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Ginormus1

Most used material

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Have a quick question for you all! What are some of your most used materials? Now I don't mean things like hooks or thread as obviously those are used in all flies, but what other materials do you use the most. I am new to fly tying and I am hoping to buy some multi purpose materials that can be used to tie many different patterns. Please also put what kind of fish you tie for and use those materials for the most!

Thanks!

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I fish for ...

 

 

 

 

and ...

Lake Houston Hawg.jpg

 

I tie with a lot of stuff from Dollar Tree and the like ...

 

 

Yeah, I know ... THAT bass didn't come on a fly ... and I am NOT that young, anymore.

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Really ? You don't want to see the inside of my main tying case. When I open it it basically explodes. It might be best if you tell us what species you are targeting mainly and then from my list of materials for that species, assuming I fish for that species, I could maybe begin to tell you what I use most .

 

I can tell you this much, I keep grizzly, ginger,coachman brown, barred ginger, blue dun and natural dun capes/necks/skins. Strung saddles in creme and in white and olives. I use a fair amount of blue dun gray marabou when I can find it ( I need some right now) and natural deer hair. And I keep them because at various times of year I use them. But beyond that, there are flosses and other saddle hackles and mallard flanks and bugger packs and hen skins, herls, yarns etc etc etc. Grizzly hen hackle, black marabou and peacock herl have to be near the top my list though. You say don't mention thread, some of my most productive midge patterns are made mostly of thread !

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Chenille, marabou, rabbit fur strips, strung saddle hackles, all in various colors. I have a plastic shoe box full of each. There are so many files that are variations of woolybuggers that it's amazing how much of this stuff you go through.

 

Which fish? I spend about 1/2 my time fishing for trout, the other 1/2 for whatever will bite in the warm water ponds, streams and rivers here in the lower piedmont of NC. I have yet to find a fish that won't take a woolybugger in the right size and color, when presented properly.

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I tie for everything fresh to salt. I go through a lot of bucktail because salt stuff are considerably larger. I don't tie a lot of dry flys so hackle can last me years and years. I also don't stuff multiple fly boxes with ten different sizes if every fly that catches my eye. For trout it's a lot of hares ear, PT's, midges, prince nymphs, gnats and terrestrials. Bass it's foam and cork poppers, muddlers, and clousers.

 

Mallard flank, pheasant tail, peacock herl, lots of beads, goose biots, turkey feathers and dubbing which goes a long long way.

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Depends. This winter one of the things I need to do is restock some of my trout boxes. CDC, Deer Hair, Snowshoe rabbit, pheasant tail, fine wire salvaged from IPod ear buds. For warm and salt water, a lot of sheet foam, foam cylinders, saddle hackle, estaz, buck tail, spinner bait skirts(Sili Legs)and various artificial material, like Mirror Image and Senyo Laser dubbing.

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I used to say I fished for bass and snook, but I am revising that because I have not been close enough to a snook in a while. Now it is largemouth and peacock bass.

 

Marabou, chenille, foam and saddle hackle are my main materials. And some flash.

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For trout, probably peacock herl. Any combination of thread (usually black), thin UTC wire, herl, and sometimes a bead gives you endless possibilities for smaller nymphs and midges. Add in a bit of flash for a shuck or yarn for an emerger and theres even more you can do. These catch in Colorado all year round, pretty much anywhere

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For trout, I'm pretty much a fan of soft hackle style ties, midges, nymphs,classic wets, Muddlers and woolly buggers and woolly worms. For dries typical, March Brown, BWO, elk hair caddis and some of the royal style ties. So my materials reflect all that. For trout I would not be without grizzly hackle in cock neck and hen, natural hen as well or ruffed grouse second. In my box pretty much has always been those items, peacock herl, chenille, some gold beads, thin wire medium and small tinsel, rabbit dubbing in black, tan, mole grey, olive. Tan, black, red, olive and white thread, in 6/0 and 8/0 and 70 D. Floss in jade green, gold/yellow, burnt orange/reds. Elk hair, deer hair, mallard flank, calves tails in yellow and in white, squirrel tail in grey and in red or so called fox squirrel.. Turkey stuff, a couple of matched mottled feathers, biots in mahogany, black and olive. Bucktail or synthetics in white, brown , black purple and pink, orange and red. Antron yarn and poly yarns.

 

If you want to get started, I suggest getting materials for the flies you want to tie. The stuff listed above will automatically fill your box as you spread out your fly selection, LOL. Start simple, maybe woolly buggers or woolly worms. Just for the record, when I was first learning I started right there buggers and woolly worms, then to wet flies and streamers. I very quickly learned that I really needed a decent grizzly hackle neck, you can buy half capes or half necks to keep the cost down in the beginning.. For buggers you can get bugger packs or strung saddle . Ultimately, over the long haul of purchasing materials you will find your own favorites , in terms of hackle though there are some standards, which I listed in my first post.

 

Because I fish Maine, where both Brook trout and salmon are prevalent, I also stock some specifics to tie some of the standard patterns of that region. Caddis pupa of course can get both, Muddlers could but brookies really like them and extra really like them tied a certain way.. And classic and marabou Grey Ghosts are pretty standard streamers up there. Small Hornbergs are a good staple in New England, I don't know about your area. So again my box reflects that as well. Understand that "Rome wasn't built in a day", my box absolutely did not fill itself even in the first year of tying and traveling etc. In fact it's taken years/decades. And now materials offerings are changing and luring fishermen and tyers in, to some degree even myself. But classic materials still catch fish too.

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1. Hooks (in different styles and sizes)
2. Thread (6/0 to start in black & white)
3. Pheasant Tail (center feathers when possible for the longest fibers)
4. Peacock Herl (eye feathers and strung herl)
5. Marabou (blood quills are better)
6. Deer hair
7. Elk hair
8. Buck tail (in different colors like red, yellow, or white)
9. Lead or non-lead wire (in different sizes)
10. Ribbing wire (silver, copper & gold)
11. Rooster Hackle (grizzly, brown, white & dun) A good option is an introduction pack
12. Hen neck or saddle (grizzly, brown, dun etc) (great for soft hackle & wings)
13. Hungarian Partridge Skin (great for soft hackles)
14. Dubbing dispenser of hares ear (various colors) & superfine dubbing for dry flies
15. Gray duck or goose wing feathers (used for wing cases)
16. Head cement
17. Tinsel and other flash materials (in assorted colors)
18. Calf tail (start with white, add colors when necessary)
19. Yarns & chenille (used for making bodies, both in assorted colors)
20. Floss (1 strand or 4 strand in assorted colors)
21. Strung hackle (practice wrapping hackle with this. cheap alternative to the pricey hackles)
22. Beads (not necessary to begin tying flies but if you really need them get them)

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My most used commonly used material is dubbing. Hare's mask dubbing for wet flies and nymphs and superfine synthetic for dries, in a variety of colors, will cover 86.35% of trout flies.

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For trout flies, it's probably partridge (legs, tails, wings and collars on wooly buggers), pheasant tail and peacock herl. One or more of those are used on exactly 72.956% of the trout flies I tie.

 

For bass & panfish, it's a real mixed bag. Rabbit strips, marabou, foam, rubber legs, ice dub, laser dub, etc... it all gets used.

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