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Fly Swap

17K views 104 replies 13 participants last post by  1080tommy 
#1 ·
Since i see a lot of you are either starting out ( and quite well i must add) or seasoned tyers , i was wondering if any of you were up for a Fly Swap ? We do it all time out here in Colorado on the coloradofisherman.com forum ( im silent_light there ) with great success and enthusiasm.

http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/ ... ic=38674.0

For those of you unfamiliar with this, heres how it works :

We get 10-12 tyers signed up
We pick a Theme or Style to tie ( ie: favorite fly, caddis, parachutes, hopper-dropper..)
Then we normally tie 2 to 6 flies of a single ( or double) pattern for each of the other tyers. So if there were 10 signed up, each person would then tie 18 flies total ( or more)

The originator of the swap is the Swap Meister, and handles the collection and distribution of the flies. THis is normally done via mail. However, in the past, we have met on the river and swapped there.

We're in the midst of doing a "Best Fly This Year" swap over on coloradofisherman, where we're trading our best pattern of the past year. Mine is a killer wired caddis pupa, works everywhere there is a hungry fish - betting it would do great in the Driftless ( HINT HINT!!)



So, any of you up for having some good fun trading flies, tying ideas, etc ? Open to ALL abilities !

Jim
JW Custom Flies
Lakewood, Colorado
720 Vise - Pro Staff
http://www.fly-wheel.net
 
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#54 ·
These are my first attempts at tying flies for the swap or should I say this is my first fly ever. I am such a novice and just hope one of you guys has a use for this type of fly. I was looking at fly rods today and will be getting a setup before spring. I feel like a complete noob and the heads of my flies really look big but I guess as I tie, this will get better. Five down, 13 more to go!!!









 
#55 ·
TaterToT said:
Tom as a new fly junkie that has spent way to much time looking at flies, they look dam good for your first flies.
x2 I can definitely see how you transferred the techniques for tying hair jigs over to your flies, it looks like a nice little clouser variant.

And I really like the peacock herl wing, kind of similar to the fatal attractions I'm tying.
 
#56 ·
Thanks Tater. I had some ducks for you but sent them to navyfisher. I will have some pheasants toward the end of the season and if you want those let me know. I can get many pheasants pelts because my club has 55 gallon drums of them when I am there. I can just get a bag of them for the fly tiers on the board. It is pretty much the whole bird including tails, wing, breast, etc.

I saw a pattern for that clouser on youtube and it looks like a nice attractive pattern and was not too hard to tie. I am still having a little hard time when finishing but as I am going along, they are looking better. I just hope the guys in the fly swap find some use for them and catch a couple of fish!!!! :lol:
 
#58 ·
I am probably going to get a whipfinish tool but I am just too lazy to get one. I was just at Cabelas too!!!! :shock: I am done with 12 flies and have six more to go before I ship em out. This was a cool thing for me so far and I am getting better especially at making them look professionally finished.
 
#59 ·
I
Navyfisher said:
1080tommy said:
still having a little hard time when finishing
I learned how to hand finish, but doing it with the tool is faster and it only cost me 2 bucks off Ebay.
Navyfisher, do you use a materrelli? I know a ton of people do but for some odd reason I prefer a thompson style or hand whip finish.
 
#62 ·
So now that I got my a$$ in gear and have 18 flies tied, did we ever decided who is going to be the fly divider upper guy???? :lol: I am ready and have no problem sending the flies to CO and don't really care about the postage. Once I see how these are divided and who completed their 18 I can divide on the next fly swap. (That means we will be doing this again) :D :D :D I feel as if my tying skills really improved even with just these 18 simple minnows I did. Thanks for posting this and keeping it going JW!!!! Looking forward to what is in my return box.
 
#67 ·
Well the flies are out. I sent them UPS ground and just had them make out a return shipping label. I put some extra packing in the form of paper towels in the slots that were holding the flies because I dropped the box and one of the peacock hurls on one of the flies broke. Should be ok now and can't wait to see what comes back. Thanks for starting this thread, I feel like I learned a lot and became a better fly maker.
 
#69 ·
1080tommy said:
Well the flies are out. I sent them UPS ground and just had them make out a return shipping label. I put some extra packing in the form of paper towels in the slots that were holding the flies because I dropped the box and one of the peacock hurls on one of the flies broke. Should be ok now and can't wait to see what comes back. Thanks for starting this thread, I feel like I learned a lot and became a better fly maker.
SJS said:
Oh I forgot to mention for JW, the box I put my flies in seemed a little small. So just threw in an altoids box in case you could'nt get all those flies in the box I put my flies in.
THanks guys, ill keep an eye out for them !

1080Tommy - Recieved
SJS - Recieved
 
#70 ·
Sorry guys, I lost track of time, and this deadline snuck up on me. I only got 6 of the flies done. I'll offer to ship the six of them to JWCustomFlieas tomorrow morning to be distributed by him. Since I did not complete the project, I'll personally request that nothing be shipped back in return.
 
#71 ·
I lost track of the time too. I have around 6 flies done but i would be willing to finish all of them and send them friday or monday if u guys would like. I would for sure have them finished by then. If u guys don't want me to send them later I would be more then happy to join the next swap. Next time i would make sure to have all of them done.
 
#73 ·
Thanks for chiming in, was wondering ..lol

Ok, shall we give Charged, tallfishman, and wrenchin another week to finish up ? I know life happens, not a big deal, there's no huge rush.

Fellas ?

CMiller - i'll let ya know when they arrive !
 
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