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No. This subject's come up before. If I remember correctly, it was determined that for the price of the subscription you can buy much more material and follow better tutorials (free) online.

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Do you have a specific subscription service in mind? We can compare patterns and materials listed with individual purchases.

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https://subscribe.postflybox.com/collections/fly-tying-kits

 

Each kit is $20.00. Looks like you'll get 10 flies or so. Since the flies average about $3.00 each in a store, you'll get a $10.00 discount for your 10 flies. That assumes that each fly you tie will be a fishable fly. If your just learning, that's not guaranteed.

It also looks like the total retail for all the materials might run about 12 to 15 bucks. So, your not getting a GREAT deal, but ...

 

Actually, after looking at this particular site's kits ... it might not be a bad idea, either. The only drawback I see is if they do like the old "Columbia House" music club did. If they send you a kit automatically, then you'll get kits you don't want.

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i would personally figure out 5 flies you want to tie and buy materials identified in the recipe. these materials become the building block for tying other flies

 

 

All of our products are available here at www.postflybox.com in one time customizable orders. You can always order a regular month to month subscription and cancel anytime. Most folks regret giving it up! Give us a call at 888-310-3357 if you want to learn more.

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i would personally figure out 5 flies you want to tie and buy materials identified in the recipe. these materials become the building block for tying other flies

 

 

I gotta agree with Norm on that. When you just start out the best thing to do is figure out the top 5-8 patterns you will be tying to start/most. Then buy the materials for those. Usually the top flies you start with will entail materials such as marabou, chenelle, dubbing and a hackle, which those few materials will become the same for countless other good patterns like mentioned above.

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I guess if your comparing it to buying flies it's an okay price but 20 bucks so you can assemble 12 flies is no bargain. I'd pass and just buy the materials for one or two patterns and go from there.

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Wait a minute, isn't the whole idea of these boxes to try new things and recieve items you might not ordinarily purchase?

 

If so, then I think the opinions here are flawed!

 

Since I haven't done the fly box one but have received one for my dogs and one for hiking/camping...based on those I received some really really cool new things, tried food and drinks, and generally enjoyed receiving things I would never have purchased otherwise. Eventually I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff and ended the subscriptions. I would do it again.

 

I don't do the fly boxes because I have more fly tying materials than I need already!!

 

If your goal is to get random materials, new possibly innovative items, and try new things, then a fly box subscription might be right for you.

 

That's my flawed opinion :D

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Phil the OP is actually brand new to tying if I'm not mistaken, so he currently doesn't have any sort of tying materials at all. So that's why everyone is saying it's best for him to build the basic building blocks of materials and not get into spending money on the fly box subscriptions in the very beginning because that's not really the best thing for a brand new tier to get into.

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Your flawed opinion is actually a great point on the pro side of subscriptions. Still not enough pros to outweigh the cons for me but a very good and well stated point nonetheless.

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We should keep in mind that opinions are never "flawed". If you disagree, that's your opinion (also not flawed). Now that we have that out of the way...

 

I agree with Norm, Steve, and opinions that subscriptions are not the best investment for beginners. "Fly tying kits" are similar. I bought one when I first started out and most of the hooks and materials have pretty much been tossed over the years. I wish I would have focused on buying basic tools, and then materials that are needed for a small selection of flies. A better way to branch out and learn new things is to follow tying tutorials on YouTube, look for step-by-step fly patterns in this forum, do random research in magazines or the googlenet. Because I'm old, I used library books, catalogs from Herters, Orvis, Cabelas, and other fly shops and selected flies to learn from the pages. The advantage is that the flies were selected by me. I had an interest in how they looked and how they I thought would fish.

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I couldn't say the other opinions are flawed without admitting that mine is. All of our opinions are, or are not, haha, depending on how you look at it. We're all so full of bias and experience, and as we get older it's harder to fight. Anyways you guys deal enough with my phil-o-sophical posts in the lodge, so I won't sidetrack this thread now. But please all remember my posts are almost always meant in fun and humor. That's my Thursday Zen moment biggrin.png smile.png

 

Flicted, your username makes me laugh every time. reminds me of

idNzZlNWJjNWM2NzZj-47fcdc9530058f6894494

 

I'm not conflicted, just a little flicted biggrin.png biggrin.png

 

 

So, back to the topic, I would agree that for a new tier the subscriptions might not be as beneficial. The types of boxes I received had items targeting people who were advanced, for sure.

 

I disagree about the fly tying kits, my first cheap one gave me the tools/materials needed and taught me to tie the initial flies needed (pheasant tail, hare's ear, wooly bugger) but that's just my opinion and likely the result of the kit that I purchased relative to where I live (those flies are useful in Colorado). I still have some of the hooks but all of the other materials have been used.

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