FLY TYI NG GROUP IFFF FLY TYING GROUP Fly Tying Skills Awards Program Produced by the International Fereration of Fly Fishers, Fly Tying Group as an adaptation of the Guild Awards Scheme of the UK Fly Dresser’s Guild. Why an IFFF Fly Tying Skills Award Program? The IFFF Fly Ting Group exists to preserve, enhance and support the art of fly tying. Our focus generally is two- fold: sharing of information and teaching so that more people may take an interest in our craft and become more knowledgeable and accomplished tiers. The purpose of the IFFF Fly Tying Group is as follows: “The FTG is dedicated to the preservation, enhancement and support of the art of fly tying as a historic element of the fly-fishing experience. Archiving of historic documents, development of educational and instructional materials, teaching and demonstration are fundamental to perpetuating the art of fly tying for anglers who fish with the artificial fly.” For individuals to improve as tiers, they need to be able to measure their progress. The IFFF Fly Tying Skills Awards Program provides IFFF members with the opportunity to develop or reinforce their fly tying skills and test their progress against a consistent, standard at three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Program Overview and Goals This International Federation of Fly Fishers (IFFF) Fly Tying Skills Awards Program is an educational program for all IFFF members who care to take part. The Awards Program is managed for and on behalf of the IFFF by Fly Tying Group. The goal of the Awards Program is to encourage IFFF members to develop and improve their fly tying skills at their own pace through a structured learning plan with progressive goals and in so doing contribute to the purpose of the FTG. The Program is meant to be informative, enjoyable and encourage camaraderie and co- operation amongst those taking part. In addition, it can also assist Clubs and instructors in the planning and delivering of courses. There are three levels of awards: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each level develops a series of techniques, with subsequent levels building on previous ones. A Bronze level tier must be able to use straightforward materials and techniques to tie a small number of simple flies of a sufficient quality and consistency in use of materials and technique. At Silver level, tiers must be able to tie a wider range of flies, using more complicated materials and techniques to produce more intricate patterns and closer representations of specific prey species being imitated. The degree of consistency and the standard of the techniques applied must be a clear step higher than at Bronze level. A Gold Level award signifies a highly accomplished fly tier, capable of demonstrating excellent application of a wide range of materials and techniques on a consistent basis across a variety of patterns. 1 In the process of this Silver Award Program a tier will learn and use many important fly tying techniques and learn a number of effective fly patterns. These Silver Award patterns and techniques build upon the techniques and patterns incorporated in the Bronze Award Program. The three tier choice flies are an important part of the Tying Skills Awards Program. In each of the three levels tiers are required to tie three patterns of their choosing. The purpose of the tier choice patterns is to allow tiers to practice their tying specialty. If your angling and tying activities are saltwater, warmwater, steelhead, salmon or trout please tie those types of flies. It is suggested that the tier choice patterns reflect a degree of complexity on a par with the required evaluation fly patterns. Upon successful completion of the Silver Award program tiers will receive an IFFF Silver Fly Tying Award Certificate, an IFFF Silver Award Pin, and the accomplishment will be recognized in the IFFF Fly Tying Group Newsletter and on the IFFF Website. THE FISH WILL BE OUR JUDGE “One must first learn the basic strategies and techniques for affixing various ‘items’ to a fly hook. In that process will come the skills required to operate a few simple tools. There can be no rules governing what ‘items’ are affixed to the hook or how those ‘items’ are arranged on said hook. What we do here is learn those basic strategies and techniques and then either imitate the creations of others or let our imaginations run rampant and wild as we practice our craft of fly dressing. Only the fish is qualified to judge our efforts.” Author Anonymous Acknowledgements This American adaptation of the UK Fly Dressers’ Guild Awards Scheme was made possible thru the cooperation and international outreach of both the International Federation of Fly Fishers and the UK Fly Dressers’ Guild. Our thanks go to Chairman Charles Jardine, General Secretary Chris