When finishing tied flies to get rid of any stray materials or to simply make the fly look better, it’s important that you don’t just “free hand” it. Not all of us are Cool Hand Luke—we need a little help to be precise when we go after small fibers with a pair of tying scissors to clean up a fly.
Above, Tim Flagler offers some great tips on giving yourself some added stability when you go in for the final cleanup on a nearly finished fly, or if you’re applying resin or head cement to finished flies. These ideas should help keep your hand steady, particularly when you’re trimming excess material from smaller flies.
— Chris Hunt