Welcome to Tie of the Month
January 2023
January 2023
Introduction
The format and rules applied for the 2023 Tie of the Month competition will remain the same as in 2022. As ever prizes are not guaranteed but with or without them this is a very friendly competition that is open to everyone regardless of your ability and if appropriate (based on numbers), there will be a specific section for newcomer's. So please do join in by submitting your flies and engaging in the banter because your tying will improve and so will your general feeling of happiness! There is also no obligation to enter every month but do note that four points are awarded for every entry each month and so the there is a benefit to doing so.
To encourage a bit of exploration and challenge, the tying competition will have a different theme each month. Every day is a School day so try something new or unfamiliar, as well as the things you know you are good at. It is worth noting that often it is not the neatest, most skilful or most complex tying that wins but the fly that the voters feel is most likely to catch a fish or is simply the most inventive or witty (see the winning entry from mc andy in the April 2020 competition ). You can therefore simply enjoy the challenge and improvement in skill that will result from producing patterns that you may not otherwise have considered tying!
Please also note that the flies you tie are used as a reference by many people and so your posts are creating a great reference section for everyone. We therefore ask and encourage everyone entering to include a list of the materials used with each photo.
Clearly photography plays a part in this competition and many (possibly most) photo's are taken very successfully using a phone camera. A few tips to help though:
- As much as possible try and take the photo in natural daylight
- On many smart phones tapping the screen to select the point of focus can result in the camera focussing on the vice or another large solid object near the fly. If that happens, try taking the photo at a greater distance from the fly without selecting the point of focus and then crop it (also note rule 7 below)
- Be careful of the background for both clutter and background colour can make it harder to see, or with a good choice, highlight the fly.
This months theme: 'Gold'
When it comes to setting the first theme of the year it is always tempting to simply set the theme of a 'black and yellow' given the range of options and popularity of those colours for high and cold rivers. However, I am still finishing off the odd bottle of port and other items and so I haven't overly taxed my brain by straying to far away from that, which shouldn't overly tax yours either. See I'm being nice for once to ease you back into tying!
This years first theme came to me as a possible entry for December as I was thinking about the films that might be trawled out yet again. 'Gold Finger' or some other Bond film (my mum's preference) and 'The Wizard of Oz' with its yellow brick road always featured in our family watching. Then married to that idea were the gifts presented by the three kings: gold, frankincense and myrhh. The last two of those would be a somewhat difficult addition to a dressing but gold, gold is definitely possible. Having chatted through idea's with Nathan we agreed that the challenge this month would be to gift the forum with a set of flies that either features the colour gold in a significant way and/or that has Gold as part of its name. See, as nice and simple as you choose to make it
SPECIFIC GUIDANCE
- Format: any you choose
- Dressing. Any pattern or style you like that has a significant amount of gold colour in the dressing and/or that is a known pattern that has the word Gold in its name.
ENTRIES
Andrzej
Logan Houston
Robb76
Tony Mac
Jockiescott
Grassy_Knollington
gwelsher
nickolas
steelguy
SnapT14
iainmortimer
idbflytye
L.Daniel
Seddsschorman
SebasP
Flow
Grantybot
Westie4566
wormo
tcorfey
Stephenb91
Igaffz
flytie09!
Bothy Cat
Jimmcl
GaryD
Yooper-fly
Sedgy
Billy Fish
Timmins
Woodsy
nwsalar
chriswjx
Tailfire
beardog
Ryan Houston
DrPatrickT
GENERAL RULES
- The first rule of TOTM is that everyone is welcome to enter as many or as few months as they choose.
- The competition will run from January until November.
- To encourage a bit of exploration and challenge, the tying competition will have a different theme each month. Every day is a School day so try something new or unfamiliar, as well as the things you know you are good at.
- At the end of each month there will be a poll to vote the winner. The poll will run the entirety of the following month, will be open to everyone on the forum, and voters names will be visible.
- Flies
- Each fly must have been tied for TOTM i.e. it should not have already appeared elsewhere on any forum (including this one), social media or other software . You can however tie another version of one you have posted elsewhere.
- Once a fly has been entered it cannot be changed for another fly even if it is dressed as an identical pattern.
- Photographs
- Each fly is judged on the photo posted. Once a fly has been entered, you may change the photo but must adhere to rule 5.
- Only enter one photo. Entries with more than one photo will be disqualified.
- Unless a requirement of the specific months theme, the photo should contain only one fly.
- Points
- will be awarded each month as follows. In the event of a tie, all tied participants will get the full points available for the placing.
- 1st place: 10 points + 4 points for entry
- 2nd place: 7 points + 4 points for entry
- 3rd place: 5 points + 4 points for entry
- 4th place: 3 points + 4 points for entry
- 5th place: 2 points + 4 points for entry
- 6th place: 1 point + 4 points for entry
- 7th place and lower. 4 points for entry
- In December, the winning flies from each month will be entered into a poll for Fly of the Year. No additional points are awarded for this poll
- At the end of the year, points awarded will be totalled for that years final placings
- will be awarded each month as follows. In the event of a tie, all tied participants will get the full points available for the placing.
- Prizes
- These are donated voluntarily and are not gauranteed.
- They may be donated, amended or withdrawn at any time on the instruction of the person making the donation without explanation or prior warning
- Cash prizes will not be accepted
- No one associated with this forum or the administration of TOTM accepts any responsibility for the nature, value or delivery of any prizes that are offered other than to indicate their availability.
- The administrators of TOTM reserve the right to make judgement on the acceptability of any entry or breach of the general rules. However, they have no general administration rights in relation to the forum.