The fascination of fly tying! Do you know the feeling of outwitting a magnificent fish with a lure handmade by yourself? You have been thinking for some time about creating a fly that could increase your chances of catching, but you can't find it commercially! Let your creativity run wild and immerse yourself in the exciting world of fly tying.
Anyone who toys with the idea of tying their own fly first needs a tying vise. There are almost countless brands, models and designs. For the beginner there are models starting at 9.99 Euro: with which you can start tying your first flies. If the fascination drags you forward, the right time has come to make the purchase of a high-quality vise. In the medium price range the company Stonfo offers excellent products such as the Stonfo Flytec. The latest decisive development are the so-called vises with pliers with rotation of the axis and which are infinitely variable such as the Maier&Fazis Speed-Vise. Then there are the various accessories such as dirt trays, vise screen, parachute holders, magnifying glass, various hook-blocking pliers in different sizes, tool holder accessories and many more.
The basic equipment for fly tying includes:
Winder
Whip Finisher
Scissors
Dubbing pliers
Tweezers
We offer ready-made beginner kits, which contain the most important tools. Step by step, you can integrate your own additional tools, depending on the tying techniques you want to use and the level of production achieved. For the beginning, however, the tools listed above are sufficient. Anyone who has the opportunity to attend a fly tying course should definitely take this opportunity.
What else do you need to tie your first fly?
I love
Yarns
Pens/Feathers
Natural hair
Synthetic hair
Dubbing
Materials for bodies
UV paints or glues
Beads
The most common flies are almost exclusively made of natural materials, combined with feathers or plumes that come from duck, deer, rooster, partridge, ostrich, pheasant, peacock, rabbit just to name a few. Then of course there are the synthetic construction materials that have increased their presence in recent years with huge steps. From there there are no limits, starting from the TYING THREAD, then tinsel, colored lead or copper wire, from different synthetic dubbings to translucent foils, foam for terrestrial flies and all the synthetic fibers and hairs.
THE DRY FLY
Dry flies imitate insects that float on the surface, such as egg-laying mayflies or "spents". "Spents" are flies that are already dead and dragged into the surface water. The hooks for tying dry flies are very thin, so as not to impair the buoyancy of the fly. The materials used are mainly bird or rooster feathers that have good swimming characteristics, such as CDC or high-quality rooster neck hackles. In recent years, countless synthetic materials have been introduced onto the market, allowing the modern fly tier to tie realistic flies. These are very close to their natural original. Emerging flies imitate free-swimming insects, such as pupae or caddis, which are just emerging. The classic ones often have wings made of feather segments and hackles made of chicken feathers. Some flies, if not treated with floating liquids before fishing, can also be used as emerging flies.
THE NYMPH
Nymphs imitate insects that are in the larval or nymphal stage, for example caddisfly larvae or mayfly nymphs. However, other insects such as gammarus nymphs, scuds or shrimps are also specified as nymphs. To weigh down the various nymphs, tungsten beads, brass gold heads and lead wire help. To create the body we use various natural and synthetic products such as dubbing, chenille, flexi floss, body stretch etc. Sometimes on nymphs a little more than just a body and a bead is needed, for example tails, legs or feet. For these the tyer uses goose biots, pheasant feathers, shellbacks or various others.
STREAMER
They imitate natural food in the form of a small fish by splashing and fleeing. The target fish are pike, salmon, zander and last but not least trout. However, any predatory fish can be caught with streamers. In addition to large and sturdy hooks, materials such as rabbit fur strips, the so-called Zonkerstripes, are used. Then synthetic materials have long since found their way into streamers too. Some are volume flash hair, angel hair, multi- and krystal flash. Often realistic-looking eyes are glued on, to achieve more attraction for any predator.
