NYtrout27

Very nice!! I am gonna have to give that a try.

haha! For some reason I don't believe that would go over so well...

I have been doing more and more shopping around. I was looking for large marabou and found a place on ebay that has it very cheap. and $2.50 shipping on your entire order. It takes a bit more time to search around but I have very quickly realized it will save you a butt load of $$. And it's kinda fun to hunt for a good deal.

It's a proflytyer soft sonic cone.

I have tied up a my first few intruder style flies using ostrich. Going off the tutorials I was watching I was making a dubbing loop to put it on. I was watching a different tutorial last night and the guy was stacking it on. Which mtehod is preferred? or is there a time for both methods? Does it matter?

I think I am slowly getting over the "I want to tie every pattern I see" mode. Slowly, not there yet. I'm glad I'm not married YET either but, my girlfriend tells me I should be saving up for something sparkly.... I'll check out barlowstackle, thanks mybadhabit!!

It took me all of about a day of tying to realize that tying your own was not a way to save money. I haven't made the $407 purchase yet... I have found about half the items on my list a buck or two cheaper somewhere else. I am gonna see what off the list I can get locally and then order the rest. I see your point bowfin, I don't need to get every color under the sun lol. I am trying to buy materials that I can utilze in flies for more than one species, IE: steelhead streamers and pike flies with the finn raccoon. I'm not married but I learned real fast that I don't tell the gf what all this costs She is slowly putting down the spinning rod and using the fly rod more & more. She will benefit from all this in a way. I know that's not how she would see it but I can lie to myself, right?

I started in march of this year so I am very new. But I have recently (in the past month) started tying tube flies for steelhead. I am trying to decide where to draw the line. I got the proflytyer tube kit for my bday and bought about $80 worth of materials to die up a few different patterns but only in a couple colors. Now I have been looking at a bunch more patterns I want to tie and multipule colors. Most of the materials needed, I do not have. For example arctic fox, finn raccon, more marabou & lady amherst to name a few. Well I went online to start my order. Some of the things I will get locally but this was mostly to get an idea of what it was going to cost. Well now my shopping cart is up to $407 This would be enough material to prolly tie a life time of tube flies for me and still be able to hand a few out. So at what point to you call this a hobbie or an obsession? If I do something I like to do it 110% so I want each pattern I tie in a few colors is why it gets so damn expensive. To justify it I am telling my self that I will also use a lot of these materials for pike flies and it will be enough for a long long time! I'm sure I could get away with out but tying has very quickly became an obsession lol.

Thanks Al!! I hope to entice a trout or salmon here soon with them. Here's a couple more I tied up...

I got a pro tube kit for my Bday from my girlfriend. I bought it and she said it was my present, funny how that works. Anywho, They are fun to tie. I tied up a few bright and flashy ostrich intruders, flasahabou streamers, marabou leaches and a flesh fly. I know they are far from perfect, your criticism is appreciated.

My father had the same problem. :/ It seems to be a new thing. I don't know if they are just overloaded or what. Who knows. I registered on there a week ago and still can not post or see pics. I emailed the admin but haven't heard anything either. Oh, well I guess. Just gonna have to spend more time on here

Thanks for the input. I will put foul guards on my flies until I decide I will give it a go without them. I am curious to try putting a few wraps around the zonker strip but not the hook shank. I will try that as well. I will post up pics of my first attempts. We'll see how they turn out lol. Thanks!

I am gathering up supplies to start tying my first pike flies. I am going to start with 2/0 hooks and shoot for about a 4-5" over all length for a pike bunny fly. I have watched a few step-by-steps and some guys use "foul guards" and some don't. I haven't ever casted a fly this big so I am thinking I should maybe use foul guards on my first few flies and then maybe try some with out later on. It can't hurt right? If you were to use them what material do you recommend? I have some really small stainless wire that I was going to try. Would heavy mono work? Thanks for your input.