Tying Flies With My Youngest Son, Cody

So this post actually serves two purposes with one of them being about tying flies with a 2 year old.  The other is about a topic that most folks probably know about but wanted to throw it in there for the fly tying newbies.

1. Nail Polish (or should I say MALE polish) Uses in Fly Tying
If you are new to fly tying or you like to tie your own jigs, then here is a little trick for you.  While you can buy jig heads, most of them are either going to have a bass, silver, or dull appearance.  Now if you want your jigs to have a shiny look, then you are ready to start wrapping some thread.  However, if you desire your jig head to have a color that matches or contrasts with the materials that you are putting on the hook then you have a dilemma on your hands.  One option that I would HIGHLY suggest is painting your jig heads with nail polish.  The color possibilities are endless, your wife, mom, or girlfriend probably has some for you to experiment with which could be a lot of fun.  Also, I suggest that you only try to paint the dull jig heads because they are more willing to accept paint than the finished, shiny surfaces.  Have fun playing around!

2. It's Never Too Young to Start
I recently wrote a post about fishing with my oldest son on Father's Day and anyone who has multiple children knows that you have to give equal time and praise to the little ankle-biters.  As a peace offering to the youngest boy, Cody, here is his post.

Cody doesn't get to go in to our basement very much.  It isn't child-proof, houses my fly rods and spinning rods, and is home to my fly tying bench (which may or may not contain a few missing hooks that got stuck in the carpet).  However, that doesn't stop him from finding ways to get dear old dad to cave to his wishes.  When he looks at me at the top of the steps and says "tie flies?" in his cute little tow-year-old voice, well it's just more than I can stand most of the time.  He usually just uses that as an excuse to play with antlers, comb through tying materials, or knock things over but sometimes he actually wants to tie flies.  But the other day when he said he wanted to tie a fly, he actually wanted to tie.

I had been wanting to tie some jigs that my good friend Tom is successful with so this looked like the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone.  I grabbed some marabou, yarn, small chenille, and an aforementioned painted jig hook an we were ready to tie Cody's first fly.  It turned out pretty well and while Tom calls this fly "The Anarchist," Cody and I have decided to call it "Commander Cody".  There is a double meaning there since Cody loves Star Wars and there is a clone trooper that is named Commander Cody.  It is also the stage name of a singer that was the originator of a tune you might know.