# I have tied my first fly! pics inside



## Ray Adams (Feb 17, 2006)

Justin,

I heard a good idea the other day for legs. You can go to a regular bait and tackle store and buy spinner bait skirts and cut them up for legs. 

Also, as far as fur goes, I'd definitely hold out for the good stuff. If you are tying comparaduns, buy comparadun hair. If you are tying caddis, buy caddis hair. The tips are different lengths for different purposes. You can't use something like bucktail for comapraduns - it just ends up looking funny.


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## Dave (Mar 31, 2000)

I have been using bait skirts as legs for years. They look good and work good. My buddies thought I was nuts until they used them..


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## Flyfisher101 (Feb 12, 2012)

Justin.B said:


> I have tied my first fly.. an Elk Hair caddis.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! I watched a video on youtube, tied one fly, and didn't even need to refer back to the video after the first one!


For your first tie thats pretty damn good! I wish my first ones looked half that good. One thing I like to do when I tie a new fly for the first time or even just check every once in a while is a float test. I just use a clear plastic cup with water and drop it in. See how it floats. See which way it leans or sinks and keep adjusting the pattern on the next fly until I'm happy with how it sits on the water. That fly will catch fish for sure tho, congrats and welcome to the addiction.


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## Justin.B (Jan 4, 2013)

Here is one of my latest... First fly of this pattern.. Let me know what you guys think. It's a bluegill pattern called a bully's spider.. I also just picked up a bunch of materials now do I should be tying some more caddis and hoppers.


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Sweet!

Personally I prefer to have legs horizontal for a better profile, providing it floats. I'm not versed in that pattern. In that tying style it must push lots of water. Pink is the cat's ass for panfish! I've used pink candy and it out fished minnows 

I love rubber legs! They're the main ingredient of my most producing bugs (but much larger, like 2/0) :lol:

Looks like you're off to a good start! All of us started somewhere. I quit using existing pattern guides and used what I had and work with them. Many are deadly and will out fish the originals. (That's with dumb fish....lol)

Enjoy your new hobby!

(Start thinking about skins) There's a bunch of options within each critter.


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## Justin.B (Jan 4, 2013)

Shoeman said:


> Sweet!
> 
> Personally I prefer to have legs horizontal for a better profile, providing it floats. I'm not versed in that pattern. In that tying style it must push lots of water. Pink is the cat's ass for panfish! I've used pink candy and it out fished minnows
> 
> ...




Yeahhh I would do that but the weight of this fly is in the back making it drop through the water column vertically.. So the legs will be horizontal although they don't look like it


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Gotcha! 

Makes sense, much like a parachute with the majority underwater!

Cool!


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## Justin.B (Jan 4, 2013)

Shoeman said:


> Gotcha!
> 
> Makes sense, much like a parachute with the majority underwater!
> 
> Cool!



Haha don't get me wrong I'm no expert I haven't even been able to fish this pattern yet but that's the logic behind it I guess. Whatever works!


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Justin.B said:


> Haha don't get me wrong I'm no expert I haven't even been able to fish this pattern yet but that's the logic behind it I guess. Whatever works!



no, no it makes perfect sense!

Never thought about using that tying technique for gills. Wow! 

Killer!!!


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