do you guys/gals have boxes, bowls, bags that you throw your "not up to par" flies into?
I have realized that the box and bowl and bag i have used are pretty much full .... ill bet there are over 300 flies in them...some are trial and error flies, some are fished and tossed in..most are ones i've tied and am just not that happy with...
My buds come down now and rummage through my bowls etc. and take um, which is fine...sometimes i have a customer who is new or teaches kids fly fishing and i give a bunch to them....
I guess this happens as you progress in tying....i have filled so many of my boxes and when i go back and look at some of them they get regulated to the bowl to make room for new ones i'll eventually be dissatisfied with as well....
That is great! I do the same thing, except mine is a big mason jar so the dogs can't get at them. Each winter I add to the jar by doing exactly what you do, looking for flies to toss so I can tie more, and the same in summer for steelhead flies. Also empty the pouch under my vise into a waste can. Our street looks like a vegas nightclub when I finally empty that into the trash bin and the trash truck comes, because the feathers go airborne and our street is full of marabou, schlappen, hackle, and hairs that are every color of the rainbow.
Most of mine have a late night encounter with a razor blade...and then, like the Phoenix, are reborn into something new...that again meets the razor. Circle of life.
No matter how many flies I have in a box I seem to fish the one I most recently tied. I usually only fish them a couple times before new ones are added and they slowly shuffle through the box and eventually get purged into another big box at home. Someday I'll have the courage to take a razor to them...
Yeah, I have my "unwanted" tubs
I razor only the vintage irons, the others are gifts on the river to other spey guys or my river brother Jimmy
I often send these flies out when I sell something here in the Classifieds, I drop a couple or three in the envelope or package.
I give mine away to friends who don't tie and love crappy flies for bass and pan fish fishing. It's cool..."here, have a handful"...no charge. They love it.
I tie a lot of flies that are probably good enough to fish, but are not what I'd want to show another angler. I put them in several small chewing tobacco plastic boxes (I'd never use that nasty stuff, but the boxes can be washed out), labeled by seasonal use, such as Winter/Spring Unweighted. I call these my Cannon Fodder flies. They are used in situations where I'm too likely to snag and lose a good fly.
Hello.. When you search the world over for Norwegianmade Mustad hooks, or Englishmade Partridge hooks, hoover around for THOSE special materials sourced from anywhere, spend umpteen hours behind the vise dressing flies, some nice and some ugly and finally end up giving the best ones away for free at the river or lake.... So those real giveaway flies end up in MY boxes... You must be kinda stupid, not?? Yours borano20
Yes I do. Sometimes I go through my wallets/boxes and have a good cull session where I make room for new flies I want to tie. There is always a beginner or someone that doesnt have a million flies that is pumped for the culls.
When I started fly fishing I didn't tie but had a friend and mentor who did. He gave me some of his "reject" flies and I bought a few too at the local tackle shop. I had maybe 12 flies in a single small cortland box and caught plenty of fish with those flies. They were treasures to me. I try to remember that and pass on my "unwanted" flies.
My Girls & all the grand kids live in Texas & have no clue as to Grampaw's skill, or lack there of, at the vise. One of these days I'll make up some artistic displays of some of these no longer used flies, including some of the better ones that have suffered the indignity of broken points, & send them to Texas.
Ha!! I have more in those bowls than I do in my fly boxes. I'm not the greatest tier and don't have much patience, so recipe for disaster, but I do enjoy it. Sometimes I try dismantling them to save the hook, but I usually end up throwing them in the garbage. And out I go and buy more hooks, materials , etc,, and the cycle continues!
Some get the razor.
Some sit in my fly box forever, until I go through and chuck them in the garbage.
Bigger winter flies get used off the jetty for rockfish.
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