The Tyers Bench

This is a guest post by Brent Reece who writes on his own blog Aroostook Flyers & Tyers

For hundreds of years we humans have been tying and trying to fool trout and other species with strange concoctions of feather and fur. In the last few decades we have created synthetic materials to enhance this foolery. Things that sparkle more, like estaz and flashabou. To stronger threads made from Kevlar. One of the latest things is the use of cyanoacrylate (super) glues. Then there’s the use of “foam” to make the creations naturally buoyant. Saving us from using “floatant” and making our time on the water more productive.

Floatant is still the order of the day for classic dry flies. All of which use more hackle than hair. Making them more prone to wetting than hair wings. Some of these old patterns are giving way to new hybrid tyes using synthetics to eliminate the need to seal the flies. But flies like the Humpies if tyed with good deer hair will float on their own. The Quills and the Hendrickson’s are floatant loving as they have always been. All of the hackled flies are doomed to need floatant. Especially the smaller ones in 18 to 24,that hangs in the surface film.

I have fallen for the foams with a leaden heart. Dropping long and hard into the abyss. The colors are limitless and the ease of use makes it natural to tye a beetle, hopper or a bee. The gartside bugs are terrific catchers of bass and trout. The Chernobyl ant is infamous on western streams. Ladybugs and frogs materialize in the vise almost routinely. The possibilities are endless. All of these are easily tyed by the most inexperienced of tyers. So it is an easy product to use, which allows the tyers more freedom of expression.

My own experiences have taught me to use the foam as a really cool format to create some very realistic flies. I am such a believer in the foam that I have gone on the record online and elsewhere to promote it as the next best improvement. Super glues are right there and have made it possible to use the foam in more tyes than ever possible before. The standard 2mm crafters foam is the basis of most of my designs. But there are also foam blocks to turn and carve to create intricately shaped bodies. Creating grasshoppers so truly dimensional that they come to life when legs and wings are added.

Go online to “Google” and punch in the words ” Foam Flies 2007″ and see where you end up. Try “2008″ as well. The folks over at North American Fly Fishing Forum have hosted foam swaps the last two years in a row. Miss Joni Tomich has hosted the last one. A truly topnotch tyer and guide in Utah. If you think the tyers are limited, that swear by the use of foam. Then you need to “google” it and see who is writing about it.

Even though the dry flies of old are getting reworked to include foam. The intent is clearly to create flies that don’t need floatant and are very realistic. Some of the new flies could only be made using foam. Look at flies like the Gartside Gurgler, the Chernobyl Ant, and the Boiler Maker. All foamed flies that lead this new generation of tyes. But there are other innovations than foam that have hit the bench in the last few years.

Among these new materials are things like Prismatic Tubing, Second Skin tubing, Scud-back, and Holographic tubing. All of these things are freeing the minds of tyers, to create more and more realistic flies. More realistic patterns like; minnows, scuds, nymphs and more than a few reworked classics.

It is a bright new day in the world of tying. A new generation of tyers being drawn to the art through the simplification of tying on one hand. With the realism movement pushing the other end to create such “Mona Lisa” flies. Some are so real that they appear to fly from the vise. But always present is the art of the tyer, the eye of the naturalist, the Thoreau in us all. Our weakness is to capture the image of creation to draw us closer to the creator of all things. To somehow grasp even for a moment the joy and the frustration God has felt over all that he has created in and through us. That is truly the definition of art. Creating for the sake of creating, and embodying the best and most beautiful aspects of all that we know and see.

In a world where darkness surrounds us all of our days, flytying and flyfishing are beacons of light in that darkness. A truer, clearer, more focused life. A life of skill based examples. What are you good at? What motivates you? A belief in good and God will guide you through the people you meet and know. But “FLY” will show you your place in the world and how to express love and care in a soulful way. To understand the way of the fly is to understand that we are the children of the creator. It is our job to care for his garden. To mow the lawn, pull the weeds, and shepherd the flocks. To see the beauty he gave us and to understand our place in this life and to know true Peace. Peace and contentment are cornerstones of faith. Peace in knowing who we are, where we come from and where we are going. The continuity of life is that answer. Perspective gives us peace.

So the next time you are on the water. Think about all of that. But also think to yourself…how can I tye that on my bench, and you will.

© Brent Reece 2009