Salmon Fishing

Fly Tying A Brief History of This Ancient Art Form

Tying creating Fly Fishing flies is an old art form. Fishing flies have been “tied” with fur, feathers and synthetic materials to imitate natural flies or fly tying to create “dressed” fishing flies like traditional dressed Salmon flies over the last centuries. Indeed many people credit Isaac Walton and his 1676 edition of The Compleat Angler as the start of fly fishing and fly tying. In reality early fly tying really happened as long go as the third Century AD when the early writer called Aelianus detailed fly fishingfor fish with fly fishing flies. The fly tying was described as “….. they fasten crimson wool around the hook and fix onto the wool two feathers”. In 1496 Dame Juliana Berners wrote the Treatise of Fishing with an Angle which included writings using fly tying using similar materials to the Macedoneans.

Artistic Fly Tying Realistic Fly Fishing Flies

Fly Tying can be classed as incredible artform, fly tying takes place in in different forms, from simple fly tying with perhaps basically just cdc feathers and dubbing from carpet scrapings to sophisticated fly tying where the fly tyer creates ultra-realistic flies which are actually too incredible to be fished with! Ultra-realistic fly tying is now so incredibly detailed that fly tying just one ultra realistic fly could take fourty man hours to tie a single fly. However most fly fishermen utilise fly tying techniques to design what we call imitative or suggestive flies.

Fly Tying Imitative Flies

When fly tying to make an imitative or exact imitative fly fishing fly our fly tying is intended to replicate the real natural fly or insect. Fly tying and fly fishing using imitative or exact imitative flies is hard work as the fly tying intends anatomical perfection (exact imitation). The trouble is your fly tying may be an exact replica of say the grannom caddis but is only useful when that exact fly is about.

Fly Tying Suggestive or Impressionistic Flies

So What do we mean by fly tying suggestive or fly tying impressionistic fishing flies mean? Simply we is fly tying to manufacture a fly imitation that can seem like the food eaten by prey fish. Fly tying flies that are impressionistic or suggestive is easier to both fly tie and as importantly to fish. Examples of suggestive or impressionistic flies are are GRHE, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, Woolly Buggers or Muddler minnows.

Fly Tying Materials

In the late 1800 ‘s to 1950 fly tying used exotic materials from rare bird species. Today things have changed, when fly tying there is a vast range of fly tying materials that can be used. Ranging from traditional fly tying furs like hare and fly tying feathers like pheasant tail. Fly tying synthetics like mylar tinsels, fly tying silks or fly tying threads. Modern fly tying threads like Semperfli Nano silk now exist in 12/0 size (50 denier) but they are virtually unbreakable do to the fly tying materials used to create these thread.

Fly tying materials including today include materials as divers as: Fly Tying Furs like Arctic Fox, Calf, Goat Hair, Hare, Musk Rat Fur, Rabbit, Seals Fur, Skein Wool, Spike Guard Hair, Squirrel, and then fly tying feathers like Amherst Pheasant, Condor, Coot, Duck Quills, Goose, Ibis, Indian Crow, Jay, Jungle Cock, Landrail Substitute, Ostrich, Partridge, Silver Pheasant, Teal Duck, Widgeon and Woodcock.

About the Author

Andy is CEO of The Essential Fly, a quality manufacturer of fly fishing flies including salmon flies/salmon fly, trout flies, fly fishing tackle and gear and fly tying materials. Andy is a passionate fisherman and always looking at new materials and flies and their effects on the quarry fish.

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