GREENVILLE — The result of my labor looked more like a fur ball hacked up by my cat than something a fish would even remotely consider as food.

Patience was a virtue for members of the Natural Resources Education Center of Greenville, who set out on a recent Saturday to teach the art of fly tying to frustrated novices like me, and to hone the skills of experienced fly tiers such as my 7-year-old granddaughter, Ashley.

“If you can read a recipe, you can tie a fly,” Dan Legere, owner of the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville, told the 20 or so participants. “It’s like baking a cake.”

Fortunately, Legere has never tasted one of my cakes.

While my first attempt to tie flies in public resulted in a mess, my second and third flies were Picasso-like, even if I was the only one who thought so. It seems that I’ve wanted forever to learn to tie flies — not because everyone else in my family does, but because I’ve wasted so much money losing purchased ones in trees. My next project is to learn the correct way to cast, but that’s a future offering of the education center and another story.

Truthfully, though, any fly-fishing angler knows how rewarding and exciting it can be to lay a line equipped with a homemade fly onto the water and watch a trout slowly rise to it or a large bass strike it explosively. Sometimes even one that only remotely looks like a Woolly Bugger — the one I made — will fool a hungry fish into thinking it’s a morsel of food.

For many fly fishermen, creating the fly is as satisfying as catching the fish, according to John McLeod of Greenville and Bud Fackleman of Rockwood, the other two instructors who volunteered their fly-tying expertise Saturday.

Almost every fly tier has a favorite fly. All three instructors favor the Muddler Minnow, a generic fly that looks like a lot of things in nature.

“It’s a great prospector fly,” said Fackleman, who has spent the last 16 years as a fly-fishing instructor for L.L. Bean. He said the versatile fly can be used on the surface or at the bottom of a pond.

My favorite, if you haven’t already guessed it, is the Woolly Bugger because I can now tie it with my eyes closed.

For centuries, anglers have been decorating hooks with scraps of yarn, tufts of fur, colorful feathers and thread trying to imitate nature. It’s a craft where several basic elements are combined, said Legere.

“It does appeal to people interested in fine motor skills and those who are interested in making something useful to them,” Fackleman said.

The texture, size and color of the fly, along with its action in the water, are all necessary for success, he said. “It’s always a blend of those things,” Fackleman said.

Legere suggested that new fly tiers avoid investing too much money and keep it simple, by starting with the purchase of a decent vise to hold a hook, hackle pliers to hold feathers during tying, a fly-tying bobbin to hold thread spools, and a pair of thin, fine-tipped scissors. And — of course — some hooks, feathers, thread, fur and yarn to make a fly that imitates something in nature or to make an attractor fly, which Legere likens to a chocolate parfait with a cherry on top.

Another important ingredient I’d like to add is the ability to see that tiny eye in the hook. It’s as bad as threading a needle. For those with failing eyesight, a magnifying glass works well. As others have found, there are tips and techniques that make tying flies easier and faster.

Peter Kreiden of Greenville, whose wife gave him a fly-tying kit several years ago and who found Saturday’s session a “wonderful opportunity to use the kit,” wore such a device around his head. According to him, seeing the hook is half the battle. Proud of his accomplishment Saturday, the Greenville man said he couldn’t wait to try his creations.

For those who participated in ENRC’s continuing natural resource education program, it was an afternoon to learn a new skill, a craft that can end the boredom of winter months and bring families closer together throughout the year. The whole purpose of ENRC, a center now without walls, is to educate the public about local natural resources, including their associated uses.

The fly-tying course was attended by fathers and sons, women, young teens and old-timers. Kyle Rich and his son Josh, 6, of Windham, visiting Rockwood for the weekend, were intrigued with ENRC’s offering. “I enjoy it and plan to do it with the intention to help kill the winter blues,” the father said.

Dr. Ted Rogers of Windham and Greenville said the program sounded interesting so he signed up. After the session, he said he planned to invest in the equipment and begin his new craft in his leisure time.

Count me in, too. I plan to dump my picayune leisure activities of raking lawns and folding laundry for fly tying. I’m hooked.

Fly-tying directions provided by L.L. Bean’s Outdoor Discovery Schools.

Woolly Bugger

1. Wind black thread onto the shank of the hook size 6-10, 2X long hook.

2. Put a long fluffy black feather for tail in position near the hook bend and tie the tip of the feather in, just in front of the tail and spread out the barbules of the feather.

3. Tie chenille in just in front of the feather and wind thread toward the eye of the hook.

4. Wrap chenille toward eye of hook, tie in and cut off excess, leaving room for the head.

5. Wrap the feather from the back around the chenille, secure and cut off excess. Wrap thread to form head, tie and cement. Cut off the extra feather toward the front.

Mickey Finn

1. Wind thread onto the shank of a hook size 4-10, style 6X long.

2. Tie a piece of tinsel at the bend of the hook, so its silver side will show when wrapped.

3. Wind the tying thread toward the eye of the hook, leaving one-eighth inch for the head.

4. Wind the tinsel forward so it lays flat, and secure it to the hook at the tie-in point. Cut off excess.

5. Select a small amount of yellow bucktail, and even up the thin ends.

6. Tie the bunch of yellow bucktail in at the tie-in point, thin ends toward the back. Cut off thick ends.

7. Select a small amount of red bucktail and tie it in at the tie-in point, thin ends toward the back. Cut off thick ends. Then repeat the same process again using the yellow bucktail.

8. Cover fat ends of bucktail with tying thread, to form a neat head.

9. Tie off the thread using a half hitch tool or a half hitch by hand.

10. Apply small amount of head cement to the thread.

Black Ghost

1. Wind thread onto the shank of a hook size 6-10, style 6X long and tie in a small amount of saddle hackle fibers as a tail.

2. Tie a piece of tinsel in at the bend of the hook, so its silver side will show when wrapped.

3. Tie a doubled strand of black floss in just in front of the tinsel. Wind the floss forward so it lays flat, and secure it to the hook at the tie-in point. Cut off excess.

4. Tie another doubled strand of black floss in just in front of the tinsel and wind it forward and tie it off and trim excess. Now wind the tinsel forward leave spaces between wraps to look like ribs. Trim excess.

5. Cut a small bunch of yellow barbels off the feather shaft, and tie in on bottom of hook near the eye, forming a beard.

6. Place two matched white feathers on top of the hook as wings and tie in.

7. Form a neat head with tying thread, tie off and apply a small drop of head cement.

Elk Wing Caddis

1. Wind thread onto the shank of a hook size 12-16 of a standard dry fly hook size.

2. Tie a small reddish-brown feather in by its base, near the bend in the hook

3. Apply a little dubbing wax to tying thread to make the thread feel sticky.

4. Pinch a small amount of light green dubbing onto thread then twirl it to tighten.

5. Wind thread with dubbing forward toward the eye. Leave about one-eighth inch for the head.

6. Wind feather around dubbing. Stop at front end of dubbing, tie in and cut off extra.

7. Line elk hair up on top of hook and tie it in at the front end of the dubbing.

8. Grasp fat ends of elk hair, and cut off at a slight angle. Leave enough to act as a head.

9. Tie off the thread with a half-hitch, and apply a small drop of cement to the knot.