Time.

[osprey]

I sat and tied flies all day yesterday , ended up with a few dozen of various patterns , some Adams , Caddis , Ants , Hendricksons , Nymphs and small Wooly Buggers. After tying a couple i got the idea to time myself , using my cell phone stop watch feature i timed myself the rest of the day and then averaged out all the times and came up with the fact that on average it takes me 15-20 minutes to tie a fly. These were all patterns that i intend to fish wih. My next step is going to be to see if i can cut the time by 5 minutes or so. Have any of you folks ever experimented with timing yourself and gaining improvement in that area? The actual average was 17:23.

 

[afishinado]

Osprey,

If the truth be known, many/most guys average 4 or 5 flies / hour when tying. It's really no big deal.

To speed up the process, I pick one fly to tie and lay out and/or prepare all the materials, hooks beads, etc. and focus on tying that one pattern. After tying a few, I seem to get in the groove and my proficiency/speed improves, as well, the flies seem to look better.

Like I said, it's no big deal....enjoy your time at the vise.

 

[Fishidiot]

What Afish said.

Back when I tied flies for a shop and actually hoped to make some money at it, of course time mattered. I'd actually tie flies in production steps. For example, if I had an order for 3 doz Muddler Minnows, I'd count out 3 doz hooks and put 'em in a separate container; next step would be to tie in the tail and ribbing on all 3 doz; then next step would be wing and so on; final step would be trimming all their heads. I never really tried timing myself to see if this sped things up but I thought it did.

 

[sniperfreak223]

Well, not including setup, it takes me about 3 minutes for a basic nymph like a hare's ear or PT and comparaduns, about 4 minutes for streamers, five minutes for hackled dries and more complex nymphs, and bass bugs are the bane of my fly-tying existence, averaging a little over ten minutes, as spun-and-clipped deerhair bodies are the thing I have the most trouble with, but those times are with a lot of practice with focus on speed and efficiency, as I generally don't have much time to tie flies.

 

[tocar]

"Mise en place". It's a culinary term for having all your ingredients ready for the task at hand. As Tom mentioned, it will cut time off tying each fly. It does require prep time ( sorting hackles to size, trimming excess fluff from feathers, putting beads on the hooks, etc), and then having everything laid out in order it will be tied on.

Another tip I picked up by watching pro tyers is to brush a dab of head cement onto the thread before whip finishing. Saves time trying to coat the head without getting cement on the feathers, and also keeps it out of the eye.

A recent thread on scissors shows some tyers don't like to hold them in their hand while tying. I learned early to keep them in my hand and you'd be suprised how much time this saves. Now if I could just get the hang of whip finishing with my fingers!

peace-tony c.

 

[MKern]

I used to be concerned about time. The only time I am now is when preping steelhead flies.


I get in my own way when it comes to speed tying.

First, I can't tie the same pattern more than 3 times without getting bored and moving on, or just shutting sown.

Second, I try and prefect every fly (to a tyer's standards not fishes'). This adds time.

Lastly, I have enough flies that I wouldn't have to tie for years. On top of that I don't lose many either. So, tying is a relaxing time now. (this is a huge contrast to my fishing style which is very aggressive)

 

[dryflyguy]

I look at tying as play time, and don't see any need to rush things.
I'm more concerned with making a fly that turns out just how I want it to be.

Although, I do think it's a good idea to tie at least 6-12 of a certain pattern at a sitting. Just because I kinda get on a bit of roll after tying a few up

 

[osprey]

Being fast at it is not important to me. I was just curious so i used my cell phone to do it and then used it to average out the times. Getting it right is what is important to me and i was satisfied with all of them or i would tear them down and start over , these all had to meet my own quality control standards. I use fly tying as therapy to relax , so speed is the last thing i worry about. We had a course at our Union Hall on fly tying and hired an instructor to come in and run a class for guys that were interested in learning , beginners. This instructor flew through things so fast i had to leave the room a couple times , he tied flies like he was posessed. I'm not going to go on about it but to say IT"S SUPPOSED TO BE FUN and enjoyable and it makes me a little angry to see stuff like that. This fellow does make his living doing this and maybe i should ease up but i find it difficult when my own feelings about all of it run so deep. Fly tying fly fishing and all that comes with it have evolved into what is my life and i guess i have ideas about how that should be conducted that i try to get others to see and understand. If at times i sound like an a-wad forgive me , i think i think i know what i'm doin.

 

[evw659]

I have timed myself a few times, with my new rotary vise i tied a simple honeybug in 40 seconds or so. on the other hand, when i tied a very heavily weighted, double hook helgrammite with 30 goose biots that i intended to use on a spinning rod (ended up being 4-5 inches long), took me 40 minutes at least.

 

[osprey]

Besides just timing myself yesterday i wanted to use that session to try and pay attention to how i go about doin what we do and i noticed something that i think will help all that don't do this already , here goes , i'm right handed so i have the bobbin in my right hand , i use a bobbin rest with places to hang the tools so i don't have far to reach , never learned to hold the scissors in my hand , anyhow , while trimming or cutting thread down close or any fine scissor work if you take your opposite hand , in my case the left , and steady it on the vise and then steady you trimming hand on it (the left hand) , it makes it much easier to do fine scissor work. Can you all get this the way i've described it? Do any do this already? If not does it help when you try it?

 

[evw659]

Besides just timing myself yesterday i wanted to use that session to try and pay attention to how i go about doin what we do and i noticed something that i think will help all that don't do this already , here goes , i'm right handed so i have the bobbin in my right hand , i use a bobbin rest with places to hang the tools so i don't have far to reach , never learned to hold the scissors in my hand , anyhow , while trimming or cutting thread down close or any fine scissor work if you take your opposite hand , in my case the left , and steady it on the vise and then steady you trimming hand on it (the left hand) , it makes it much easier to do fine scissor work. Can you all get this the way i've described it? Do any do this already? If not does it help when you try it?

I think i know what you mean, sounds like a good idea, much easier than trying to keep your right hand steady not rested on anything and cut something. You mention holding holding the scizzors in your hand, do you mean holding them from start to finish of the fly? if so make sure you dont forgot that they're in youre hand. if you have scizzors that have a sharp tip, (like dr slicks), and you go to wipe your nose or whatever, youll swipe the tip of the scizzors across your face, and, well, not pretty. May sound difficult do to but trust me, once you do it once, youll learn to keep your scizzors out of your hand for long periods of time.

 

[MKern]

I think coming up with your own techniques and not necessarily following someone elses instructions in a book will shed some minutes.

I think the biggest way to save time while tying is being able to correct mistakes or equipment/material malfunctions without having to start over.