What Is A Quality Fly Fishing Fly?

For quite some time I have been advertising professional quality flies for the lowest possible price. The question that comes up quite often is How do you know?"
When you find a new supplier of fishing flies, one of the first things that should be done is to order at least 6 of one pattern that you know well. What can be more telling is if you can afford a dozen or more. Once the flies arrive the next step is to lay out your flies on a white piece of paper in order. With a magnifying glass closely look over each fly.

What are you looking for?

Consistency is first. Does every fly look as identical as possible? Are all hooks straight, sharp, and without flaws? Ensure all materials are of the same color and consistency. Are all hackles the right length for the hook? How is the fly tied off and was it properly cemented?
There are many questions that can be answered just by looking at the flies you receive without ever tying them onto a line. Don't be too put off by a bit of cement clogging the eye of a small tie, but look closely if more than a few have this issue. Clogged eyes could possibly mean the tier was hurrying the order. A common practice of quality tiers is to poke the cement out of the eye as a last step before pulling it off the vise. Skipping this step may save a few second, but gives away a hurried worker. So remember, a clogged eye doesn't mean a bad tie, but it may be a sign to look closer at your flies.
I typically plan on ruining a fly or two without tying them on my line when I order from a new supplier. If you pop a fly in the vise and use an X-acto or hobby knife to dis-assemble the fly you can tell how tightly the tie is and how well cemented it is. Before you start cutting and nipping at thread, give a good tug on the materials. Flies aren't invincible so a hard tug will naturally pull some material out or break material. Be cautious if a light tug pulls out material or spins thread loose. If this is the case, try a second and third fly, if all are the same, don't order from that supplier again or contact them as soon as possible.

So now you have a half dozen flies, all seem to be tied well, cemented, and look identical. Finally some outdoors time! Tie on one of your new samples. With a pair of wire cutters, nip off the barb end of the hook. False cast the fly and without breaking the tippet, snap the fly off the dirt, of a tree or whatever is near by. Running the fly through some rough casting practices will give you a good idea of how it will stand up to strikes. Remember, your intent is to ruin this fly. You want to see first hand, the abuse the fly will handle before becoming useless.


A pattern that can have some particular weaknesses in its tie, but many strengths in effectiveness is an Adams parachute pattern. This deadly pattern is terrific for many species, but the calf hair wrapped with a hackle can be tricky to master, and harder to get to stay in place. The rough calf hair can be slippery and cause the hackle to slide up. Too much cement and you weight the fly down, not enough and the hackle is unraveling. This also makes a good sample pattern because it is quite common so many sources can be found to compare quality. You should never expect an Adams Parachute to catch a hundred fish or to last forever, but it should handle some clumsy casting and hold up to some good tugging.

The last test of a fly is how it fishes. Now you will need some water. Does it float or sink in the water properly? If you tie on two or three of the same pattern do they all fish, float, sink the same way? How well does the fly represent the imitated insect or baitfish?
Once a fly has passed all these trials, you probably have a pretty good source for fishing flies. If there are any errors, you may give the merchant a chance to reconcile to issue, but likely they are receiving their flies all from one source. Reporting lesser quality to your new supplier may be a valuable service as well. The supplier may have missed something or tried a new source. Your report will give the merchant a chance to reconcile and take a closer look at his/her sources.

You may also want to look at some of your favorite fly tying books and compare the fly in your hand with the pattern in the books. Often times a visit to multiple books is called for, as there can be some variance from author to author. Some use slightly different materials or alter the order of steps in a tie slightly.
Overall quality flies can be identified with relative ease. The most effective step in quality assurance is definitely close observation. Looking closely at a fly with a magnifying glass is very telling and the most revealing.