Fly Tying Factory Article

[AKSkim]

Have you ever wondered about where all the flies in the fly shop come from?
<O</O
Very few fly shops now a days tie a majority of their own in-house; the vast majority comes from the overseas market.

The recent issue of Fly Fishing Guide magazine; an article titled Confessions of a Foreign Fly Tying Factory Owner sheds some light on the business of producing large quantity of flies for the world wide market.

Course the owner starts off telling about how humane and caring of the workers he and his management people are. Things like bathrooms for the employees, providing breakfast and subsidized lunch, bonus for quality of the product, the number they can tie in a day (speed), bicycles to travel to and from work everyday, and better pay than the average person living there makes.

The numbers

The average tier can tie around 7 dozen flies in an 8 hour day. That is 84 flies a day, six days a week for a total of 504 flies a week. How many of you can do that? I couldn’t tie 84 glo-bug egg patterns in a week never mind a single day. Typical Adams dry fly … forgetaboutit.

<O</OInteresting enough they even know (course it is their business) the amount of material to provide each tier for the patterns. Except when it comes to hackle they are given a full cape to work with.

Every two hours an inspector checks the quality of the work, guess they don’t want the workers dozing off while tying, they have standards you know.

Lastly it is good to know the majority of the materials that go into each fly comes from the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

</st1:country-region>US of A.

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<st1:country-region w:st="on"></st1:country-region>Interesting article on commercial fly tying.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

The numbers

The average tier can tie around 7 dozen flies in an 8 hour day. That is 84 flies a day, six days a week for a total of 504 flies a week. How many of you can do that? I couldn’t tie 84 glo-bug egg patterns in a week never mind a single day. Typical Adams dry fly … forgetaboutit.
<o></o>

I've heard some American commercial tiers say they needed to tie 12 dozen flies per day (144) to make ends meet. No wonder it's mostly all done offshore. Does the article say that oversees "average tiers" tie 7 dozen/day? I can't sit much past 8 or 10 of the same patterns most days let alone 84 or 144.

 

[AKSkim]

"average tiers" tie 7 dozen/day?

That is correct "...around 7 dozen trout flies in an 8 hour day."

He has two factories is located in Sri Lanka, with about 200 employees each.

 

[babyblue]

That's mucho bugs. Say only 300 are tying, that's 25,200 per day x 6 days, 151,200 flies per week. Could that possibly be true?

 

[AKSkim]

That's mucho bugs. Say only 300 are tying, that's 25,200 per day x 6 days, 151,200 flies per week. Could that possibly be true?

Thats just the authors factories.

World wide the numbers are staggering.

 

[BRK TRT]

Wow, sometimes it takes me a few hours to tie one streamer.

 

[babyblue]

OK, he sells @ $.25, that's $37,800. Say he pays $50 a week wage, that leaves $17,800 left. Could it be that easy?

 

[AKSkim]

Lucky for you that you don't have to do that for a living.

They would take your bicycle away....

 

[biot]

That's all well and good. But I would rather use a fly tied by an American Tyer, than those imported pieces of crap.

 

[AKSkim]

BRK TRT:

This is a weeks worth of tying for me...

Course like you, I only do it for enjoyment.

 

[BRK TRT]

BRK TRT:

This is a weeks worth of tying for me...

Course like you, I only do it for enjoyment.

Nice. Your tying area is always so neat.

 

[Fly Guy]

Nice flies AK. I also read that article and couldn't believe the numbers. I tie 3 flies and get up for a few minutes due to a stiff back.

Jeremy

 

[AKSkim]

Nice flies AK. I also read that article and couldn't believe the numbers. I tie 3 flies and get up for a few minutes due to a thirst and grab a nice ice cold Corona.

Jeremy

I hear you....

 

[Hllywd76]

Nice. Your tying area is always so neat.

Thats like a 4 inch area. the camera is an inch away and set to panorama thats why it looks so clean.....:dizzy:

Hllywd

 

[jamiep]

Ak is that a custom bench or did you put it togther yourself?

 

[CTobias]

The most I have ever done in one sitting, which was like 3 hours was 100 flies. Of course most of these were egg patterns and easy steelhead and salmon flies. I did ten each of ten patterns. Then, I had to tie more the next day because I think I lost like 70 of those flies. Haha.

