The Spirit of Tying a Fly

© Thad Foote / RumBum.com

A homemade fly is sweeter than a store-bought one.

"To catch a fish is primal. To catch a fish on fly is art. To catch a fish on a self-tied fly is spiritual."

Fishing dates back thousands of years to our earliest cousins. Spears and traps sufficed when the pangs of hunger knocked and fish swam nearby. Two hundred years after the birth of Christ, fishing swam toward the artistic and soulful with the advent of the "fly." 

How a Fly Works

An Italian author named Aelian documented the first known instance of fly fishing in Aelian's Natural History: "When then the fish observes a fly on the surface, it swims quietly up, afraid to stir the water above, lest it should scare away its prey; then coming up by its shadow, it opens its mouth gently and gulps down the fly, like a wolf carrying off a sheep from the fold; having done this, it goes below the rippling water," Aelian wrote, describing perfectly the relationship between fish and fly.

Fly fishing roots lie in the simply difficult skill of observance. One has to watch the fish, carefully. Whether in Wyoming's Snake River, Cape Cod's Kettle Ponds or South Florida's Biscayne Bay, the fisher-person needs to quietly look and listen to learn. The fish are the teachers, the water is the classroom and we need to pay attention if we want to pass.

"Tying a fly is mimicking what the fish are used to eating," says fishing captain JC Burke. "Mimicking" is the operative word in the captain's description. Contrary to "bait fishing" where the fisher-person actually uses "...what the fish are used to eating," like shrimp, small fish or crabs, to attract them to your hook, fly fishing uses many inanimate materials attached to a hook, to trick the fish into thinking it's food. We utilize the fish's natural instincts and mimic it's natural food.

How to Tie a Basic "Deceiver" Fly

First, there are a few basic yet vital tools one needs before tying a fly. A vice helps hold the hooks steady at the right height and angle. A "bobbin" keeps a spool of thread under tension while wrapping the material to a hook. And, a sharp and tiny pair of scissors will prove invaluable.

In short, tying the basic "deceiver" involves wrapping material around the shank of the hook. Change material, wrap some more, change again and wrap. Add a couple of fake eyes, epoxy and go fishing. Easy, right? Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Using the bobbin to keep tension, wrap fifteen times around the bare shank to roughen up the working surface. Gently pull a small bit of fibers and add to the top of the shank, as it sits in the vice. Give the bunch a few wraps and trim the forward excess out of your way. Continue wrapping these first fibers down the length of the shank to offer a colorful and solid undertone to the fly. The next fibers attach the same way but not wrapped as far. This will give the fly more "body" as it's swimming. "Countershading" is a natural camouflage used to hide small fish from the big ones. Basically, this means the under side of fish (and flies) is light while the top is darker. Keep this in mind while choosing colors and wrapping. Also, some colorful and sparse "tinsel", yes, wrapped onto the shank, adds an irresistible shimmer. Finish with a dab of epoxy on all wraps for protection and glue on some eyes. Big eyes go a long way.

Where to Go to Learn More

Fisherpeople interested in honing "mimicking" skills or simply learning more about the biologically inspired art form, fly tying, contact your local fly shop. Here in South Florida, The Fly Shop of Miami offers "Instructional Beginner Classes" for $50 and the "Fly Tying Get Together" which is free. "During the beginner class, we tie a series of flies to get hands on a bunch of different materials. Afterwards, a student could open a pattern book and put a fly together," explains part owner and store manager David Olsen. The "Get Together" is held the first Tuesday of every month and focuses on "what's in season at the time, like Tarpon flies during Tarpon season" continues Olsen.

Some define "art" as, a "realm of what has more than ordinary significance." Yes, the definition of "ordinary" is debatable. However, knowing what fish eat, lashing buck fur, feathers, tinsel and a synthetic eye to a hook to make it look like that food, casting it in the right place at the right time, embracing and mimicking millions of years of evolutionary behavior and actually catching a fish, is surely not "ordinary." Try something new or practice something old. Tie a fly.

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