Virtual Noob Fly Tying — Session I Reflections

Let’s start this off with a huge THANK YOU to the gals behind the vises: Brita Fordice: fly designer for RIO Products + PNW guide, and Erica Nelson: Brown Folks Fishing Ambassador, and our inaugural noob for our first session. What started as a shot in the dark idea sent to far-flung fishing friends morphed into a way to share some laughs and learn something fishy.

Fly tying has been on the list of fishing-adjacent activities to pick up, and with long hours indoors, it seems to be the new hobby of choice for quarantined fly fishers. As a newbie behind the vise myself, it was less than appealing to watch videos of experts whipping up their thousandth fly flawlessly while I struggled to myself, pausing YouTube every other breath. Not exactly encouraging. These instructional videos are how most new tiers learn, but the one-sided format can get monotonous — especially if you’re still struggling with basics. Plus, like most of fly fishing, diverse representation is hard to come by.

So after hanging out with Brita at industry shows and almost constantly sharing memes with Erica, we came together with a plan: showcase the learning process and celebrate the learning curve. By humanizing beginner mistakes, the hope is to help newbies feel normal, ask questions, and get a realistic sense of what first flies can look like. Knowing both Brita and Erica came to this with the same social isolation and sense of humor to make light of most anything, we were ready to roll.

Erica was an authentic noob: she had tying materials and a vise stuffed away in a closet, never opened or assembled until our planning call. Brita — a true vise goddess — walked us through setting up the vise, identifying what each tool would be used for, and cleaned out her basement to host the live session on Instagram. We chose a straightforward and frequent first-fly pattern [wooly//woolly bugger] tested the Instagram Live feature with lower-profile animal accounts (though amazingly Nelson had a few enthusiastic viewers? He’s way more popular than me) and braced ourselves for some fun.

At 8:30PM EDT/5:30PM PST on Friday, March 28th, we had between 40-50 viewers follow along as we stumbled through the pattern with a lack of grace and innuendo that would send any seasoned old fly tier into tears. It was amazing. If you’ve never experienced that many people collectively holding their breath [remotely] during a first-timer’s whip finish, YOU HAVEN’T LIVED. While there were of course the unsolicited mansplanations of what should have been done and unrelated questions from said peanut gallery, some brave newbies tied alongside and learned in perhaps the most dysfunctional tying session ever captured on video. As a community, we somehow accomplished something amazing despite broken thread, bobbin sucking, counter-ribbing, and way more than 6ft distance between us.

Based on community response and how much fun we had, this Virtual Noob Fly Tying idea will become a series: we’re organizing sessions on Monday and Friday evenings, same time, and hosted by the expert’s Instagram account. The faces behind the vise will change, but you’ll see your favorite teachers and noobs over the course of this quarantine. After all, if we can create masterpieces like this, we may just have a tying business on our hands.

Want to join? Follow Confluence Collective on Instagram for regular updates, materials lists, and announcements on future sessions.

Want to get behind the vise, or know someone who should? Be in touch: us@confluencecollective.org

Thank you to HMH Vises for your emotional and logistical support, Fishpond USA for hooking up our noobs with Tacky Fly Docs, and ORVIS for coming in hot with educational resources.