Ripped off on fly tying materials before?

[getholdofjoru 0]

I'm usually pretty good about checking out my marabou, but I bought some black from Bass Pro Shops and the stuff is totally crap.

 

I had to use some of the good pieces immediately so I could go on a trip, but I threw away at least 1/4 of the bag.

 

Anyone else get ripped off like this before?

 

JGR

[Gene L 0]

Can't say that I have ever been ripped of on marabou. What makes it total crap?

[Bruce Derington 0]

I'm usually pretty good about checking out my marabou, but I bought some black from Bass Pro Shops and the stuff is totally crap.

 

I had to use some of the good pieces immediately so I could go on a trip, but I threw away at least 1/4 of the bag.

 

Anyone else get ripped off like this before?

 

JGR

 

 

Many times I have gotten some poor quality, when it comes to strung saddles and Marabou. Its common any 25% bad is about right

[Piker20 0]

Can't comment on the particular shop but I purchased a cape from a local store and all looked great on my initial check and it wasn't untill I started using the feathers that I discover the larger hackles which were thickly layered over each other have in most parts lost the webbing 2/3rds down. Very annoying when I can only use 1 in 3.

[cruzfly89 0]

i ordered deer hair (bunches of it) one time and it was totally useless. i have no idea what went through this companies mind when they put it in there. Some companies take pride in the product they produce and others could care less.

[Jaydub 0]

The quality of strung marabou seems to hit or miss lately.

 

Any loose packaged feathers usually have a lot of crap. Sometimes they are mostly crap.

 

My worst buy was probably a Metz dry fly cape with bad stems. It looked good to my naked eye, but the hackles simply would not wrap properly.

[Jolly Red 0]

Bought a bag of loose hungarian partridge feathers for soft hackles, and maybe 1 in 10 were any good, the rest were just fluff . Since then I have heard this is normal for loose partridge, so I got a skin and can now pick out my own

[Gene L 0]

There's "blood maribou" and there's regular maribou. I think it depends on the use. I like strug maribou for Wolley Buggers, and haven't seen much I can't use. But then, I'm not very picky on maribou. Guess I'm a realist.

[mybadhabit 0]

Even though I do weekly tying demonstrations at BPS I prefer not to buy any type of natural materials there, I have had similar experiences once or twice and refuse to buy their stuff because of it. The synthetics and hardware are ok, but not the natural stuff, I think white river is crap!!! Loose feathers as a whole are a bad buy, unless it's something like mallard flank, then I use Cabela's, good quality feathers and lots of them in the pkg. I have purchased capes and saddles off ebay with no problems, but I do a check on their ratings long before I decide to purchase, and prefer a return policy, and I have yet to get burned by anyone on there, most of them are small enough that a bad rating can really mess things up for them, unlike BPS, who really don't care about customer service, I have returned many items there and have had difficulties on several occasions. Just MHO is all.

 

Blane

[dogsnfish 0]

Bought a bag of loose hungarian partridge feathers for soft hackles, and maybe 1 in 10 were any good, the rest were just fluff . Since then I have heard this is normal for loose partridge, so I got a skin and can now pick out my own

 

Yup. Same thing happened to me.

[H Dot Verseman 0]

Much of this frustration can be avoided by going into a shop and sorting through the packages. I know it isn't always possible, but it certainly helps. The only time I buy stuff online, is when I go through a known reliable source-

 

ie- deer hair. I know I can buy deer hair premo strips from Kelly Galloup's Slide Inn- same for pre-sorted mallard feathers. Saves me bundles. I would buy a massive bulk pack and have to sort through all of it. Now- he sells 30-35 feather packs, pre sorted for $5. It's quite a savings.

 

Don't even get me started on the wood duck these days.

[JSzymczyk 0]

If you had to discard 25% of the pack, I would say you got LUCKY, not ripped off.

