A fly tyer is responsible for the entire sub-prime mortgage debacle, and the proof is on my tying bench.

I know where I’m fishing, I know what bugs live there, yet I insist on tinkering with what works, in favor of just tying what’s needed. It’s not just me that’s afflicted, as I have heard many fly tyers gnash teeth over the same self destructive behavior.

Local intel reveals ALL the fish are committing suicide on any Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear. In response, you starting digging out bunny parts slamming them onto the hook, and a vision appears;

“The Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear would be better if it had a red tail.”

Just as quickly the vision is gone, and you look down at your blistered fingers and see 34 dozen Hare’s Ear’s with a red tail.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

As I’m a willing victim of this aberration I’m not sure I can shed light – but intuition suggests greed and ego may have a hand in the outcome, it could also be a left brain/right brain issue, as I always struggled to keep the crayon inside the lines in elementary school.

I assume that “good can be made great” which is why most tiers tinker with patterns, and all the great chefs in the world are men. (Even more than fly tiers, men share the “tinker-lust” despite repeated and very public failures.)

I don’t want a fly tyer managing my 401K because the self destructive dimwit would be swinging for the fences with every purchase. If a safe but staid 10% return is available, he would ignore that in favor of some shady penny stock that he “visioned” was going up five bucks.

Plagued by these artistic visions, it’s little wonder that greed and excess have spilled into the mortgage market, as all of the fly tying mortgage brokers and hedge fund managers said, “Hell yes you qualify, I seen it!”

Technorati Tags: sub prime mortgage, tinkering, fishing

Never quite satisfied by what works, and always succumbing to base instincts, artistic flair, and some esoteric material ill suited for whatever you should be tying.

I had a live sample for the #20 Blue Wing Olives, complements of the Trout Undergrounds precise photography. Modified to give me more to see, as old eyes and tiny dries are not a good match.

I needed some standard searching patterns for the traditional midday grind, simple nymphs to replace those left imbedded in brownline shrubbery; Olive AP nymphs in size 14, and some Hare’s Ear’s in size 12.

Not having to give them all away is a first, normally all the fishing pals show up at my door with their hand out. No matter how many I tie up I am left with two after the feeding frenzy.

Until all of the sewage and wastewater effluent is washed off the waders it’s best I fish alone. I figure the fish downstream will be too busy complaining to notice the hook until it’s too late.

October Caddis in case they’re needed, if not these will make a nice carp fly, heavy wire hook and ribbed with Angelina to add a dab of flash.

I tied some Elk Hair Caddis which always receive a warm welcome, and added some #18 Pale Morning Duns to give me something visible and a color change. With the odd scraps already in my fly box, it will give me added versatility, and should any prove tasty, I have a dozen or more of every pattern.

The Pale Olive Paraduns were spared my fiddling with the recipe, in large part because in my youth I had to tie 200-300 dozen of them per year. It’s quite possible I was asleep when I tied these, as were the only pattern that escaped augmentation.

I managed to repair the significant holes in my fly box for this weekends expedition, I carry so few flies that I am quite practiced at forcefeeding something to a trout. In a pinch – that’s why God made rocks.