I’m not sure where I came across this term, but it was referring to people, like me, that have seen more sundowns than what they have left to see. In other words, the aging process. For most of us, this process means losing dexterity, diminished eyesight, and wearing hearing aids. The hearing aids are no big deal in fly fishing. In fact, it can be nice not hearing what’s going on around you. However, eyesight and dexterity are important.  

This was proved to me several weeks ago when I was helping a young man learn how to fly fish. After teaching him the basics of casting, I wanted to put on a new fly, one that I had tied and was sure would help him catch his first fish on a fly rod. I took the fly from my fly box and attempted to tie it to the leader. Here is where the first problem occurred. I couldn’t get the leader through the eye of the hook. I handed the fly to the young man who had the eyes of an eagle and the dexterity of a heart surgeon. He threaded it in one second and handed it back to me. I was able to tie a knot. 

After he caught his fish, I began to think about why it had been so hard for me to thread the leader, and what I could do to make it easier. Since I tie my own flies, it was fairly easy to come up with some ways to make it easier to attach flies to a leader. 

First, I will not put a fly in my vise smaller than a size 16. I know that sounds silly to those of you with good eyesight and dexterity. For us sundowners, it makes sense. If the fly needs wings I am going tie a single post, similar to a parachute fly. There is no need to frustrate myself trying to tie two perfectly matched wings. A single parachute, of a color I can see, will work just fine. Next, as I start to wrap the shank of the hook with dubbing, I will be careful about how far towards the eye I go. The fly I couldn’t tie on had dubbing all the way to eye of the hook. It made threading impossible for me. Once I stop using the dubbing, I will simply finish the distance to the eye with thread. This will give me better sight of the hook eye, and an easier tie in. 

If after using less dubbing you are still having trouble threading the hook, or if you don’t tie your own flies, I have two other suggestions. Go to a sewing store and buy a needle threader or go to a fly shop and get a hook threader. In addition to tying my flies differently, I bought a hook threader and have found it helps in threading the hooks on the smaller flies I still have in my fly box. If none of the above ideas helps in attaching your flies to your leader, I suggest you find a kind-hearted person with the eyes of an eagle and the dexterity of a heart surgeon and get them to stand beside you in the river. 

Just don’t get frustrated and stop fly fishing. There is always a way around any problem that presents itself while fly fishing.