Reeves and the many others who have worked so hard on this project. The American adaptation of the Fly Tying Skill Awards Program is the work of the IFFF Fly Tying Group and the Committee members who contributed: Al and Gretchen Beatty, Chuck Collins, Jim Ferguson, Frank Johnson, Gene Kaczmarek, Tom Logan, David Roberts, Paul Beckmann and Leslie Wrixon. This program is also a credit to the entire Board of Governors of the IFFF Fly Tying Group. Adapted by the International Federation of Fly Fishers with permission from The Fly Dressers Guild 2014 First Edition of IFFF Silver Award Handbook published 2015 © The Fly Dressers’ Guild 2013 First edition published electronically in December 2012 This edition published in print and electronically in October 2013 For more information on The Fly Dressers’ Guild please visit our website: www.flydressersguild.org. 2 Contents Why an IFFF Fly Tying Skills Award Program? 1 Program Overview and Goals 1 Acknowledgements 2 Contents 3 Introduction to the Silver Award Evaluation Flies 4 Silver Award Program Requirements 6 How it Works – the Process Instructions 6 Instructions to the Silver Award Program Participant 6 Instructions to the Silver Award Program Evaluator 7 Instructions to the Silver Award Review Panel Member 7 Instructions to the IFFF Staff 8 Basic Fly Tying Tools 9 Thread 11 Thread Information Chart 12 Tying Techniques 13 Stripped Peacock Herl Bodies 13 Feather Fiber Dry Fly Wings 14 Tip of Oval Tinsel 14 Tail of Golden Pheasant Crest 15 Floss as a Body Material 15 Ribbing a Fly Body (wire, mono, tinsel, or other material) 16 Ribbing with Oval Tinsel 16 Folding Hackle 16 Burnishing Floss Bodies 16 Wings of Squirrel 17 Parachute Wing Posts of Calf Tail Hair 17 Stacking or Evening Hair 18 Parachute Hackles 18 Muskrat Belly Underfur Dubbing 19 Dubbing Fly Bodies 19 Palmered or Body Hackle 20 Hooks 21 Silver Award Evaluation Flies – Step by Step Instructions 22 Ginger Quill 23 Blue Charm 27 Lefty’s Deceiver 32 Parachute Adams 37 Bead Head Prince Nymph 41 Troth Elk Hair Caddis 45 Tier Choice Flies 48 Gold Award Preview 48 3 Introduction to the Silver Award Evaluation Flies Detailed step by step tying instructions are found in Section: Evaluation Fly Tying Instructions (pages 22 thru 48) The following is a brief overview of the required Silver Award Evaluation Flies Ginger Quill Dry Fly Tied by Jim Ferguson – Salem, Oregon The Ginger Quill belongs to a set of dry fly patterns incorporating feather quill material for the body construction. Over time, many variations have been popularized resulting in several slightly different material listings and proportion guidelines. Wings have been constructed from starling or mallard duck wing quills. Body quills have been used from stripped ginger hackle quills or stripped peacock eye herls. Different interpretations of the color ginger results in many variations based on local mayfly insect hues. Lefty’s Deceiver Salt Water Fly Tied by Tom Logan – Tallahassee, Florida Lefty’s Deceiver is a very versatile streamer pattern that is intended to imitate a small bait fish that will be attractive as prey for larger predatory fish. The pattern was designed by Lefty Kreh, thus its name. It typically is tied with lighter colors of feathers and buck tail with a little flash, but it can be tied with any combination of colors and in any size from size 10 bronze hooks for bream to 2/0 stainless steel hooks and larger for saltwater species. 4 Bead Head Prince Nymph Tied by Chuck Collins - Pocatello, Idaho Credit for the origination of the Prince Nymph goes to Doug Prince of Monterey, California for fishing in his favorite stream, the Kings River. The Prince Nymph is one of those flies that just works! Some say it is a stonefly nymph, others say it is an attractor. The Prince Nymph has increased in popularity with the addition of the bead head. The bead head adds a little weight to the fly and helps it get down as well as adding some flash to the fly. Parachute Adams Dry Fly Tied by Al & Gretchen Beatty – Boise, Idaho The original Adams dry fly is arguably the most popular dry fly of all time. Today the Parachute version of the Adams is taking over that distinction. This fly pattern imitates many mayfly and caddis naturals. The Parachute Adams is a ‘go-to’ searching pattern. Blue Charm Salmon/Steelhead Fly Tied by Jim Ferguson – Salem Oregon There are several versions of the Blue Charm Hair Wing each with its own set of proportions. The patterns cover different styles from the Atlantic Salmon Classic Hair Wing style to the low water version developed for specific water conditions. The pattern chosen for the Silver Award program is one that leans towards the low water style but is adjusted more to the "Steelhead" tie as shown in Flies for Atlantic Salmon by Dick Stewart and Farrow Allen.