Cheapest and most effective flies to tie

[Redneckr3bel 0]

Get guys I'm on my way to become a pro fly fishing guide but I don't want to spend a lot of money on materials for flies I'm just gonna lose. What are flies that are super cheap In materials but deadly In the water? I'm fishing for bass, panfish, and striper

[vicrider 0]

You're kidding...right?

[FlaFly 0]

foam spiders, poppers and a few simple streamers. Don't bother buying fly hooks... regular bait hooks will work. Don't know how many clients you'll catch though. They probably expect more from a paid guide. I know I would.

[vicrider 0]

A pro fishing guide getting money from most people are expected to provide...Quality boat and motor... good quality tackle if needed, provided or rented, usually provided... all lures or flies of good quality and matching local conditions...proof of insurance and state license, federal Coast Guard license on some waters... Good quality life preservers for youth and auto-inflate for adults... proven performance, usually established by working for a sports or fly shop.

 

I had all these in MN including state license and Coast Guard Certificate for 6 passenger, a couple of boats depending on water including my cabin cruiser for Lake Superior, all tackle unless you wanted to use your own. All these cost a lot of money and if you're concerning yourself with saving a few bucks on flies your career will be short lived. Find a shop to work with, get training from their guides, and come thru the hard but correct way. Because you can go out and catch a few fish by yourself doesn't mean you're ready for guide service.

 

Sorry to be so blunt but let's face it. Guiding is a crowded field and like tournament fishermen the cream rise to the top and the rest put it on the trailer and go home.

[tidewaterfly 0]

So, you're intending on guiding professionally & don't know what flies to tie or materials to buy?

 

Sounds like a great way to get started to me!

 

Great first post BTW!

[Redneckr3bel 0]

I know what materials to use and what to do I've been tying flies for 5 years I was just wondering if there were any simple flies you all knew how to tie that were any good

[Philly 0]

Interesting.

 

For panfish.

The Green Weenie

Materials:

Body: Fluorescent Yellow or Green Chartreuse chenille

Hook: Eagle Claw Aberdeen Style Crappie hooks size 8 to 14

Tying thread: color to match the chenille

Optional: Black beadheads

 

Estaz Bug

Materials:

Body: Estaz or sparkle chenille, white/pearl, yellow, root beer, black, or chartreuse

lead wire to make 4 to 6 wraps around center of hook shank before wrapping body

Tail: Marabou to match the color of the estaz or sparkle chenille

Hook: Eagle Claw Aberdeen Style Crappie hooks size 6 to 10

 

Top Water:

Crease Fly

Body: craft foam

Tail: White Buck Tail

Hook: Eagle Claw Aberdeen Style Crappie hooks size 1 to 6

Permanent markers to add color to fly

 

Fun Foam(craft foam)Popper

Materials

Popper Head: Circle punched from craft foam

Body: Wrapped hackle of your choice

Tail: Marabou

Hook: Eagle Claw Aberdeen Style Crappie hook size 4 to 10

[Jeremymcon 0]

I think about the cost of materials a lot too when tying just for myself. Hackle is obviously expensive, but it's also pretty much indispensable. So just find the cheapest source you can and suck it up. But for nymphs and streamers, you can definitely shave costs on materials. I tend to buy materials that are useful for a variety of things, and always shy away from the fad and super-premium materials. Off the top of my head, Cree hackles, zelon, and sculpin hemlets are things that I would never buy. They are overpriced, and I can make similar flies with cheaper materials. Well... Maybe I'd buy them eventually. But as a luxury, not as an essential material.

 

One material in particular that I've been getting a lot of use out of recently is Congo hair from fly tyers dungeon. It's super cheap, and you get a ton of it in a package. I've used it for parachute posts, dry fly wings (esp caddis), streamers, twisted as a body in nymphs, as claws and shellback on crayfish flies, tails on gurglers and poppers, and pretty much anywhere you could use antron or zelon. Oh and I also use it to make yarn indicators.

[troutguy 0]

What is your guide business website?

[Morrowboarder 0]

Sounds like you're chasing your dream, best of luck to you. Vic's advice is pretty solid; speak with local shops. If you're trying to gain a reputable business, go with quality flies.

 

Striper on the fly, that would be fun. I live near a lake with 30 pounders, never can hook into one though.

[mikechell 0]

I know one guide, personally. He ties his own flies when he's not "in season" and has some time off.

During the season, he has two other tiers who tie his flies for him. After a day on the water, he's just not into whipping up a new batch of flies for the next day's fishing. He never presents a used fly to the new day's customers ... always starting the day with 'brand new' flies.

 

But I do know that is go to fly is a clouser for bass and crappie, and a top water popper for sunfish. I was really surprised the first time I heard him talk about people paying to go bluegill fishing. But his price is a little more than twice the cost of a rental boat, and the customer doesn't have to "find" the fish.

 

Good luck, if you're serious ... just make sure you've got all the legal aspects taken care of. A liability lawsuit will bankrupt you for the rest of your life.

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Yep! The new world is what it is, new bussineses always welcome & always someone allergic to work & looking for a payout! Becarefull!

[Rocco 0]

With only 5 years into fly tying under your hull, you will have a tough time attracting more experienced fly fishers who would expect to see flies that are based on in depth experience rather than cost from a paid guide. (Simplicity and speed in tying with quality -- not necessarily expensive -- materials and a fine sense of proportion that work would fill the bill.)

 

So, your business model appears pre-weighted toward novice or early beginning fly anglers. It is very hard to go straight from the store with new tackle to a boat as a learning platform so your time actually guiding the new initiates --rather than dehooking and unsnarling them -- on the water could shrink. Prior, on the grass and class time would both help assure the guide time is optimized and weed out the truly dangerous potential clients.

 

Last weekend I was a at a local Orvis shop for some materials. They had a beginners intro class just breaking up. The dynamic was interesting as the teacher selected out the deep pocketed and herded them to the fly rods and reels display where the beginner rigs were quickly bypassed for the mid range -- "might work for you for years to come" -- and thence to the Nirvanna models that got extolled to the heavens. Credit cards flashed. What is the closet life of a fly rig?

 

There's gold in them thar hills!

 

Rocco

[Kudu 0]

I have fished with guides a lot and agree with Vic. Many of the guides I have fished with did not tie their own flies. A good guide in my opinion provides the following: safety, vast knowledge that he/she is willing to share, and a quality experience on the water. There have been guides I have fished with and I didn't catch a fish that I thought were excellent. It was more likely than not my fault that I didn't catch any. I have even fished with guides that spoke no English and we had a wonderful time and laughed a lot and caught a lot of fish. Good luck on your endeavor as it is a very difficult job that you won't have a lot of monetary gain but hopefully you'll still get rich. No doubt your office will be better than mine. Finally to answer your question the clouser and its variants. A chartreuse and whit one and a black one will generally catch fish anywhere. Lastly, have good equipment and take excellent care of it.

[mikechell 0]

Kudu's mention of different guides reminds me of the reason I will never even try to guide.

My friend, the guide, rarely gets to fish. Once in a while, he'll have a client that knows how to fish, where to cast and just needs a guide to avoid unproductive water. During these trips, he usually gets a chance to fish.

Usually, he's got more than one angler with him, and he's so busy keeping them both busy that he can even look at his rods, let alone use them.

I don't want to turn my main hobby into a job. I don't want the stress, the necessity to please others, or the business hassles.

 

I fish to get away from all of that.