 

[Andy B]

I still feel the flies I tye are better and made to my prefferance and specs. The very few times I do have to buy flies I by from a tyer in the USA that I know tied the flies. Not many of these people and places now adays. Over sea's, Bicyle, Bathroom and lastly tyed by non fly fishers. GO AWAY.

 

[Mayfly]

Interesting numbers that I believe are accurate. I recall reading on a site or sites some people talk about tying speed. Recall it mentionmed that there are fly tiers who can tie 24 or more standard dry flies per hour, and I don't doubt that it's possible (I once tied 24 pheasant tail nymphs in a 1 hour speed tying contest). However, the writer then makes the mistake, IMHO, of projecting that figure out to 8 hours per day, 5 days a week and 50 weeks a year for an annual amount. That's the error in the projection. To think that someone can maintain that speed is silly. It's like saying someone who runs the 100 yard dash in 9.5 seconds can maintain that speed when running a mile. If my math is close, that's a sub 3 minute mile.

And by the way, if American fly fishers wanted to be more supportive of American fly tiers and less 'price', they would demand that shops and catalogs sell 'flies tied in USA'. That would create a change in the production. But apparently that's not the case.

Allan

 

[ocfly]

Sounds like an interesting article AK, I'll have to look for it online. I wonder how many flies the Chinese are required to tie in a day? No matter, you'll ever get the quality of a fly tied by yourself or someone like say...Biot.

 

[trico mike]

This is why we should all tye our own flies. Can you really take any enjoyment from catching fish on flies that you didn't tie yourselves? The best part of flyfishing is tying a pattern after days or weeks of trial and error then bringing a beautiful wild trout to hand on the pattern you slaved over. Screw store bought flies.

 

[Future Fanatic]

BRK TRT:

This is a weeks worth of tying for me...

Course like you, I only do it for enjoyment.

AK, you need MORE enjoyment in your life.
Tell ya what... because I CARE,
I'll take several dozen cdc BWOs 20s, 18s and 16s; a couple dozen caddis 20s and 16s and some various NE Mayflies(to make it even more enjoyable, you pick patterns and sizes (but keep them beige-brown and 14-20s)...

Doesn't it make you feel good knowing I care about your life being enjoyable?

 

[Future Fanatic]

This is why we should all tye our own flies. Can you really take any enjoyment from catching fish on flies that you didn't tie yourselves? The best part of flyfishing is tying a pattern after days or weeks of trial and error then bringing a beautiful wild trout to hand on the pattern you slaved over. Screw store bought flies.

I'll only catch fish that I have raised myself on a rod that I have handcrafted from my greenhouse grown bamboo using flies which use hand plucked feathers from my flock of fowl. My waders are old feed sacks(chickens eat A LOT) which I smear with free ranged White Pine pitch(a little gummy, but it always smells like Christmas). I must say though, I use thread I pick up at walmart... have you ever tried to spin thread?

 

[Future Fanatic]

AK, you need MORE enjoyment in your life.
Tell ya what... because I CARE,
I'll take several dozen cdc BWOs 20s, 18s and 16s; a couple dozen caddis 20s and 16s and some various NE Mayflies(to make it even more enjoyable, you pick patterns and sizes (but keep them beige-brown and 14-20s)...

AK, are you going to get more enjoyment or what? If not, I need to know so I can buy from DC.

Jeeez... those guys in Sri Lanka would be DONE by now...

 

[AKSkim]

AK Jeeez... those guys in Sri Lanka would be DONE by now...

I'm tying as fast as I can BOSS....

<O</O
<O</O

Don't take my bicycle away Boss...<O</O
<O</O

Not my bicycle...!<O</O

 

[Future Fanatic]

I'm tying as fast as I can BOSS....

<O</O
<O</O

I think I see part of the problem.
What the heck is that in the vice?

I didn't order a dozen of those, did I?

You might be demoted down to 2nd Lieutenant of the tricycle brigade.

 

[Twism]

Can you really take any enjoyment from catching fish on flies that you didn't tie yourselves?

Yup. Yes its a better feeling on your own but if you really dont enjoy catching fish on a fly you didnt tie then i dont know.......