I’ve finally crossed that point as a fly-caster where it makes much more sense to tie my own flies than to buy ‘em. There are a few reasons for that.
First of all, I’m still a horrible angler, but I don’t lose as many flies as I used to. I still have four or five bury themselves in my clothing, or even my skin, every time I go fishing, but at least I don’t lose ‘em.
I don’t know what’s worse – losing a fly you paid good money for, or losing one you put your own effort into at the vise. Either way, it’s tough to stomach.
And flies are getting more expensive. A couple of weeks ago, I paid two-fifty for a girdle-bug. Two-fifty for a girdle-bug? Crikey. How much money do you think actually goes into one of those? My guess is about 22 cents.
In the hope of reminding myself of the importance of making good casts, I started shouting out the amount of money I spent on the fly when it gets hung up or pops off the line. On my last fishing trip, I took it a step further and added up the total amount for the day, and I called out the accumulated total the river had swallowed up. It was really disconcerting how quickly I got to ten bucks.
I’m sure I won’t lose fewer flies if I start tying my own again, but at least I’ll be losing money in installments of dimes, or maybe quarters, rather than whole dollars.
