Am I anal or what?

[flyfishwithme]

I was sitting down tonight tying up a whole new box of 'spiders' for next season (actually about 500 in total) and I was thinking to myself.
I am pedantic when I tie a fly. If I feel that half way through it will not meet my high standard, then I start again. Even after I have finished I will scrutinise i in detail and again discard it if I am not satisfied.
So what I end up with is a bunch of flies that meet my exacting standards. They all look the same when I pick through them.
So why is it when I get to the water and select a fly I pick through all of these same flies to try and find that single fly which I think is better than the rest but in fact is exactly the same?
Am I anal about this or do you guys do the same thing?
Tonight I am tying up 30 Winged Greenwell's spiders if you are interested.

[tie2fish]

I think many of us are "anal" in this same fashion to one extent or another. Perhaps it's the artist in us that causes us to rarely be completely satisfied with what we produce?

[flyfishwithme]

I think you are right.
But I do find that a chewed up not quite right fly out fishes the perfect one so what am I worrying about.
I must be going mad. Perhaps I should just bang the flies together and be satisfied. The fish are.
So I am 'anal'. Oh woe is I, I am chasing that infernal rainbow.
Enough musings now and back to 'banging' a few more of those Greenwells' together.

[daringduffer]

Everything worth doing is worth doing as well as one can. I don't believe that you are tying for the fish - you are tying for somebody else. Nothing was ever good enough for my mother unless she did it herself. I've been struggling all my life to feel that what I do is good enough. It took me fifty years to get there, but I still hate to be scrutinized. Since I have flies from your vice I can attest to their perfection...

dd

[William Anderson]

I feel that way about what goes in the box. I also tie a lot of stuff that's original to me, new mixes of materials and proportions. I have a slew of flies, tied well that didn't make the final design and don't reach the box. It's silly to me, but I don't put them in the box unless I have 5 for the box and 7 in reserves to reload the box. And they need to be consistent so I end up counting wraps to achieve that, which is somehow more important than whether or not one with a full hackle or thinner thorax would make any difference on the stream. I'm afraid it's incurable. Fine with me, except the ones that don't make it are lined up in boxes, not good enough to give away and not consistent enough to take along.

On the other hand, I've seen a lot of your flies and if you happen to find a few that dont meet your standard...I have a place in my box for them.

w

[daringduffer]

I don't strive to use the most efficient fly to catch me fish. I want to use the most beautiful fly that can get me a fish or two. I want to enjoy it all, not just the catching. I'm no "real" hunter or fisherman. I just want to enjoy life.

dd

[narcodog]

I would say you guys do have a problem. The only time I get really serious about how my flies look is when I am in a swap or I am gonna give them away. I can't afford to just keeping to strip hooks just so the fly looks perfect.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I don't have that problem at all. I can sit down and dress a dozen flies, especially flies I'm very familiar with, without seeking perfection, and find that they are identical. I think muscle memory takes over and makes the appropriate number of wraps of thread, hackle, dubbing, whatever.

I'm also a believer that a beautiful fish deserves a beautiful fly. Trout are definately a beautiful fish.

REE

[Roadkill]

I am more of the LaFontaine tying mindset, as Gary said about tying "Ugly is better".

If I haven't tied for a while and my first few ties aren't up to par that's OK. They go in my box at the end of the row and are my sacrificial flies. The first fly I tie on for that cross stream cast sweeping under the log jam where I know that either a big fish is waiting or I am giving the fishing gods a fly buried in an underwater log. But then I am only fishing for the dumb trout that don't care for my imperfect fly. Besides my fishing buddy only ties rows of perfect flies if i really need one.

[willowhead]

Fantastic thread.............and i thought i was nutz! ............yeah yeah yeah, i know............... bottom line, i think the answer to your question is, "or what?" .....here's a little fly i tyed the other day for Misa's box for Slovenia in June........hopefully she'll take a nice Marble Trout with it. i just got home from Walmart, and while i was gone she took a bunch of pics "Before" i could make sure to do last minute adjustments and angling for the pics.....so, in this case, i didn't get a chance to put the fly in a clip as i had planned, so you could see the hook well. It's one of those Dohiku hooks size 10. The tail and collar are from the same Magellam Goose feather. Point is........this fly will never be tyed again i wouldn't think.........life's just to short. Not to mention i only have a very limited number of these feathers and even fewer in this size. Trust me, i'm as anal as they come........but, like i said, life's just to short.