Righting Some Wrongs

Last week I posted about some flies that I had tied in the past that I would consider failures.  For one reason or another, they had one or multiple flaws.  I could have still used them and probably caught a few fish, but it really bothered me to have flies in my streamer box that just looked...bad.  I was probably never going to use them.  They were also cluttering up my streamer box and I decided that I was going to repurpose them.  (If you want to read the post that I am referring to, just click here).  

After sorting out the good from the bad ones, the task of stripping the flies of materials presented itself.  I did that very thing last night, and it was a bit of a chore.  Some of the materials were hard to cut into.  I used a razor blade to remove materials and there was a constant concern of slicing myself, which I have done before while performing this very task.  I also tried to cut around coneheads and dumbbell eyes to preserve them.  Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't.  At the end of the job, my hands were pretty sore but I had a lot to show for it.  

I wound up with lots of good hooks and some other other components that I will try to reuse.  This experience was much better than throwing them away or giving them away to unsuspecting victims that didn't know better.  I like the idea of taking these failures and giving them a second chance at success.  I have learned a lot since I tied these flies and have become a much better fly tyer in the process.  I'm going to make sure that these flies stay in my possession as well.  Aside from being a little concerned about the structural integrity of the hooks seeing as how they have been in a vise, stripped with a razor, and will be back in the vise for a second time.  I also want the experience and satisfaction of using these one-time-failures to catch fish.  

If you think about it, that's why we tie flies!  We want the added experience of catching a fish on a fly that was made by our hands.  To take a bare hook and turn it into something that can make a fish actually think that is is food, that's pretty amazing.  Most fish aren't dumb.  Every day they attempt to discern between what is food and what isn't.  They use their eyes, their senses of smell, and lateral lines to discriminate.  They can also process what seems like a reasonable meal based on time of year, profile, and speed.  If you can tie a fly that can get a fish to bight after processing all of that information, that is something should feel pretty darn good and should give you an overwhelming sense of satisfaction!