Fly tying is a great way to stay in touch with the pulse of fishing in the winter when the days may not all be great days to actually go fishing.  Having different patterns you can tweak and design yourself can help you gain an advantage on pressured fish that see a lot of store bought flies.  You can make flies exactly how you like them, with more float, or more visibility, or less material, or anything else your mind can come up with.  Catching a fish on a fly you tied yourself is a great feeling.  The Patient Angler offers classes for all ability levels at the shop, but most commonly we do group 101 lessons.  The Fly Tying 101 lesson teaches you how to tie flies in a small class environment.  The classes are held at the Patient Angler Fly Shop and cover the most common patterns used in fly fishing.  The emphasis of the 101 classes is to teach basic fly tying techniques, how to use the tools, how to read fly recipes and how to pick out quality materials for fly patterns.  We not only teach how to tie each new pattern, but we also discuss how and where you would fish it.  All materials for the classes will be provided, but you must have your own vise and tools.  If you don’t have the vise and tools needed, we can help you get set up before the first class.  The 201 class is for tyers that have completed Fly Tying 101 or have some basic tying experience.  In Fly Tying 201, you will learn more advanced techniques and creative ways for attaching materials to a hook to create your flies.  This class is less structured, allowing the students to decide what kind of flies they want to learn to tie.