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aa.allen

Bass Pro Shops tools or good starter tool kits

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Hello all

I have been a member here for about a month. Not much posting mainly reading. I have made soft plastic lures and painted hard baits with my son for for a short while. I was given a fly at our States outdoor expo this past September and was mesmerized by the fly have been fascinated by fly tying and flys ever since. I got the Fly Tying Bible for Christmas and checking out another book from the library. I have been reading those two and watching YouTube and Instagram videos. I am trying to take in a local fly tying class but nothing has worked out yet.

 

I was gifted a really nice vice I got today. I have been looking at tools. I read about the $5 wal-mart scissors but unfortunately I can not get everything else I need in the fabric department at wal mart.

 

Post Fly Box has a set for $30 I really like but they are out of stock. Bass Pro has some tools that seem okay but by the time I buy off the shelf all the single items of what I need at my local BPS the cost looks like it is going to add up to more than what I want to spend to start. I have been looking online and nothing really excites me. for various reasons from its more than I need to its single pieces that are going to add up. Id really like to find a good set that wont break the bank.

 

Does anybody have any suggestions? Are the Bass Pro Tools worth it? I am mostly going to be using flys for Blue Gill and trout

 

Any input is appreciated

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Well , I've only used the bass pro tools and I'm very happy . Not likely I will buy any other brand or upgrade . They serve me well .

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Your in luck! You got a book, a vise, scissors and you have a computer. Your well on your way and only need about 20 more bucks for tools. Don't spend it on a kit. Yes bass pro tools are fine. The dirty little fly tying secret is the tools don't really do much work. There's absolutely no reason you need a 25 dollar bobbin or whip finisher.

 

For a bobbin get the cheapest ceramic insert bobbin you can find. Terra ceramic bobbins - 6 bucks - I have about 15 of them and not one has ever failed. They do everything as well as a 50 dollar bobbin does they just aren't as sexy.

 

Any whip finisher does the same thing just as efficiently and easy as the next. Terra whip finisher - 6 bucks.

 

Bodkin - 2 bucks

 

Sally Hansons hard as nails - 3 bucks.

 

That's it, your ready to go except for materials. Other tools you may want you can pick up later. Tools like a hair stacker, hackle pliers, bodkin threader and whatever else is out is not needed to get started. But if you wanted them that would only cost you another 12 bucks.

 

Don't buy the hype. If you enjoy the finer things in life you can always upgrade later but expensive tools simply are not needed to tie quality flies.

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If we are going to be cheap, let’s be cheap.

Grab the elastic band strands from old underwear for legs and punch some holes in a 50c sheet of foam from Walmart.

Now you can tie spiders to catch those gills.

 

Seriously, though, you are almost there. Choose what you want to tie and buy those materials only.

Now you have spiders and something else.

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An expensive-ish whip finisher is the only kind of expensive tool I own this odds the only one I really feel comfortable using, but that's just me.

https://shop.flyfishsd.com/products/tiemco-whip-finish-tool?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=81207942&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6M6W5baz2AIVArjACh1XtAYXEAQYAiABEgIMk_D_BwE

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While your question is specific to tools and tool kits you will also need a few other items to get you going. When I read this I visualized you finally getting the 3 or 4 basic tools you need to get started but not the materials for the fly you want to tie or the hooks in the model or size suitable for the quarry you are after. If that is the case then why not bundle the remaining tools (bobbin, whip finisher and bodkin) into one order along with a couple spools of thread, some hooks and those materials you need to tie the first three patterns you plan on tying. There are a few places that have their own line of tools as well as hooks that cater to the budget conscious. Hook and Hackle (hookhack) on the internet is one of those places. There are, of course, others. HookHack has sample hook packs plus some very decent tools that won't have you breaking the piggy bank.

 

good luck and tight wraps!

 

ps - by the way, if you get get your order up to $35 they will ship it for free which is ~ a $6 savings.

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The only tools you need are scissors, bobbin, bodkin and hackle pliers. I have a couple of the Terra Bobbins, and am quite happy with them.

 

For hackle pliers, you have several options. Electronic test clips can be used, but I prefer the English style pliers that you can pick up for $2 or $3. Just make sure the jaws meet evenly, and grip the material firmly. Try them out before you buy them. There's a lot of cheap junk out there!

 

The bodkin is very useful, but there's no need to spend money. It's just a heavy needle on a handle. For years I used a corsage pin. Now I use a home made bodkin made by sticking the pin into a wooden handle I carved out of a tree branch.

 

Whip finish you can do by hand, without a tool. If you aren't a production tier, speed isn't necessary.

 

For a bobbin threader, just get one of those dental floss threaders.

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I'll echo the others here that there are perfectly good tool available at Bass Pro. You don't have to spend much money. Just make sure the bobbin as a ceramic insert.

 

Warning: over time you will become a tool junkie and a $70 bobbin will absolutely be required to tie quality flies. ;-)

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I agree on the Terra tools in general. Go buy some Terra tools or a Dr Slick kit. My preference in a whip finisher is a Matarelli style even now, while mine is original there are plenty of knock offs out there. I tend to buy Griffin ceramic lined bobbins but Terra are fine.

 

I have a Bass Pro hair stacker, a beautiful polished brass thing that cost too much but for decades I stacked hair in a piece of McDonalds drinking straw, probably for 15 years I had and used that piece of straw.

 

Speaking of starting out, I started with a vise, one bobbin with a copper tube non ceramic, razor blades to cut with and one whip finisher. Before the whip finisher, which I got because of tying size 20-24 midge pupa, I whipped by hand with bare fingers. A package of sewing needles was always in my case and I use those more than a bodkin and for applying head cement to tiny flies and i used to use the bigger needles on larger flies as well, still do sometimes.. I guess the point is nice tools are nice, but you don't need to be a tool collector to go fly fishing with some decent flies you tied with common tools.. In fact my first fly was tied with sewing thread and it caught fish, the fish really don't care what tools we used..

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Might as well throw my two cents in. I pretty much agree with what everybody said except , You dont need a whip finisher.Ive been tieing all my life, Ive never used one and I wouldnt know how to use one.

 

Next would be scissors. If you are giong to be tying tiny trout flies a quality pair a fine tipped scissors are a

must. If youre mostly going to be tieing big streamers, bass bug and saltwater flies you can get by with some embroidery scissors or Fiskars from Walmart. Quality scissors doesnt mean you have to spend $100

Anvil and Dr Slick both offer good scissors for $15-$20. Scissors is one place I would not try to skimp.

Its the tool you will use most often. Buy one good pair and only use them to cut soft materials and then another pair to cut your heavier and synthetic materials...Or just one good pair and only use the back end of the scissors to cut your synthetics and heavy stuff.

 

I probably have 8-10 Bokins from $2-$15 and the two I use the most are the ones that I made myself.

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I think I tied for 5 years before buying scissors, maybe longer. And on midges I still sometimes prefer to use a single edged razor blade, nothing cuts off the thread closer than a nice fresh sharp razor blade imo, just draw the thread up fairly tight and slip that blade in there and bink, it's cut. I always have a few razor blades in my kit.

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I went to BPS yesterday to buy tools and by the time I bought singles of what I need it was going to add up to more than I

am comfortable with. I am currently checking out some

Starter sets under $35. I found one for I really like for $19 Im just trying to figure out if its ceramic bobbins or not

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