I just finished my first fly order. I got this order due to a friend in Idaho and the client knew exactly what they wanted and I am sure he will be pleased. It is 85 flies in total. I got the order on Sunday and finished it Tuesday night. He gave me 2 weeks to finish and I felt obligated to finish them ASAP, so he would see that I was not wasting anytime and hopefully make another order. I had so much fun doing this order! Since I do not get to go fishing very often I am excited that someone can get some use out of my flies. I made him promise to send me pics of fish caught!! I would never tell him but I would have tied these for free since I love to do it and it fills my day. Well maybe not for free but at least replace the materials. I have literally thousands of flies just chilling waiting for the day to hit the water. He asked what I had in stock but I told him that didn't matter cause he gave me the 2 week window if I didn't have in stock. I just didn't want to send him what I already had tied for the fact I wanted to challenge myself in getting an order done. I wanted to tie for a purpose for once rather then just grabbing flies that were already done and shipping. That might sound weird to some of you but being my first order I wanted it to be a challenge and prove I can get something done quickly, not just to the customer but to myself. Here is the whole order completed! I use this box to hold all my flies I am tying at the moment. This box has touched every fly that I have tied.
I tied a couple dozen brassies in red and green. He wanted just conventional brassies in size 16 and 18.
He also wanted some foam stoneflies. He gave me his specs and also the freedom to tie a couple different colors in the hair and the foam. I did a couple in extended bodies as well.
I tied a dozen PMD's in multiple sizes. Here is a couple that I did.
These are called foam mighty mouses. He just wanted 2 so he can try them out.
These are a take on the original Stayner Ducktail. I have tied the originals in the past and he wanted an updated version. I used a blue flash body and a flash tail.
These are a standard bead scud but he wanted a pink upper bead and to use a dubbing material that had flash. This is what I came up with.
He wanted some floating buggers for bass. These are in essence just a gurgler. He gave me the specs and I followed it to the "T". He also wanted one with black foam, black body, and a mixture and green and yellow body. He just wanted one of each of the different colors to give them a try. I had a COMPLETE blast doing this and hope I can do it again soon! I really, really, really, hope he has as much fun catching fish with these as I did tying them. Thanks for taking the time to read this over!
Wonderful tying and some nice flies. The PMD would work on my little river in 20s!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you charged enough? When someone pays you the complement,by asking you to tie flies for them you feel really good. But you HAVE to charge enough, even though you may love doing it?
For good friends it's a little different, but you still have to pay for materials, and your time. And you DO tie a nice fly Dustin!
Thank you so much for your comment on my blog. I got $2.25 per fly which I thought was a good fair price for custom flies. I really didn't know what to charge and told him to name the price and that is what he offered. Again thanks for giving me your take on it!
ReplyDeleteI don't tie...yet, that is... ;) But, wow! Congrats on all your hard work...! To you, a very deserved "cheers"...!
ReplyDeleteI think you'll have a very satisfied customer. That's a lot of nice work.
ReplyDeleteDustin, that's a great first order and for hand tied flies 2.25 isn't a bad price. Congrats and keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteHi Dustin. The Stayner Ducktails caught my attention. They are similar to some of the killer style flies we use up here in Canada. Interesting material and color combinations.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me how they fished?
And - welcome to the OBN. That's where I found your site.
Dennis
http://www.blog.northernfly.com
Very cool!!!! Congrats on the fly order. I plan on putting some on ebay soon. $2.25 a fly is awesome to. Nice work
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for the comments. The staynor ducktail came out of Idaho and I fished it almost every trip when I was younger. It was designed by Ruel Staynor from twin falls Idaho. You go in any shop in Idaho and they will always have a good stock of them. I fish them on smaller lakes and streams in the current. I did a normal strip then wait 2 seconds and strip again. The original is tied pretty much the same just with an olive body and red hackle fibers for the tail and gills.
ReplyDeleteDustin what type/size wire did you use for the brassie's? Did you use ultrawire or is it from the craft store. Last time I was there they had a ton of colors and sizes and thought of getting some but was unsure what the best size would be.
ReplyDeleteto be honest i really don't know. I got them at a garage sale. I got 2 in red that is really really small and another in red that is a little bigger. I used the bigger one for the flies pictured. Also the green I have is the bigger. The spools have nothing written on them
ReplyDeleteoh and these are a 16 and an 18 that I tied these in. They do make brassie sized wire.
ReplyDeleteWow, I would say that your customer got more than he bargained for. That is some fantastic tying.
ReplyDelete-stephanie