Day 61 - Fly Tying Escapism

What I am about to say isn't new or original in any way, shape, or form: I started tying flies as a way to not only save money ($2.00 per snapped off fly can add up when you're just learning to fly fish) but as a way to occupy my time in the cold Midwestern winters. Now older (and definitely stocked up on weird materials) I tie for an entirely different reason.

Take today for instance. After deciding the budget wouldn't allow me to head to Asheville tomorrow for the fly fishing expo, I was in a foul mood. It didn't make matters any better when I came home from making a run to the border (that would be Taco Bell) and found out that Stewart (my wife's Siamese cat, commonly referred to as the "Slut for Affection") peed all over the love seat in our living room. Eerrghhhh! Cats will be cats, but this has been happening off and on for over a month now.

After using the spot steam cleaner on the seat, I ate my lunch furiously (I don't know if that is possible, but I was still fuming over the cat incident and not being able to go to the expo). I managed to watch an episode of Numb3rs, and when that was over I needed to do something else. I was bored with surfing the net, and I didn't want to stay on the couch and watch TV. I found my way to the dining room table (where my wife has graciously let me setup station for the vise) and started out tying some flies.

The pattern I decided to tie was the Pink Squirrel. I still had everything setup from early this week. I poured out a bunch of #16 Mustad wet fly hooks. I placed a gold bead on the hook and started the process. In about a half hour to an hour, I had finished the hooks that were on the table. I counted the finished flies on the table. A total of 20 finished (some of those were left over from earlier this week, but the majority were completed today).

I still had a couple of beads left on the table. I decided to let my creative juices fly. I searched for a scud hook and put on a gold bead. Understanding the success rate with the color red here in North Carolina, I decided to tie in red. Changed bobbins to my 8/0 red thread. I looked on the table and I had a package of goose biots in various colors. I pulled out the strip dyed in scarlet. I tied the biot in by the tip and wrapped it forward (cup side up, to get the cool ridge segment). I followed that with a small diameter silver wire. A couple wraps of peacock herl towards the head and the fly was done.

No clue if this pattern had been done before, or even if it has a formal name. But that wasn't the point of tying it. The point was to be creative and think about something different. I have no idea if it will catch fish, my gut thinks it is fishy enough that it should. As such, I plan on making a few more.

Getting back to the point, today sucked. My time at the vise was a manner of escapism. I escaped from the fact that the cat peed on the love seat, the fact that I'm not going to the fly expo tomorrow, the fact that money is tight and sacrifices have to be made, and the fact that I still have no stable employment. In story books, the angler who sits at the vise and escapes into the moment soon has a revelation and is saved from the heartache from the real world. As for me in the real world... I just had a few moments without having to think about the shit in my life. Reality is, there is no magic flute, or lamp, or whatever that makes our problems disappear... no matter how hard we hope.