Video review: Bob Jacklin's Yellowstone Ties

Bob Jacklin is one of a handful of true legends in Fly Tying, and certainly needs no introduction here. In this DVD, he ties six of his favorite flies for fishing western trout waters - Grey Wulff, Royall Wulff, March Brown Nymph, Green Drake, Platte River Special, and Great Western Stonefly.

As the running time suggests, this is a fast paced DVD. That is not to say it is rushed at all. He just moves at fast forward speed. I wish I could tie as quickly has he does. Each tie is tied fully - start to finish - with no shortcuts taken to shorten the recording time. When you tie as quickly as he does - there really isn't much need to shorten anything! Only years of accumulated vise time can yield hands that move as quickly and skillfully as those.

He also tends to talk at fast forward speed as well (I say with a smile). It's pretty clear he's done this all a few times before - both tying the flies and talking about the tying. He's a master at both.

If I have one complaint, it's that he's not really careful about talking about the proportions of his flies. For example, on the Wulff flies, he does not provide any guidance for how long to make the wings, nor does he say anything about how he choose his hackles from the neck to match the fly size he was tying. I'm also not really convinced that the average tyer will benefit from wrapping two hackles together instead of one at a time because it is very easy to have them separate during the wrapping if they are not both wrapped with the exact same tension. Most tyers would probably benefit - and actually save time (from eliminating mistakes) by wrapping the hackles separately. But - that's a minor point.

All of these flies are well known, and you are not going to learn many new or unique tying procedures, but I think you will enjoy watching a legend at work. I know I did.