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Production Fly Tying (Guest Review)
by Ronald C. Hasz
A.K. Best tells us that every time you sit down to tie a fly, you are a production fly tier. You may not be sitting down to tie 10 dozen of one pattern, but you do want each and every one of you flies to come out correctly and look just like the one before. The professional tier and you sitting down to tie a couple Wooleys or Clousers for your next river smallie trip face the same problems, and can use the same ideas and hints to make sure each fly looks just like the one tied before.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is tying their own flies or jigs. If you are just starting out, or even thinking about it, this is also the book for you. Chapter 1 is about tools and your fly tying station. The author goes over each tool that a tier may want or not want to use and why. He gives examples of tools that function well, and examples of tools that are a waste of time. There are great hints on how to improve the utility of your tools, which in turn, cuts down on the number of tools you use, reducing your time on each fly. He also talks about setting up your fly tying station in a organized and useful manner, again with the goal of reducing the time spent on each fly, at the same time, increasing the durability and effectiveness of each fly.
This book will not tell you how to tie any individual flies. You can't turn to page 85 and learn how to tie a stonefly nymph. What it does is give you intricate details to each part of tying a fly. Because of this, this book is useful to anyone who ties, whether it is for trout, bass, saltwater, or even hair jigs. Let's face it, the majority of fly tying books focus on either tying flies for trout, saltwater, or a few for bass. This book gives you the basics on each part of a fly, so that you can adapt those basics and tie a fly or jig to imitate anything you want, and catch any fish you want.
Chapters 2-6 are what focus on each of those parts of the flies. In each chapter, he talks about selecting the materials for that part of the fly, preparing the materials, and using the materials. Chapter 2 is on Tailing, 3 is on Ribbing, 4 is on Bodies, 5 is on Wings, and 6 is on Hackling. The fly recipe for that stonefly that does not appear on page 85 would probably be something like this:
If you are a beginner, or have never tied that stonefly, these steps leave a lot to be desired in terms of explaining to you how to get this mess of materials onto a hook to look like the pretty stonefly in the picture. Each of these chapters will guide you through all the details in that step. As John Gierach says in the foreword, "this is the stuff that no one ever tells you; this is the complete, in-depth truth behind, 'Step 5 - tie in the wings.'"
Look into this book, as it is a wise investment to save time, improve durability, and improve effectiveness in your fly or jig tying. I will leave you with a portion of the author's Preface: "The point is, you are each [professional and recreational tiers] going to tie one fly at a time, and you both want the second fly to look exactly like the first one. I'm going to tell you how to do that."
Most of us are familiar with the fly or jig recipes that show a picture of the fly, a list of materials, and a list of steps to tie. If you are like me, the list of steps can be a very frustrating thing. Step 5: "tie in the wings." That is all. No helpful hint as to how in the world you are supposed to get it to look like the picture. If you want to find out the intricate details behind that step, this is the book for you: Production Fly Tying by A.K. Best.
Ron is a regular at River Smallies.com where he goes by the handle "Smalliefly".
Copyright © 2002 Ronald C. Hasz
Published on River Smallies.com with permission