Assortment of flies

[maharg]

The weather is shocking up here today and I am stuck in. So thought I would get the fly boxes sorted out and tie a few flies to fill in the blanks.
The thing is I started looking at what I have and I realised I have far to many flies doing the same job.

Wet fly box,
Top row,top dropper palmered flies.
Kate McLaren, Bibio, Clan Chief, Black Zulu, with one Blue Zulu stowed away etc etc you get my drift. All basically black patterns for the bob.
Further down the box we have,
Teal, blue and silver, silver invicta, butcher, Alexandra. Again all doing the same basic job of point fly attractor.
Dont even start me on diawl bachs and buzzers !!!! red headed, pearl rib, black herl, epoxy, etc etc.
So I decided to give it some serious thought to pruning the collection.
I am thinking of looking at the profile of the flies first and the job they have to do. Then I will have a look at colour. I really cant believe that a bibio will out fish a zulu by that much. So one or two patterns at the most for dark top dropper work (Kate and Bibio) the rest are getting evicted.

What do you all think, to radical or is variety the spice of life?

[wingman]

Thats far too many flies maharg, you must get rid of a good 60% of them..... just pop them al in an envelope and send them to my address which I'll shortly pm you with...I'll pay the stamp.

[maharg]

Sorry mate right into recycling up here they will be getting the Stanley knife and the hooks re tied on,
(perhaps)



I have a tub that is groaning at the seams with "experiment" flies that didn't quite make the cut or just turned out rubbish.
Probably a fortune in hooks entomed in there.

[maharg]

A small selection of the non runners who await the knife

[wingman]

Thats a shame maharg, think of all those many enjoyable hours (or unenjoyable maybe) you must have spent at the vice making them and to me they look excellent flies......

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by maharg

What do you all think, to radical or is variety the spice of life?

Variety is indeed the spice of life, Graham. Half of the fun for me is catching on 'new' patterns, 'improved' old ones, and the old one that has lay unnoticed in the corner for a year or two. It would drive me mad to have to stick to a limited range, no mater how effective they were. Having said that, we can, of course still have too many... I'm as guilty as anyone for that, and like yourself, I intend to get ruthless with my fly boxes this winter and have a serious cull. As you say, far too many doing the same job. I don't know how I'm going to get on though... I just couldn't drop one from your top row of Kate McLaren, Bibio, Clan Chief, Black Zulu & Blue Zulu! They're all essential! They can all do a similar job, and on certain days be just as effective as each other. There are days though when it just has to be the Chief, or the Blue Zulu, or whatever, and the Kate/Bibio won't shift a thing. If I had to drop one, it would be the Blue Zulu. Well it's a 20% cull... that'll do for starters

[paddy5]

I'd say those Clouser show well in a peaty stained wave maharg . PJ

[maharg]

Originally Posted by paddy5

I'd say those Clouser show well in a peaty stained wave maharg . PJ

Those were tied by my daughter. She just picked some gear out of my kit and had a go with what she fancied.
Always try to let my girls tie what they want. They are unaffected by any pre-conceived ideas and I am hoping one day they will come up with a winner.

Rob, I hear what you are saying but I think it will simplfy actual fishing time. Dont suppose it will stop me tying up the lastest fly but perhaps purely as a fly tying exercise rather than to fill the box.

Mark, you are breaking my heart, I will pass the flies on to some of the junoir members in my club.

[paddy5]

Cool Maharg, I give my brood easy access to the vice also and find they tie similarly with the feather parallel to the hook shank . my partner is a painter/textile artist and she loves the unaffected pure line drawings the children come up with ,she explained that her first year in fine art was almost entirely taken up with unlearning the structures and conventions we as adults restrict ourselves with. It is going to be hard recycle those large irons. Slàn PJ

[jonboy]

But then again you always get the day when the variant or summat wiil outfish the regular catchers supposing that is y we all carry bout 400 patterns when in most sits bout 10 - 12 would do

tightlines jonboy.