler 2 comments

It’s clear brownlining is coming into its own as a bona-fide segment of the fly fishing world – especially once you see the kind of ~~frightening~~ brooding creativity being poured into the flies being created to fool carp.

Often imitating food sources little seen in fly fishing, the new wave of brownliners are tying flies more reminiscent of saltwater patterns than those used on trout streams, and in truth, the growth in “brownline patterns” mirrors the not-so-long-ago explosion in saltwater fly patterns.

Carol’s Grass Carp Fly (courtesy Roughfisher)

The Boa Crayfish (courtesy Singlebarbed)

Singlebarbed’s Death Clam (courtesy Singlebarbed)

As a truly lazy fly tyer, I’m content to whip out a few Beetle Bugs and Hares Ears and call it a day, so I’m constantly amazed at the lengths to which inveterate materials hound Singlebarbed pursues new fly tying materials.

It’s either a sign of rampant creativity or a serious pathology, and since the guy shrugs off heavy metals and advanced bio-toxins over the course of the average fishing day, it’s probably best if I assume the former.

Of course, it’s Fly Fishing Industry Week here at the Underground, so we have to ask; now that brownlining’s picking up steam, will the industry respond?

Will the latest carp flies suddenly become centerpieces in the Umpqua catalog?

Will freshwater-tapered 7wt “carp rods” sprout at rod racks nationwide?

Can the feature-length “Carp X” be far behind?

The Underground doesn’t know. But I’ll keep my eyes peeled for signs of Brownline life at FFR.

brownlining, brownliner, carp, flies, fly pattern, fly tying

Winner! Winner! The Free HMH Fly Tying Vise Goes To…

June 13, 2008, by Tom Chandler 6 comments

HMH has chosen the winner of their fly tying vise giveaway (the ad has been appearing on the Trout Underground, Singlebarbed, Fly Fish Chick and the Day Tripper for the last three months).

The lucky ~~bastard~~ winner is Roland Meehan of Milton, NH, and I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that ~~free fly tying vise is rightfully mine~~ those who didn’t win will still be on the receiving end of HMH’s e-newsletter, which should prove interesting.

I’m putting together a little essay for the next issue, and even if you hate reading email, HMH just fired up their own forum.

The Underground thanks them for their support, and as for you Roland, I’m ~~going to hunt you down~~ happy to congratulate you on your win.

See you at the fly tying bench, Tom Chandler.

Drawing Flies Blog Delivers Fly Fishing Art… Daily

May 19, 2008, by Tom Chandler 7 comments

Does a bite of fly fishing art each day keep the I’m-Not-fly-fishing blues away?

Frankly, it’s damned unlikely, but it’s still better than a sharp 6wt in the eye. That’s why I’m wondering how I missed this cool site for so long:

The artist’s goal is to post a piece of artwork each day for a year — and the artwork centers on fly fishing’s biggest phonies: artificial flies. (What did you think we were going to say?)

Give the site a visit (we’re on day 180-something of 365). See you at the art gallery, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: fly fishing,fishing,fly tying,fishing flies,artificial flies,fly fishing art

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Free Stuff: HMH Gives Away a Spartan Fly Tying Vise

March 3, 2008, by Tom Chandler 5 comments

Win an HMH Spartan Fly Tying Vise and Tube Fly Converter in this free contest.

It’s Cold. It’s Snowing… It’s Fly Tying Season. Would Somebody Please Order Prozac?

December 21, 2007, by Tom Chandler 2 comments

Fly tying season starts after the fishing season ends, but before the Prozac prescriptions for fly fishermen experiencing withdrawal are handed out like candy.

Like any psychotic disorder, fly tying tends to encourage obsessive behavior, and while we’d never suggest that the bloggers named below necessarily fall into that category, we would also caution you to shield the eyes of sensitive types and small children before scrolling any further.

It turns out that fly tying, my friends, is often unpretty.

The Daytripper Courts Organization… and Divorce

While you might think “unpretty” is a pretty strong word, how else do you describe the Daytripper’s recent attempt to completely catalog & rearrange his fly tying materials into some kind of logical system?

Has he not considered the damage done to the fly tying materials industry when tyers stop mistakenly buying two or three of every item because they’re aware they already have one at home? Is this the kind of economy-killing insanity we can look forward to from Daytripper?

Apparently not content to stifle our nation’s struggling economy, Alex even tempts divorce with an ill-advised plan to empty his wife’s file cabinet of valuable documents, converting it into fly tying materials storage.

They say you never see the bullet with your name on it, but any experienced fly tyer can see the Daytripper’s divorce papers hurtling his way.

RIP, Alex. You never saw it coming, but we did.

Tamanawis Does IT Again, and By “IT” We Mean “Goes Insane”

It’s never pretty when a fly tyer goes over the edge. Here we have a textbook case; Mike at Tamanawis isn’t content to simply organize his hooks or beads.

No siree, he steps wholly into the abyss with a Fly Tying Storage System Boldly Named: FARTS.

What was needed was a way to transport everything I could possibly need for any possible situation. Fluff, feathers, bobbins, the whole shebang. The system needed to be hardwearing, reliable, small and most importantly, easily transportable. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to youâ€¦ the Far-reaching And Ridiculously Tenacious fly tying System (FARTS to you and I).

Following on the heels of his Stand of Majesty, his new system includes the Folders of Beauty, the Cube of Domination and the Boxes of Sublime Reason. (We suggest an addition: The Little White Pills of Sanity [prozac].)

Sure, we normally love that Tamanawis guy, but now, frankly, we’re a little afraid of him. Before it’s too late, we urge him to STOP THE MADNESS (and you can tell we mean it because we used capital letters).

See you in the looney bin, Tom Chandler.

Technorati tags: fly tying, fly fishing, fly tyer, tamanawis, daytripper blog, insane behavior

SingleBarbed Risks Relationship, Continues Experiments With Heat Fusible Wing Material

September 26, 2007, by Tom Chandler 1 comment

Brave, brave SingleBarbed. Putting his household iron (and domestic bliss) on the line, he posts yet another in his growing line of fly tying experiments with a shiny, heat-fusible material (angelina).

The results are interesting, at least in as much as he ties some interesting flies with the stuff, though frankly, we would have been far more interested if he’d burned down the house and been pummeled by his girlfriend.

THAT would have made a great post (for future reference). Instead, we get:

Nice wing effect, but too fragile yet

Domestic bliss shattered by my failure to iron shirts, but as it was for Science, its a worthy martyrdom. Angelina fibers are available in a heat fusible flavor, insert a pinch of fibers into a paper napkin, pass an iron over them a couple times and the of fibers fuse flatly to each other, yielding a Tyvek style mesh cloth.

Prior posts concerning Angelina include a Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear test, and his initial post about the stuff. Worth a read for you fly tying geeks.

[tags]fly tying, fly fishing[/tags]