# Tying tips for my 12 year old?



## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I bought my 12 year old son a fly fishing rod and reel combo for his birthday in November. He immediately made good on learning how to cast and had caught his first bluegill by night fall. 










So for Christmas, I bought him a fly tying kit and a desk with drawers and shelving to set up his tying area. I don't think he's came out of the basement since he opened it. He has tied a few with the materials that came with the kit, as well as duck feathers that I have been saving for him from my hunts. His goal is to become good enough that he can sell some of his work to fund better gear. 

This boy is my clone. Out of three boys, he is the only one with the same drive for the outdoors that I've always had. He counts on me to show him how to learn everything outdoors, and up until now I've done pretty well doing so. However here's the issue... I'm not a fly fisherman, never have been, or have ever really wanted to. So I'm not much help. 

Do any of you have any advice or tips for a motivated 12 year old? I told him that I would research and watch some YouTube videos and we could learn together. The fly tying interests me, but honestly the fly fishing doesn't really. He's interested in both and I'd love to see him do well. 

What materials should he be sure to keep handy? Any recommended videos for him to watch? Basic patterns. Must have tools? 

I'll let him read this post as answers come in. I'll also get some pictures of what he's done so far and let you guys critique for him. 

Thanks in advance!


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

Like the orvis Facebook page. They put up a lot of tying videos and tips on both casting and tying. All of which can also be found on youtube. If you live near Columbus or Cleveland, Orvis and Mad River outffiters often offer free tying classes. I'm sure the other local Cleveland area shops do also. Bass Pro also has free classes. 

I buy most of my tying material from mad river. They offer free shipping for orders above $25. Sign up for the orvis mailing list. They send out $25 coupons off $50 purchases a couple times a year which is a great way to stock up on supplies. Also once he figures out how materials are used their catalog is great inspiration for tying flies.




Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Some of the easier patterns are woolly- buggers, woolly- worms, cats whisker, green weenies, and marabou clousers. ( even I can ty those) All are very good fish catchers also.
You- tube is definitely the place to start and he can probably learn everything he needs to know there.
Keep it simple for a while and have fun, some of your first flies may not look perfect but they will still catch fish.
Good luck and Good Fishing !


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Around here wolly worms, wolly buggers, hares ear nymphs, squirrel tail nymphs will cover most bluegill fishing. As he gets better l would introduce him to tying topwater poppers and spiders. Getting components around here can be a pain. I would suggest getting a Janns netcraft catalog to get them shipped tyd.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Here's what he did while I was at work today...


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## wannabflyguy (Aug 21, 2014)

I just started tying a couple years ago and everything these guys above have mentioned has proven true. I am constantly online watching tying videos including utube. A free tying class at one of the retail locations listed above does well. I attended one at field and stream and it was there that I finally realized most flies are tied with just a small handful of colors so you don't need to go crazy buying every color of every material you find. I have also came to the conclusion that less is usually best. Examples: 1). start with less dubbing than you think you need, you can always add more. 2)Use less soft hackle than you think you need. You don't need to wrap a hackle collar around the hook shank 5 times and it seems to me that less hackle on a fly catches more fish anyways. 3) just get enough thread on the hook to secure it and don't crowd the eye. You don't have to cover the entire hook with lots of thread to make an effective fly. 
And last but not least, try to tie at least 3 in a row of the same fly. When doing this I find that the second is better than the first and my third is better than the second, and so on...

Oh yeah, I hated dubbing in the beginning. If dubbing is tough for you as well learn to use a dubbing loop and be sure to get some dubbing wax. Once I discovered ultra fine dry fly dubbing I used it almost exclusively because it was so easy to wrap on some thread. You can get a small box of this with 8-10 of the most popular colors pretty cheap so I recommend it as well. 

The guys above probably have much more experience than I do so in the best interest of the new guy if any of you disagree with what I am saying please speak up.


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## ckfowler (Jul 14, 2008)

Great advice so far, do the class and then pick a fly and tie them till you see it in your sleep! Wooly buggers, some with cones and without, hare's ears, start size 10 and tie a dozen or more each size down to 16. Do the same with pheasant tails, tie clousers till the heads are smaller than the barbells 4, 6, 8. Minimal investment in materials and these are flies that trout and panfish folks alike will buy.


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## OnTheFly (Jul 30, 2010)

yeah videos area a huge help. I really just got into tying myself the past year and a half and youtube has probably helped more than anything

In terms of materials look up a fly you want to tie and get the materials to tie a couple dozen of them. For me it has helped to find a fly i really like and tie a bunch of them to master it. I started with clousers and have version to catch everything from bass to carp to crappie to pike/musky.

Eventually you will build up enough materials doing this to tie a bunch of different stuff. I started with clousers (a great base pattern that you can modify with dif. materials, sizes, etc.) and then went to deceivers, and so on.


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

You and the others definitely have him on the right track. I will say keep it simple as long as you can. If you see a pattern you want to tie, just buy the materials for that pattern. Some kits are available that let you tie a dozen of one fly complete with materials, hooks, beads, whatever. They are great as a start.

I want to share a pattern that is fun to tie and catches many fish. I fished a half day with Andrew Grillos outside Seattle. He took me to some water with resident trout and armed with a 3 wt fiberglass rod and his "Fat Caddis" pattern I landed over 2 dozen trout. Biggest was 17" so needless to say I was hooked.

I went to his website to get the recipe and showed my 8 YO daughter to tie it. She loved it and tied a few. We took it to the local pond next day and she banged a dozen bluegill with it in an hour or so on her 4 wt. She was catching bluegill on surface so well a few of the other anglers started tossing their bobbers with worms next to her fly. This fly outfished them still. We tied it on size 14 hooks for gills. Here is the youtube example of the fly;





I guess your son is on his way to a fine addiction. You are a lucky man.
Rickerd


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

One other tip now that I see your flies. I see you are using soft hackles a bit. The fibers on soft hackles tend to stick together not like dry hackles that flare out. You want to use softhackles for your underwater flies as you have. Here is a trick I use to get the soft hackle fibers to separate.

Before you tie in your SH feather, hold the feather at the top concave toward your eye. I am right handed, and I tear off the fibers on the right side of the feather. Now take the triangle at the tip and tie it on the hook, trim the top excess. Now wrap your feather over the top of the hook 4 - 7 times laying each layer behind the last, until you get enough fibers. Then a few wraps to tie it on and then you can build your head over top. This will allow the fibers to "swim" in the water which is killer for softhackle patterns.

Isn't fly tying a great way to pass the Winter?!

Rickerd


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Thank you. I will have him read these when I get home later. He's been keeping his tying area more neat than he keeps his room. Haha


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

Wow I wish my space was that nice. Great job with the light background also.


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## Crawdude (Feb 6, 2013)

He's well on his way! He'll be a master before he knows it. My advice is don't sweat following recipes exactly, just substitute for what you have on hand. Done be afraid to be creative. Tie as much as possible, he'll figure out what he needs to work on once he gets more experience under his belt. If he's on Instagram, search the hashtag #flytying and follow tiers who whip up stuff he thinks looks cool.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

He says thank you all for the replies and advice. He said he would take a picture of more.of his progress for me to post.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

He wanted me to post these pictures too. I can't send them via pm , so I'll post them here. OGF member AnthHol had some materials, hooks , and tools that he wasn't using and sent them to Hunter in an extremely nice gesture. He messaged me with his intentions , but I didn't tell Hunter until it showed up in the mail addressed to him today. There was a lot of good stuff in the box and he was ecstatic.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Notice the piece of foam in the background. My grandmother just got a new TV and asked me to hook it up. That piece of foam was packing in the TV box. We were throwing them away today when Hunter saw it and stopped me. He said "wait, that's not trash, that's a fly holder! " Haha


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## AnthHol (Jul 24, 2007)

Awesome. Glad he was happy to get them and I'm sure you guys will put them to good use. Tight lines guys


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## PACC (Mar 4, 2010)

Hi,
A great site for someone new is http://www.flyanglersonline.com/. If you go to the side menu and select the drop down for "Fly Tying" you'll see everything you need. They have Basic/Intermediate and Advanced sections. And the SHWAPF fly really catches fish too! Good luck!


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## Bassbully 52 (Feb 25, 2014)

Great job Dad! My father started me on flyrod and tying when I was his age and it was a bond we kept forever. YouTube is your friend these days, want to learn a patterns ..YouTube, castin? ,YouTube. Kids today have it all at their finger tips...glad to see him so excited about fly fishing and fishing period. There are also classes and clubs to consider.


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## Deadeyedeek (Feb 12, 2014)

Bassbully 52 said:


> Great job Dad my father started me on flyrod and tying when I was his age and it was a bond we kept forever. YouTube is your friend these days, want to learn a patterns ..YouTube, castin? ,YouTube. Kids today have it all at their finger tips...glad to see him so excited about fly fishing and fishing period. There are also classes and clubs to consider.


Beaver, send me hunters adress and will send him a vise I dont us anymore, would love to see him get it.cool to see the passion and interest..DD


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## david tennant (Mar 17, 2016)

Josh, get him some bucktail, some schlappen, saddle hackle, and some #2-2/0 stinger hooks then look up hollow fleyes. I use them on our waters and destroy the smallies. Also the near nuff sculpin and crayfish. Get a hold of me soon I've got some fly tying videos I know he'd love.


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## Bassbully 52 (Feb 25, 2014)

I think trying rubber spiders and crickets are pretty easy. You can tie them small enough for trout and bluegill all the way up to large enough for bass. You can also get creative with them and tie them all kinds of ways.


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