The eyes have it

For me, except for a couple exceptions, putting eyes on my flies can be somewhat problematic. Maybe not problematic, but time consuming for sure. So, it has kind of made me ask do they make any difference? Well, to make a long story short, yes they do. In fact, eyes play an important part in our fly tying. Eyes, not only add a realistic look and most tiers that i’ve ever asked believe that that by adding eyes to your flies, the fly will get more takes. In many ways, think about eyes as strike triggers and by adding them it helps convince a gamefish that your fly is alive and worth eating. Moreover, in some cases like a deep water clouser or crab pattern, the weight and even position of the eyes can affect the sink rate and posture of the fly. On some of my favorite mixed sand and grass flats, this combination is an important design component as the fly sinks through the water column where the fish are laid up. Lastly, think about the spot on a redfish’s tail and how evolution may have given them this defense mechanism so that their predators are fooled in thinking the spot is their eyes which is where many predators attack giving the redfish a better chance to survive. But, that’s a discussion for another time.