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For many anglers, winter is a slow time of year, and this is especially true for most fly fisherman. When waters get high due to rain or melt off, a lot of us get stuck inside, with not a whole lot to do. Unless of course, you tie.

Fly tying is a great way to spend those cold, rainy winter days when water is too high for good fly presentation (or any other day you can’t spend on the water but thoughts of fish consume your thoughts). Getting started can be relatively inexpensive, too. Most fly shops and sporting goods stores that carry fly tying supplies will have all inclusive beginners sets (some will even include some basic materials) for $50-$90. You can also find these user friendly sets in catalogs like Cabela’s, or Bass Pro Shops, as well as well known fly shop catalogs such as The Fly Shop.

To get started, though, you really don’t need all the tools included in these kits. I like to keep things simple. So for me, the necessities of a basic fly tying set up include a vise, a few bobbins, scissors, a hair stacker, and a dubbing tool. Typical kits also include a whip finisher, a bobbin threader, different sized hackle pliers, and a bodkin. While some of these tools do come in handy, you really don’t need them to get started on tying the flies we all use the most. Although, a whip finisher can be necessary for some people, but there are a few knots that can be tied by hand that are fairly easy to learn.

Your vise is the most important part of the whole set up. I really recommend buying your tools individually, which costs a bit more, but you will have more control over the quality of tools you get, and you don’t get some of the stuff you don’t need. So first off, I highly suggest buying a rotary vise right off the bat. Almost every kit I’ve seen comes with a stationary vise, which is fine if you only plan on tying very basic flies forever. Once you get into tying more though, you are going to want the functionality of a rotary, so you might as well just go with that in the first place. For a good rotary you can spend anywhere from $50 to a couple hundred. DanVice makes a great choice for beginners and veterans alike at about $70. Really any vise will get you going, but the purpose of a rotary is to make tying at different angles very easy.

Next come the tools. Like I said, I like to keep things simple, but we’ll go over most of the tools you can buy, just in case you run into a situation where something else may come in handy. First off, scissors. Good scissors are important. With these, you really do get what you pay for, so I recommend spending a little more for the mid-high priced scissors. Montana Fly Co. and Dr. Slick make some great, long lasting scissors. The next tool is your hair stacker. There are a ton of different styles, but I suggest a brass or steel stacker. A few places sell wood ones, but I don’t feel these work as nicely as a metal one. The third thing on your list, but second most important, is the bobbin. This tool is what holds your spool of thread. Ceramic bobbins are really nice; smoother and more durable than metal ones, but any bobbin will work. As far as dubbing tools go, would go with a dubbing twister and a comb, any brand will do. For the rest of the tools, bodkin, whip finisher, hackle pliers and bobbin threader, just do a little research to see what each one does, and make your decision on whether or not to buy them based on what you find out.

Now we can talk materials. This is where you’ll want to take notes, as there are thousands of materials you can use to tie any fly ever made. You’re definitely going to need thread to tie anything. I recommend going to a local fly shop and having someone help you get set up with a few spools in the most common sizes and colors. Beyond that, you can look at fly recipes to figure out what to use for specific patterns. Then you have hooks, and weights. Buying hooks can look kind of confusing, but basically it just comes down to size and shape. If you know what size flies you want to tie, it’s really easy to figure out what hooks to buy. Brand, though, is big with hooks. I really like Tiemco, Dia-Riki, and Daiichi. Also Mustad, Gamakatsu, Umpqua, and Eagle Claw make great fly hooks. I especially like Gamakatsu octopus hooks for tying egg patterns or for using as stinger hooks on streamers, skaters, and some mice patterns. The weights (used for sub-surface flies) are really important too. For these, just look at the fly you want to tie to determine what to get.

The next subject is what goes onto the fly to make it look like it should. This list includes thousands of options from Deer and Elk hair, to guinea fowl feathers, tinsel to rabbit fur. Deciding what to buy can be very simple, if you know how to figure it out. First off, look at the flies you want to tie. Next, go online and type in the name of the fly on any search engine. Look for results that say something about instructions or recipes. These will give you every detail on the materials you will need, as well as step by step directions on how to tie the fly. YouTube can also be a great reference site for learning how to tie flies, since most people learn better when they can see what is going on.

The last thing you are going to want to buy is glue of some sort. I like normal head cement and Zap-a-Gap. The glue is used to make sure your knot at the head of the fly doesn’t come undone, and also to attach things like eyes, and sometimes wings.

So next time you’re sitting at home looking at swollen rivers and rain, do a little research and go buy yourself a tying set up. You’ll learn a lot about the flies we use and be better at identifying what to use while on the water, and most importantly, you’ll kill the boredom. Good luck and good fishing!

This may be surprising to most, but Battle Ground Lake holds some of the biggest bass in the state! For most people this is just a myth, but I have seen them with my own eyes cruising the shores! These big green elusive monsters have been ruling over this lake since way back when. In most cases these fish are dang near impossible to catch. Besides the tight line worm fishermen hooking onto, “the huge fish that snapped their line….”

Kyle With A Nice BG Lake Bass!

These fish are probably never even hooked. These fish have seen every lure in your resume. They have become so line shy that catching them is near impossible.   There is always a way though, you can trick any fish you want to catch. It’s going to take some time and a lot of effort but if you’re up to it, you can catch them.  Right now is the key time.  The water at Battle Ground Lake has reached critical temperature and these big elusive bass have begun to spawn.  The fish in the lake use deeper areas of the lake to spawn. They focus on finding deep shelves or even logs that they can have a safe spawning bed on.  The key to catching these fish is finding the beds, this is the hard part. Be patient and take your time, walking the shore of the lake is very easy. There is a trail all the way around the lake, so access to every angle is very easy. What you’re going to need to do to find these fish is cast and cast and then cast some more.  As you walk the shore about every 50 yards make casts out into the water in all angles. Keep repeating this all the way around the lake. There are a few lures that can work in this situation. My favorite is going to be a Jig with crawdad trailer. Work the jig extremely slow across the bottom, bouncing it off logs or any other structure underneath the water.  Move it slow with just slight twitches and pauses in between the twitches. What you’re doing is trying to locate a bed, by covering every inch of shoreline on the lake. Eventually if you’re lucky you will bring the jig across the bed of a weary largemouth. Even though these fish are so smart to lures and line, right now it doesn’t matter. These fish are in protecting mode! They are going to attack to kill anything that approaches or threatens their spawning bed.  The bass in this lake have reached peak sizes. Some of them have been said to top 10 pounds!!  Now that you’re done reading this article…what are you waiting for, get out there and break the Washington state record largemouth!

Marlin Lefever bassinpimp69