 

I have found some excellent quality natural materials at my local BPS in Harrisburg. Not all of it is, and that is true of any fly shop no matter where. My customer service experiences at BPS have been nothing but positive (and rare). Additionally, BPS still offers a 10% Military discount, unlike Cabela's or ANY small shop I've ever been in.

 

I just recently threw away a new LARGE bag of black marabou which I bought a couple years ago in an online order- it had a Wapsi label on it and I don't remember where I got it. Anyhow I apparently put it away and didn't open it when it arrived. I went to use it and ALL of the feathers were "burned" from an improper dye job. It would have been obvious to any fly person. I don't think the feathers come from the processors specifically with fly tying in mind. If those feathers were going into some fashion clothing or craft project, it wouldn't have mattered.

 

As for deer hair and bucktails, you have to learn what to look for and be extremely picky. Getting a really nice one in the mail is like winning the lottery. I never win the lottery, therefore I do not order deer hair or bucktails. Got to examine them in-hand at the shop. I'm very particular about deer hair and bucktails. Quite often I can't find a good one in the color I want.

[TheCream 0]

I have tried ordering some strung grizzly hackle in these hackle-shortage times we live in and had incredible variation in quality. Some good feathers, some horrible, some with good barring and some with none.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I'm not trying to defend poor quality, but you have to keep in mind that the folks who process natural tying materials, often get it in raw forms, and a lot of it, literally hundreds, and perhaps thousands of pounds of it. These materials can come from many sources too. When they go to process it, they don't pick thru everything to find the "best" for a particular tying purpose, and it would not be good business to do so. The time involved would likely make the cost too high. So, with packaged material, particularly loose material, you end up with whatever they put in the package. Some do seem to do a better job that others.

 

In the example of places like BPS, they often have materials packaged for them, they buy in bulk & pay a lower price, so they get more materials that are not as good in quality. The suppliers are not going to send them all of their best materials that they can get a better price for elsewhere. Again, it's business.

 

Even genetically raised hackle varies, as some of you have already mentioned. It's not a manufactured product with precise control over the result, and the grading process is subjective, based on the persons opinion who does the grading. Your opinion may not always match theirs!

 

Anytime you can, it's usually best to hand pick your materials as Joel has said, particularly materials such as deer tails, which are from a wild animal, and the tails & hides are collected from hunting. There may be a small percentage that is raised, but the majority are the result of the hunting seasons. You get what they get.

 

Personally, I'm not as particular as some of you, I've rarely gotten something I can't use. I have bought materials with a purpose in mind, only to find it was not what I wanted, but I don't throw anything away. I can find a use for almost anything. For example, I bought some packaged marabou many year ago from Wapsi. It was whole loose plumes, not strung. Not what I like for tying, but I have used some of it. I make up some small spoons that I use for panfish which have two single hooks, one is soldered to the blade, the other is a trailer and like to tie a marabou tails on the trailer hook. Doesn't need to be fancy, just something that adds movement. That loose marabou is fine for that purpose. I tied panfish jigs with it too, they didn't look great but they caught fish. Even when I tie bass & saltwater flies with saddles I save the "fluff" at the base for tying those spoon trailers. I hate wasting anything.

 

For you guys who tie a lot of dry flies, you have to get suitable material, but otherwise, most materials can be made usable.

 

When I tied flies commercially, I bought some marabou muddlers from an old gentleman to add to my stock. They were very well tied, but looked like heck! He used loose marabou instead of blood quills, and the marabou was very uneven. There was nothing wrong with those flies for fishing, but I couldn't sell them. I ended up selling most of them for less than what I paid for them, the remainder I put in my own fly boxes & used them. The point is that if you're selling flies, they have to look good, but for personal use, you can often use an "inferior quality material" and still catch plenty of fish.

 

I'm sure most of us strive to obtain & use the best we can get, because we want our flies to look the best they can, but when that's not the case and you end up with something that is not the "best", most materials can still have some use.

[Piker20 0]

Maybe we should have an amnisty. Send all the material you consider dodgy to me and I'll dispose of it in an environmental and responsible way :thumbsup: