Trading recipes is all part of the fly-tying experience

THIS MORNING, I GOT off the phone with a friend of mine after we traded a couple of recipes. John and I trade recipes every so often. And while this is very worrisome to our spouses, we both find it useful.

You see we are fly fishermen and we also tie our own flies. In fly tying, each fly pattern has a recipe that shows the materials required to create the fly and the order in which they should be placed on the hook. A simple, effective fly pattern is what most of us want, so when someone says they have a pattern that works well and is easy to tie, you listen.

It is probably better not to listen if you are a non-fly tying spouse, however.

In our latest conversation, John gave me his recipe for tying an imitation of an olive shrimp that local rainbow trout have been gorging on at a lake he lives close to. In return, I told him all about how I have been experimenting with Frenchie nymphs.

When I got off the phone, Jenn approached hesitantly.

“You were talking about

fly tying right?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Don’t worry. Frenchie nymphs are a great subsurface fly.”

“Honestly, I was more worried about the green shrimp,” she said. “It’s your turn to cook dinner.”

Of course, things could always get worse – I still remember when Jenn and I were starting out and I told a friend about my favourite woolly bugger. The point I’m trying to make is that you can get yourself in trouble if the wrong people overhear fly tying conversations.

The biggest problem is when you have a really good pattern that has been catching you lots of fish and suddenly your buddy, who normally out-fishes you, starts begging for the recipe. That’s when most fly tyers get a little creative.

It’s also when you’ll hear questions that no one else in the world has ever heard.

Questions like: “So I really need the eyelashes from a recently road killed skunk?”

And, if you can reply with a straight face, you’ll say, “Yes but it has to be a female skunk, otherwise that fly won’t fish right.”

The sad part is, the very next week at the river, you’ll see that same guy fishing alone – mostly because he somehow found the material you told him to get. But also because he doesn’t want anyone to know about the secret pattern he is using – although, trust me, if you are downwind, you’ll know.

This is why you need someone you can trust to exchange fly tying recipes with. Not just anyone will do, either. The person has to be generous with their hard-earned knowledge, smart about selecting useful patterns and willing to share information that may one day help you outfish him or her badly.

John is excellent that way on all counts.

The interesting thing about him is he doesn’t tie flies during winter like the rest of us. Instead, he waits till the good weather arrives and then he gathers his materials from the garage. Then on the first windy day, he takes them and his vise outside and does his tying on a picnic table away from everyone. He says it keeps peace in the house.

One day I’ll tell him that he can substitute craft hair for that road killed skunk.