Winter is fly tying season in northeastern Wyoming. As fresh snow piles up behind the garage and mercury shivers in the thermometer, I am filling boxes and bins with flies for the coming year. The short days and long, cold nights are tailor-made to fly tying; with a cup of hot coffee next to the vise and an old dog underfoot, life is good.
But the fun of tying flies is short lived if you are bothered by headaches, watery or irritated eyes, blurred vision, and spasms (tics) in the muscles around the eyes. These may be symptoms of eye fatigue and the discomfort varies from an annoying inconvenience to a painful event that ends the day's tying session. Eye fatigue contributes to eye strain and can be a problem when engaged in a task like fly tying. The concentration, sustained near focus, and small hooks demand the utmost in visual acuity and accommodation.
What a mess! The clutter on my tying bench makes it difficult to find materials and offers unlimited opportunity for eye fatigue. Accommodating visual noise in the background and sustaining focus on the fly in the vise is an exhausting workout for eye muscles.
During a recent eye examination, I asked my optometrist about eye strain and she offered practical advice for preventing vision-related problems at the tying bench. Her recommendations may be familiar to seasoned tyers, but they remain relevant and timely regardless of your tying experience. If eye strain plagues your tying time, then consider the doctor's advice next time you sit down at the vise.
Lots of good light. Keep your tying station well-lit and free of shadows. When possible, arrange multiple lights over your work area to produce a bright and evenly lit work area. If you are limited to a single lamp at your bench, arrange it to minimize shadows in your critical focus area and general field of vision. Look for light sources that emit a daylight equivalent spectrum, as this spectral range offers optimal color rendition as well as a more natural quality of light. Give full spectrum compact fluorescent bulbs a try. The daylight-balanced light is excellent for tying and the long-lasting, cool-running bulbs consume less energy over the course of the winter tying months.
An evenly lit tying bench should not have excessive contrast, minimizing the difference in luminance or reflected lights from the work surface. Soft, diffuse light is free of glare and hard shadows, reducing the visual compensation your eyes must accomplish when alternating between bright and dark areas. Avoid mixed lighting if possible, for example incandescent and fluorescent bulbs with different illumination qualities, as mixed light sources can make eye strain worse.
Hotels rooms and tailgates generally lack sufficient lighting for tying flies. If you are a traveling tyer, consider adding a small lamp to your tying kit. The bulb in this McKenzie vise light will not win any awards for soft, cool illumination; but it has a small footprint and puts plenty of light on the fly.
Optical aids. Reading glasses are not just for aging anglers; a little magnification and enhanced accommodation for near focus will make a significant difference in your tying endurance and enjoyment. However, not all reading glasses are made to the same standards of quality and poorly formed lens will make eye strain more prevalent. I suffered through a few pairs of dime-store eyewear before switching to prescription glasses for close-focus tasks five years ago. Consider a pair of corrective lenses for close focus an investment in your fly tying gear; even the fanciest new rotary vise is useless if you cannot clearly see what you are doing.
According to the doctor, long periods of near demand are less fatiguing if corrective lenses focused for that particular distance are worn. Each person has a unique spectacle correction depending on age, uncorrected refractive error, eye alignment, and working distance. You correction needs are best determined by an optometrist and involve much more than merely magnifying your vision for near focus. If you opt for a pair of off-the-shelf reading glasses, the best way to select these is to try them on while viewing fine print at the distance needed. Sit down at your tying station and measure the distance from your eyes to the vise; you want to optimize your visual correction to accommodate this working distance.
Clear your table. Just as excessive contrast in illumination can lead to eye strain, so can the myriad of fur, feathers, hooks, thread, wire, beads, and foam littering the bench top. The muscles in your eyes have to compensate for the background "noise", accommodating the variable light intensity reflected by the clutter in the visual field and continuously adjusting critical focus back to the fly in your vise. A busy background hampers your tying and gives eye strain a head start.
The view from my chair; a neutral-colored background, cleaned of the clutter, is an eye-friendly tying set-up. Compact fluorescent, day-light spectrum bulbs provide diffuse illumination free of hard shadows.
After you clear your work area, consider adding a neutral backdrop to your bench. A towel, contact paper, craft foam, place mat, or table cloth with a uniform color allow your eyes to focus more efficiently. Use a solid color (no plaids, stripes, or patterns), non-reflective material for your tying background. I like off-white or tan, but light blue or a medium gray tone are also good choices. Some tyers use a profile plate attached to their vise to visually isolate the fly from the table top.
Pamper your peepers. Take a break from tying periodically; just pushing back and looking out the window can help prevent eye fatigue. My optometrist recommends the “20/20” rule: after 20 minutes of a task demanding near focus, rest your eyes for 20 seconds by focusing on an object at least 20 feet away, or by closing your eyes. Allow your eyes to find a distant object and let the close-focus muscles relax a bit. Stand up, rotate your neck and shoulders, and stretch your back. As long as you are up, might as well refill the coffee mug and let the dog out.
The doctor said increased visual demand decreases our normal blink rate, resulting in dry eyes. She recommends using artificial tears when engaged in long periods of visually demanding tasks. I keep a bottle of artificial tears in a storage cabinet across the room from my tying station and use them during long sessions at the vise. I get caught up in my tying at times, so I make sure the eye drops are as far as possible from the small bottles of head cement, nail polish, and waterproofing treatments I use at the bench.
Know when to quit. Despite your preparations and improved tying practices, you may still find the symptoms of eye strain creeping into your tying program on occasion. If so, then it is time to call it a day. Not only do you risk further vision problems by persistently aggravating your eyes, but you are not going to tie your best flies with a throbbing headache. Turn the lights off and take a break from the bench.
This is not the time to catch up email, reading, or crossword puzzles; these activities also require near focus and can make your eye fatigue worse. Instead, go for a walk, get some fresh air, or take a nap - just give your eyes some time away from close focus demands.
Have fun.The vast majority of fly tyers enjoy the craft as a hobby, a relaxing diversion to daily routines and a way to stay in touch with fly fishing during the winter months. Have fun at the tying bench this winter and take good care of your eyes. You will need every bit of your visual prowess when the blue-winged olives chase the ice off the creeks next spring.
The author extends his sincere thanks to Dr. Tammy Hersch, O.D., of Family Optical in Spearfish, SD, for her time and assistance. In addition to Dr. Hersch's expertise, the following sources were consulted for information on eye fatigue and eyestrain:
The Eye Digest (http://www.agingeye.net/), The University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary Physicians
The backdrop for the title picture includes a section of Franz B. Pott's application for an artificial fly constructed with woven hair, U.S. patent 1,523,895 awarded Jan. 20, 1925. The illustration is provided for historic value.
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