Material Question

[buckeyebrewer 0]

I just recently [yesterday] purchased a vise and tools. I am obviously going to need some materials. I found this deal on ebay. I was just wondering what everyone thought of it. It seems good, but I'm ignorant when it comes to fly tying. What do you think?

 

Fly Tying Materials

[Futzer 0]

Personally I'd avoid it, the zoomed picture does not show the quality of the materials. Also it looks like you get alot for a little, but I do not see a good combination for tying basic patterns. First off, what flies do you want to learn, I would go to your local fly shop and get set up to tie some Wooly Buggers and start getting your tying skills developed. Once you feel comfortable move to a more difficult pattern, but tie a bunch, the same size, say 100 or more. This will get you used to proportioning correctly and tying consistently. Once you get to know the guys at a local shop, they can help show you how to select material for the type of fly you want to tie. If you do not have ready access to a local shop, call J. Stockard and try to work directly with one person for a while, tell them what you'd like to tie and they will not lead you astray.

 

Root thought, buy a few good quality materials, learn to use them successfully and build from there.

 

My $0.02 worth.

 

Cheers Futzer.

 

And ask lots of questions in the forum, there is tons of good advice, and nothing is too silly to ask when you are learning.

[Houndog 0]

Thornes Manufacturing and Sales has been great to deal with and offers free shipping.

[buckeyebrewer 0]

Thanks for the advice.

[jdmidwest 0]

Most kits contain about 80% worthless crap of inferior quality. You did not state what flies you are tying or fish you are tying for. Your most expensive purchases are the hooks and the material kit did not have any.

 

Figure out what you want to tye and start from there. A good dubbing selection with several colors is a good place to start. Buy in smaller quantities until you figure out what you really need and then buy in bigger lots.

 

Attend a class locally, find a friend that ties, or go to a fly show or shop where other tyers are present and get ideas. Friends can go together and share materials and shipping.

[mungo_37 0]

I too started as did most with a fly tying "starter pack " and if i am hounest most of it i off loaded to other beginers to start them off .As pointed out the proportions are more important to get to grips with than the materials used , use your pack to practice with , get as much tuition as you can and pretty soon you can advance on to the better quality materials that all of us fly dressers find we just HAVE TO HAVE

A lot of fly fishing clubs have meetings in the quieter months of fishing and what now seems hard will all fall into place , you will be amazed at how quickly it can be picked up and if you are stuck on anything -- type on here and someone will be more than happy to help .

good luck and have fun

[flygirl 0]

Agreeing with whats already been suggested.....keep in mind upcoming Flyfishing Shows in Spring...although I buy most of my materials from J Stockard (quality stuff) , its good to spread the $$ around to the little guys at the shows. This way you also see what your getting. My list has already started.

[Old Hat 0]

I agree with Futzer, however 100 is a lot. Find a few patterns that you would like to tie, that will catch you fish, and have material that are general purpose meaning that you will eventually use them with many other patterns. Get your material list for those flies and purchase some decent quality. With that being said....I highly recommend for beginners the Concise Book of Fly Tying by Skip Morris. It a little, well layed out inexpensive book. Just as a suggestion for what I mean, consider these patterns Wooly Bugger, gold ribbed hare's ear, pheasant tail nymph, elk hair caddis, and an adams dry. With these patterns in different sizes and colors you can just about catch anything anywhere and the materials are easily attainable, inexpensive and will get you off to a good start in your hopefully many wonderful years of fly tying. It's always good to get your hands on the material, especially natural materials, and paw through it for the quality stuff (part of the fun too). Poor materials can lead to a lot of frustration as they will not behave like they should either in tying or fishing, not just for a beginner but to tyers of all levels.

[BEETLE BOB 0]

:bugeyes: also remember that you do need every material in a pattern listed .experiment. thats how great patterns develop. :yahoo:

[CM_Stewart 0]

I think Old Hat has given you some good advice. I'd just add that in my opinion, there's no point tying flies that you won't actually fish with. For example, almost everyone tells beginners to start tying woolly buggers. But if you haven't fished a woolly bugger once in the last five years, why bother tying them? Gold ribbed hair's ear and (probably or, actually) pheasant tails may be the only nymphs you'll need for the rest of your life, but if you never fish nymphs why tie them?

 

For me, the first question is what flies do you fish with now? Unless they are particularly complex or use particularly expensive materials, why not just learn to tie those? I've never taught fly tying, so there may be perfectly good reasons to tie hundreds of flies you'll never use, but ...

 

 

[bowfin47 0]

You've received great advice... follow it!

[stevebasson 0]

As a beginner some of the best advice I recieved was to tie only what I would use to fish my local streams, even doing that it has not taken long to build up a decent inventory of materials. Most of the kits seem to have a lot of material that would not be of much use to me, so I never took that road. Like all tackle and materials, its not just designed to attract fish.

Beside all that I would avoid any deal where the sellers choice was to send you Whiting or Metz hackle, now let me guess which will they send, there is a difference.

[JoeO 0]

FTD Tyers Box it is 25 dollars you will get a good assortment to try different things and good material I got the Christmas box and it was great It double maybe even tripple that type of material I have on hand and for a lot less money

the Crystal flash I get locally for 3.50 -4.35 per pack and I had probably 10 different colors of similar material. The dubbing I received was also at least twice as thick in the same size pack. It might not be enough to tie a complete fly but the stuff in the box can give the flies you tie some sparkle or variations in colors

http://www.flytyersdungeon.com/ftd_tyers_box.htm

[DHise 0]

Listen to the advice. Buy the materials for the patterns you fish and go from there. When I was 14 (I am 41 now) I received a fly tying kit from my mom for Xmas and I still have unopened bags of the crap that came in the Thompson kit.

[the saltydog 0]

I was given great advice when I was a kid and first started which has been echoed here, just get what you need to tie the 2 or 3 flies you fish with most. At the end of the day, you are not tying flies to save money on flies (unless you fish everyday and can catch more tree branches then me). Sooner or later you will become completely addicted and become very popular with your non-tying buddies and then you can buy stuff every week and fill an entire room with materials until you get to the point that it is easier to buy material then try to find it in your tying room.

 

:blink: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: