Where do you get insperation for Fly Tying?

Well, what inspires you? Is there something that inspires you, maybe not something, maybe someone? Soooooo………..?

I would have to say, for me that would be a HUGE YES on both counts.

First off, I am VERY inspired by nature. The one constant for me in the time I have been FlyFishing is that I am not only inspired but in AWE of the natural world.

I (At any chance I get) study the food that fish eat. This could be small baitfish, Insects, Crustations, etc…….. Because of this, I try not only to mimic the food that the fish are targeting, but the movements, size, color, etc….

To do this, I employ a VAST variety of materials that help with things like movement. I would have to say, if I had to pick one material that i could NOT do without, it would have to be Marabou! I find that marabou can be used in so many different ways, and the movement that it imparts is second to none!!

Since I primarily target trout, I study aquatic insects alot to get to know how they behave, move, etc…. Because of this, I have been able to not only tie my flies differently to mimic the natural insects better, but I have also changed HOW i fish the individual flies to mimic the behavior of the insects.

I the many years that I have been doing this, I find that my success rate has increased 10 fold, and I equate this to experience but to a larger extent, the study and time I have put in to learn the feeding behaviors of the fish I target, in turn, the behaviors of the food itself.

A few of the small clues i can give to my readers to help them a bit are this;

• Use materials that move, (Marabou, Rabbit, Fox, etc…)
• Try to get as close as you can to the size and shape of the insect you are trying to copy. The reason for this is, I have found that a accurate silhouette is VERY important
• Don’t worry too much about colors, yes they are important, but because colors change SOOOOOO much underwater, this is less important than movement and shape.

Now, do you have any people that inspire your tying techniques? I Do!

I look up to MANY tyers, I am a good tier, but there are soo many people out there that are SOOO good i along with 99% of the population can’t compare. But, these are NOT the people I look up to, I look up to the people that tie to mimic the feed, and do a great job of it. This does not mean that the finished product looks like the food it it to mimic, but that it moves like the natural and that it has a similar silhouette.

Below is a tier (Graham Owen) that is AMAZING at making flies that looks like the natural:

Below is a few Examples of what I would say are practical flies that do the job they set out to do, mimic movement and create the correct silhouette.

A Few Pic’s from someone I look up to in the fly tying world;

Hans Weilenmann:

Hans is one of the tiers that I feel have been able to REALLY capture the elements I look for in a fly, and because of this, I really look up to him.

Another person I really look up to in regards to tying is Phil Rowley:

Phil is a tier that uses all kinds of materials that are not common in fly tying, and this is what I have really taken to heart with talking to Phil.

Well, I have many more things to say on this subject, I have not even touched on flies that are used to mimic baitfish and other foods, so I will spit this post in two and do the second half in a few days.

Tight Lines & Fun Times

Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”™