Favorite and/or cheapest supplier for materials

[NPurdy 0]

Michos, I collect my own feathers, but not from road kill unless I have seen it get killed. I'm no germophobe but I've seen way too many zombie apocalypse movies to be grabbing things from the road when I don't really know how they died. Same for random dead birds I see everywhere when hiking. I do have buddies that hunt and trap and when they kill something they call me and I go harvest what I need and freeze it for a month. Freezing the stuff only kills like lice and fleas but not disease/viral stuff. I've sometimes think about taking my daughters animals or whatever and if she hasn't been playing with it for awhile use some of the hair and what not from that (father of the year I know). A few of her My Little Pony animals have bright and sparkly synthetic hairs that could come in handy one day.

[Gene L 0]

I've picked up roadkill and have used it. Lice, fleas, etc. live off blood, not feathers, and once the blood stops flowing, the parasites leave the body for redder pastures. Freezing them can't hurt, of course.

 

Maybe I'm wrong here. I've never been infected by unwanted parasites.

[michos 0]

Buy veevus thread!

What size veevus thread would you typically use on bass wooly buggers, poppers, crawfish etc? 8/0? 10/0?

[Gene L 0]

6/0 for those for me. Or Uni. You don't need particularly fine thread for those large flies. You only need fine thread for smaller flies to keep from building up the head.

[flytire 0]

use the smallest thread as possible. buy whatever size, tie it on and then break it. repeat. this will give an idea of how much force it will take to break the thread.

 

start with a 6/0 and graduate to 8/0, 10/0 etc

 

i prefer 12/0 veevus for everything i tie.

[Dave G. 0]

I don't use veevus at all. On bass bugs and divers I tend to use Uni and the bigger ones I use 3/0. 6/0 on the smaller ones. I love 70 denier UTC Ultra but not for spinning hair, it's great for flies where you Don't want to spin hair but to sinch it down without spinning instead. Most other flies are tied with 8/0 Uni or 70 denier UTC Ultra. Even my small midges are tied with 8/0 Uni.

[Goose77 0]

Hey Michos, I believe you'll like tying thread better than sewing thread when you get the chance to compare. For bass flies 6/0 is a good start for buggers and tailing on bugs...UTC140 is easy to find and Veevus 6/0 are my favorites in this class. The Veevus is very strong. For bigger stuff flat waxed nylon is an old time favorite for many tiers. It was hard for me to handle at first...rough hands fray it very easily. But for big flies and tails it is pretty darn good. Good luck. These guys have given you some solid info. Cheers, Ed

[Dave G. 0]

The first few streamers I tied years ago I used sewing thread on. The heads built too fast and too coarse looking, though it could be used for segmented body material on some flies if you seal it.

[crazy4oldcars 0]

Bead chain eyes are cheaper when borrowed from a public toilet!

Adam just guaranteed that I will never swipe flies from *his* boxes.

 

Stay away from cotton or cotton blend threads in the sewing aisle. Cotton holds water, which both rots the thread and rusts the hook. Rust can spread thru a flybox like a plague.

All fly tying thread is synthetic and sheds water, mostly.

 

Kirk B.

[Guest]

If you have a dremel tool here's a great article by a buddy from another board. using cheap flip flops and make them into foam fishing bugs.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/082205fotw.php

[BuzFly 0]

Most of the time cheep is cheep and cheep quality.... Hooks are hooks and eyes are eyes, but natural materials and some of the synthetics can varry a lot from pack to pack. I see so many people try to squeeze pennies out of a rock. If you are going to deal with an online retailer, fined one that is small and you can talk to. A simple phone call or email saying I am looking for a pink widget do you have the one I am looking for or asking I need this thingamabob do you have it or what else will do or or do I really need it. The big online stores just go to a bin location and pick the first one they see. They won't pull three or four out and look at then and see if it matches what you requested. I try to do this all the time for my customers. A good place should also not be afraid to say I have the item but it's not what you are looking for or the texture is wrong or it's a crappy batch, so I will ask that you let me order some more in for you. I look at dealing with an online retailer like finding a good butcher, not just settling what is prepackaged in plastic wrap and has the $2 off manager special...

[hazards1969 0]

Check out the saddle hackle from Feather Emporium - http://www.featheremporium.com/ - Their bargain bin usually has some great prices for hackles that are not 100 percent perfect. For slightly higher prices, they have a very comprehensive selection of feathers.

[Roland58 0]

You have to check out

http://www.flytyersdungeon.com/

 

He's taking orders for his Christmas boxes. $25.00 gets you about a years supply of a ton of different materials, eyes, dubbing, etc.

 

I got my Christmas Box (Bag) today. At first site, I thought, "Well, this looks like a rip off." The bag was not very large; it fit easily into my mail box. I have to say that when I got it into the house and opened it up, it seemed like I was pulling stuff out forever......kinda like one of those Volkswagen cars that the clowns get out of at a circus. There is a ton of stuff in the bag and all of it is good, usable material. I think it was Mike that said he ordered one a year or two ago and is still using material from it.......I can see how that could easily happen. Needless to say, I am very pleased. Also, he has some smaller packages than the $25 ones for about half the price, although, I don't know what is contained in them. He doesn't (at this time) deal with feathers, hooks or any 'natural' material, he has everything else at great prices and it seems to be high quality product! Don't hesitate to buy from the Fly Tyers Dungeon, you won't regret it!!

[Mike West 0]

I carry a beard trimmer with me in the truck, any road kill Squirrel,Possum or Coon gets shaved and hair put in a baggie.

[PJ2 0]

I'm big on road kill also. hit me a turkey, three pheasants this year alone.,deer tails, and friends who kill water fowl. and small game always come in handy.

 

I carry a beard trimmer with me in the truck, any road kill Squirrel,Possum or Coon gets shaved and hair put in a baggie.

never thought of this though... sounds like a plan to me.