Donation? Flies only a mother (or father) could love

[Dean Y.]

Does anyone know of a worthy cause that would have some use for "ugly" looking flies? Kid's fly fishing lessons, etc? Don't worry. I'll be sure to save some for my kids! :)

The "uglies" are my first tying attempts. At this time they are wooly bugger variations. But, I'm sure I'll have lots more in the future :o.

I checked the archives but did not see anything specific and a couple possibilities were rather old.

Thanks.

[Ed Wahl]

Don't worry about ugly buggers. The fish will eat 'em anyway.

It seems that the more tore up they get from use, the better they work.

Ed

If they really bug you, just use a razor and cut the material off the hook and re-tie.

[JD]

If the flies are as bad as you say, why don't you just reclaim the hooks and practice until you are happier with the end result? Just take an Xacto or snap blade knife (Olfa), and carefully shave off the materials and retie until you get it "right." There are lots of organizations that need flies, but typically tiers save their _best_ work for them, not their worst. You can even keep the old hooks for future experimentation, if you end up with too many to retie. Consider it the equivalent of an artist reusing a canvas...

[Dean Y.]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think what the flies in question suffer from are problems with proportion. They actually look ok, but the marabou tails are longer than what seems to be spec. And, the hackle is on the long side. That is, the hackle is 2x or so the gape of the hook. The probable result of purchasing economy feathers that were more functional for practice in my application.

I should apologize. To be honest, I wasn't trying to get rid of some hideous looking flies - although that's what my original message communicated. I had already taken a knife to those really horrible ones.

Nonetheless, I get JD's point about donating the best I can produce, which will probably won't be for some time... :) So far, I'm having lots of fun. It appears that I can easily tie more than I need so I'll donate some of my best in the future. Thanks.

ps.
The one part that can probably called "ugly" are my whip finishes. They aren't so hot.



If the flies are as bad as you say, why don't you just reclaim the hooks and practice until you are happier with the end result? Just take an Xacto or snap blade knife (Olfa), and carefully shave off the materials and retie until you get it "right." There are lots of organizations that need flies, but typically tiers save their _best_ work for them, not their worst. You can even keep the old hooks for future experimentation, if you end up with too many to retie. Consider it the equivalent of an artist reusing a canvas...

[Ed Wahl]

Just keep at it bud, sooner or later your standards will drop and they'll all be good flies. :nod:

Oops, did I say that out loud? :o

Seriously though, the more you tie the better they get.

The whip finish takes some practice, how are you doing it, by hand or a tool.

Ed

[OceanSunfish]

Salvage the hooks on flies that are really really bad...... where the hooks are not so fine that they bend from the destruction.....

Otherwise, keep them in the box labled: "Use when nothing else works...." OR "Use when the fishing is so good that I want to find out what DOESN'T work".

One other thing.... If the colors are bright enough on the buggers, you could use them for shad as a dropper.... <grin>