Fit to be tied

Anglers create simple flies for fish

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two stories about fly tying and fly fishing with guides Ken Richards and Zack Hoyt. This week the pair create easy-to-tie flies for waters warm or cold. Next week we’ll join the anglers for a float trip on the White River below Beaver Dam to try their flies on the river’s trout.

A stitch in time means a fish on the line when Ken Richards and Zack Hoyt work wonders with bobbin and thread.

A sewing bee of sorts helped pass a wintry Saturday morning at Hoyt’s kitchen table in Pea Ridge. Nary a spiffy shirt or Christmas stocking took shape.

Fishing flies flew from their fingertips between sips of black caffeinated brew.

Better to talk fishing on this icy morning than actually go. So the pair spoke of warmer fishing days while filling fly boxes with handtied enticements for trout,bluegill and bass.

With each creation, they proved that fly tying is easy to learn. It’s fun and an economical way to catch fish.

Richards’ fly-tying goal was lofty but within reach. He’s striving to tie 100 dozen flies before the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. In their fishing business, Just Fishin’ Guides, clients can go through flies as fast as kids open Christmas presents. Richards figures theyuse 500 to 700 flies in a year.

That could thin a billfold in a hurry if they bought flies at a store, but the cost is measured in pennies when they make their own.

Sometimes tying a fly is faster than buying one. Richards took a whopping 15 seconds to tie a scud, an aquatic insect imitation that works year-round for trout below Beaver Dam.

They’re among the easiest flies to tie.

“A scud is basically just a hook with some thread wound around it,” said Richards, of Bentonville.

In the seconds it took to wind some tan thread around a hook shank, he tied a fly that might cost a buck or more at a store.

Scuds, sowbugs and woolly buggers appear as meat and potatoes to trout. All are simple to tie. Warm-water game fish are also apt to pounce a woolly bugger or another easily-tied fly, the Clouser minnow.

A Clouser is deadly for white bass during their spawning run from Beaver Lake up the White and War Eagle rivers. Trout go for them, too. Hoyt and Richards tied a few Clouser minnows at their Saturday morning tying bee.

All these are worked beneath the surface where fish get most of their food. Dry flies, or flies that float on top, can be harder to make. Hoyt and Richards use them less.

Wet flies, ones that sink, get the call most often.

There’s no better season than winter to learn the craft of fly tying. Picture yourself by the fireplace, wood stove or in a warm kitchen tying flies while the snow piles up.

There’s no greater satisfaction in fishing than catching a trout or bass on a lure you’ve made yourself. Richards and Hoyt have some tips for getting started.

Buy the basics

Both said that investing in quality tools is worth the cost.

You’ll need a fly-tying vise to hold the hook, at least one bobbin for winding thread and scissors for trimming. In their view, fly-tying kits that include everything should be avoided. “In my experience, the all-in-one kits don’t cut it,” Richards said. “You get subpar tools and materials. If you buy subpar stuff you won’t enjoy it and you won’t stay with it.”

A quality vise is ultra important, he said, “because every fly you tie goes through that vise.

Personally, I would recommend buying the best quality vise you can aff ord.”

Scissors made for fl y tying are the second most important investment, Hoyt said, because they’re shaped to get into tight spaces to trim properly.

A good bobbin holds a spool of thread securely but is easy to wind.

Their advice is to visit a fl y fishing shop and tell the clerk what you’re looking for.

The cost of materials is recouped quickly as anglers tie their own flies. “At two or three bucks a fly, you tie a few fl ies and you’ve paid for everything,” Richards said.

Fly tying lessons help

“It’s like taking a guided fishing trip. It greatly reduces your learning curve,” Hoyt said.

Attending a fly fishing expo is a good move. Most feature well-known tyers making their favorite flies.

“At these shows you can actually sit by the fly tyer, watch them and ask questions,” Hoyt added.

There’s a wealth of fly tying books, videos and magazines.

Fly tying demonstrations can be seen on YouTube.

Go big

New tyers should start with big flies for starters, then work to the smaller stuff. Small flies for trout include scuds, sowbugs and midges. Hoyt and Richards prefer these in a size 16 or 18, about the size of a rice grain.

Sometimes it takes an even smaller fly to get a bite. Other times the guides cast the big stuff .

“We do mainly trout, but when you do bass or saltwater you might tie flies that are five or six inches long,” Richards said.

Hoyt added, “Below Bull Shoals Dam they go after big trout with 5- or 6-inch crank baits. You can tie big flies that work like those.”

Richards said, “You can let your imagination run wild.

You can tie up squid patterns, all kinds of bait fish. I’ve tied a plastic worm pattern for bass that I’ve been tying for 15 years.

You can mimic any insect or any bait fish.”

There’s no need for perfection. A ratty-looking fly may work better than a flawless one, Richards said.

Both offered a word of warning: When it comes to fly tying, it’s easy to get carried away.

“It turns into a sickness and you can get too much stuff ,” Hoyt said.

Richards testified, “I could open up a fly shop with all the stuff I’ve got.”

It’s hard to beat a comfortable chair at the kitchen table, a hot cup of java and a fly-tying session on a wintry Saturday morning. Next week, we’ll see how the flies they tied this day work on the trout below Beaver Dam.

Community, Pages 12 on 01/19/2011