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David 82nd

Started shopping at new shop

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Well I think I found a new fly tying material shop ( online ) I needed some Klinkhammer hooks #16,18

Couldn't find anywhere , well I did find some but I prefer this particular hook from " Partridge " so anyway , I find a show in California Bob Marriott " this shop has so many materials , every color size, just a very nice site , found my hooks , Peacock eyes , multiple colors , as well as a few other goodies , called order in

Talked with the nice guy in the order department , was polite and helpful , has anyone else used this shop?

I have been using Jstockard , however they ship slow, and honestly the inventory is limited , at first I thought they had good selection but after awhile it's pretty limited and I found out it's actually a mail order facility that ships out of a wearhouse , irl on phone told me this after my order was delayed , anyway , if you haven't looked at Bob Marriott shop you may find some materials you've had trouble finding elsewhere

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Never ordered from him ... but I did visit the store once. It's a well stocked store "in person", too.

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I have a close friend that deals with Bob Marroit several times and has good dealings, and I have used them once with no problems, I say go for it

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jstockard is my #1 choice for mail order.

 

i dont mind the 3-4 day delivery time. after its mailed out its not the retailers problem its late

 

if you needed it sooner then order it sooner

 

there is no 'mother of all fly shops' that carries every single fly tying item

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Marriott's attempted to be the "mother of all fly shops" that carried every single fly tying item.

 

Once upon a time, Marriott's was a great shop.

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Bears Den has most everything I need, as mentioned i don't think one fly shop has it all. but Bears Den is my drive to fly shop, it's about 40 miles from here, his shipping rates suck, for he wants to ship I might as well take a ride and get to drool over the materials and rods I'll never buy LOL. bears Den is really good to take a ride to on a drizzly day in say March when it isn't much good for anything else but you are thinking flies and fly fishing, maybe missing an item to tie a pattern you want to try on spring trout later in the season..

 

I buy sale items from J Stockard as well, they charge less to ship in from out of state than Bears Den does in state. And the sales are cheaper than Bears Den inflated prices on some items.

 

I'll have to go have a look at this Marriott site. Thanks

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dears den shipping rates do not suck. they charge you only the ACTUAL cost to ship to you

 

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if you want to pay more for the got to have it now, theyll gladly take your money

 

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Thanks flytire, I missed that ! Well, it's close enough to window shop though, plus I drive up that way from time to time anyway. Thanks again.

 

Incidentally, I've been shopping there for years, it's family run and nice people.

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i'm getting ready for a large hackle order so i might just bite the bullet and drive the 72 miles

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Last time I was in there ( Bears Den) they had some tempting hackle, unfortunately I wasn't there for that but for tube fly stuff. Metz, Whiting and Keough all looked good. But you better call before you go, last year in July the selection was low there and I ordered sight unseen from J Stockard, some half necks which turned out decent..

 

However for fathers day my wife bought me a peacock eye skin from Bears Den, nice stuff. I finally have my real peacock eyes I've been out of for some time now, wow ! Tying Gray Ghosts on tubes today I might add ( an experiment). I tied Green Ghosts when we were in Maine two weeks ago, traditionally. I got some big rises to those on the lake but I think the fish were actually on the first hex hatch of the season and turned my offering down. The river was off limits, too much water later in the week when I had intended to river fish. We went from 1900cfs, to 2200, to 2600, to 2900, they raised it to 5800 the day we left and 8600 the next week for a few days. 2000 is about the top for safe wading in that river incidentally. Yes I know I'm rambling, sorry !

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Marriott's has been around for a long time. Back in the pre-internet days they had about the thickest fly shop catalog around. I always wondered if they really had all of that stuff in stock, but I don't remember having anything back ordered.

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The internet has opened up some competitive markets, I understand the shipping , the uncontrolled delays , true there isn't a one shop for all needs , it is probably very difficult to stay competitive with all shops when not one person tying flys has the same needs , I admit I wouldn't want to have to stock those odd materials then carry in inventory in hopes that those few would buy off shelf , so I get the standard inventory stocking , keep inventory moving , keep the lights on .

This brings up a funny experience I had over the winter , I was tying up a box of Bead head nymphs , need a few sizes , I drove to my local area for materials , inside of a 1/4 mile is 5 shops, all have guide services as well , all friendly and helpful , lol here comes the funny moment , first shop I went into I did the normal walking around looking , the owner comes out greets and says " what are you looking for ? I told him I was looking for some slotted tungsten beads to tie some " jig type nymphs " oh boy. ..... I thought I spilled my coffee or somthing based on his reaction, he said why ? I looked at him , he then goes on to tell me , " you live in the Catskills , you should be tying Catskills flies , lol , then tells me he never used bead heads , so he doesn't carry them ? I kind of looked at him , I responded politely, well I was trying to do my business locally to support the local shops like youres ... so I thought I'd skip the internet and come here today , lol. He said " you don't need those ... hmm okay. Well thanks for telling me what I need today I said

, now I'm thinking he's probably joking with me , sort of his personality right. Nope , guy was dead seriouse , lol

I looked at him said have a great day , enjoy the snowstorm this weekend , and I walked out ..

walked across the street , into the next shop which is an " Orvis shop " I never spoke a word of my experience across the street lol ,

I was greeted and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee ? Sure , thank you , then shown to the materials I was looking for , I found some other items as well , upon checking out , the owner asked if there was anything else I needed or couldn't find ? I smiled and said no , thanks I found everything , he figured out what I was tying , and suggested some nice squirrel dubbing ? , I said sure sounds great I'll take a packet .. what a difference .....

I suppose some of the shops get burned out on people just walking in and walking out , using the staff for information then to go home , get online and purchase , I always try to support my local shops , however the above experience just lost my support ..

when I need or want somthing and just don't have the time to drive there I will jump online and order it , I'm human to and just point and click , but whenever I'm in the " local shops " I always make a purchase , small or large I just feel it's a good thing to do , some spools of thread , few packs of hooks or dubbing , not expensive but puts some money in the register that day , and hopefully they can stay open . lol I will never forget that experience I had , I honestly laugh about to think that this guy was serious. Lol oh well I guess he's fine with it , his shop , his rules. But instead of getting pissed off i truly found this funny , I didn't think he was serious but he was lol

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I have ordered from Bob Marriot's before. Service was good but I found the website isn't updated with the actual inventory. They may list everything in the world but not everything is actually available based on my experience. Overall I'm agnostic when it comes to online ordering. I've developed a list I order from depending upon what I need. I lived for too many years without being near a decent fly shop so had to become creative in finding materials online without paying a fortune. I've found prices for the same thing can vary widely.

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