Tying Resolution Update

January is already more than half done.  But, I have been making good progress on tying new flies for the empty fly box.

The new year started with expansion of the copper john collection with some size 16's in both red and gold.

And continued with the addition of some size 14 and 16 barr hare coppers.  These should help me be ready to imitate some of the lighter colored nymphs I see throughout the year.  The barr hare coppers use light hare's mask where the copper johns use the darker peacock.

The copper johns have started a nice shiny little family in the corner of the fly box.

I figured it was time to tackle some of my caddis patterns.  Before getting into the green rockworm patterns as planned, I tied up some mercury cased caddis in Size 16 and 18 from Pat Dorsey's tailwater book (some good flies in there).

Looking through my supplies, I realized I had everything I needed to tie up a few guide's choice hare's ear flies in size 16.  These were my first soft hackles and, although the hackle was a bit long, I was still pretty happy with how these came out.  I will definitely tie up a few more for the box.

There is still a lot of empty space even on this one side on the new box, so I will have to keep finding the time to get on the vise to get all the flies in need in there.

I hope your resolutions are holding up.  So far so good for me.  One day (or is it, one fly?) at a time.

Resolution Time - Happy New Years!

In 2016, I resolve that my fly fishing will be completely home-tied supported.

That's right I resolve to only fish flies that I have tied or flies that are given to me. 

The challenge to complete this resolution will be identifying now, in the cold, freezing days of this Denver winter, the patterns that will be needed for the warmer spring, summer and fall months and then tying them all.

As you can see, I have a decent start with one almost full fly box.  But as you can also see, I have the motivation of an almost completely empty fly box as well.

So far, I have completed various versions of xcaddis, adams, purple haze, humpy, griffith's gnat, midge, pheasant tail, hares ear, copper john and prince nymph patterns.

My winter ambition is to fill in as many patterns and sizes as possible starting with at least some elk hair caddis, green rockworm, rs-2 and wet fly patterns while expanding on the copper john and xcaddis patterns.

I am sure that others already do this and the suggestion that fishing only your own flies is a challenge or something to resolve to may not seem that significant, but I challenge myself for two reasons, 1) to prove to myself that I am crafty enough and dedicated enough to tie everything I will need and 2) to force myself to use my own flies as I will usually use a store bought fly before my home-tied flies because I don't want to lose them after my hard efforts.

So for now, it's back to the vise to fill that empty fly box space while thinking of this year's fishing.

Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions whether they be fishing related or not.