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Thanks all! I tied some basic olive green buggers today, and even though each one had its little issue it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I'm pretty happy! I'll fish one tomorrow morning. Philly, I'm not gonna lie, that ol' whip finisher is a mind bender. I did get it down though. I ended up deconstructing the flies several times to measure how much lead wire and chenille I used on each fly, and it wasn't much. I can make these things for a fraction of what I can buy them for. I should've started tying flies back in the 70s. Thanks again, good people!

Right on, thanks guys. I didn't mean I was going to tie flies with sewing thread, I meant practice whip finishing and wrapping a bare hook. Nothing else. Now, the only reason why I asked is because I was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, at the price of materials. Ok, I wasn't that shocked. Y'all warned me. Off I go to tie out of proportion flies with too many thread wraps and a crowded head. Proportion, got it.

My vise will arrive tomorrow and I'm ready to learn. I'll practice wrapping and whip finishing a bare hook to start, and I'll use cheap sewing thread at first, but when it comes to things like palmering hackle and winding pheasant tail barbs around a hook, how does one practice this without wasting material? Can I just wind and unwind hackle repetitively, or will the hackle take a set after the first time and not work for practice after that? I'd sort of like to have the techniques down a bit before I actually try to tie a fly. Or should I just go for it and tie some flies that look like a chromosome abnormality? I know they'll still catch fish but I want the fish to be proud of me, not hitting my fly out of pity.

cphubert, that's my plan, minus the woodstove. I had to leave it behind in the high cold lonesome, and I miss that life dearly. flyflinger, I could learn a lot from you. Say hi to my homestate for me.

Beautiful.

SilverCreek, thanks for the links. I started reading about deer and elk hair, and how to properly tie an EHC, and I found it extremely difficult to pull myself away. "In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again." flytire, I am now beginning to understand in what ways your admonition is true.

Much appreciated Tom.

Thanks MuskyFlyGuy, I knew Chug was laying down some truth. I'll keep my chin up.

chugbug27, thanks for the detailed response. I wondered if there were other materials besides hackle that might present a quality vs quantity dilemma but I never would've guessed deer hair or turkey tail feathers as common as those are. Luckily, since archery deer season has come and gone for me I won't be scrutinizing my quarry for the fly tying potential of its hide. The Elk Hair Caddis is one of the flies I want to tie so I'll probably ask hair related questions soon, and I'll hold off on attempting Dave's Hopper until I pass Deer and Elk hair 101. Thank you for pointing me to wholesaleflycompany.com for hooks! I groaned when I saw the price of Daiichi hooks but dropped $80 on them in my first order anyway. My wooly buggers really will cost three times as much as Umpqua buggers, but I guarantee the maribou won't just fall off. You know, when I wrote that about dryer lint I actually ran the feasibility through my mind but I didn't really think it would work. Did you know you can make a dubbing noodle of waxed dental floss and toilet paper? It's a true story: I have to wrap a square of TP around my fingers before I wind the floss around, otherwise the floss cuts into my fingers. I have to take care to not spin the floss or it will pick up little bits of TP and be useless for flossing my teeth. Wierd, I know, but that's my life. I bought extra strong TP and it solved that problem. PS -- I love the food and music in NOLA. It's the only city that hasn't kicked me out for smiling far more than I should.

I've read at least a few times that a beginner should buy only quality materials to avoid needless frustration. Well it makes sense to me, but when researching what hackle to tie wooly buggers with, a lot of experienced tyers use whatever is left of the saddle or cape, or whatever is laying around, implying that wooly bugger hackle doesn't need fretting over. Or maybe "whatever is laying around" is actually high quality stuff. Regardless, I'd feel dumb if my buggers ended up costing me three times as much as Upqua buggers. Charlie Craven said beginners should start out tying flies in the smaller sizes because once you have that skill you'll easily tie larger sizes, but if you learn by tying larger sizes you'll have to learn a whole new set of skills to tie smaller flies. Makes sense to me. I haven't really looked around for "value priced" material though I did see some micro tubing in the crafts section at walmart yesterday. Many of the flies that I've bought in fly shops were obviously tied with the cheapest hackle on the cheapest hooks, apparently using cotton sewing thread and dubbed with dryer lint. If I ever tie a fly that crappy I'd question my motive and my decisions that led up to it, but I think I could probably learn to tie okay using the less expensive materials. Where can a tyer cheap out without tying a garbage fly? Also, I'm sure this question has been asked and answered at least 14,008 times on this forum, so if I'm wasting valuable server space and everybody's time, please just drop a relevant link and be done with it. I've never seen a search function that worked for me.

Impeccable attention to detail. What brake is that?

I'm a complete n00b, still waiting for my vise, basic tools, and hooks and materials to arrive. Any freakin day now... I've been fly fishing for a couple of decades but not seriously. But now I'm serious, oh man am I serious. You can wipe that smirk off your face. Is something funny? It's gonna be a long cold winter and I'll lean pretty hard on you guys (and gals) to get me through some difficult patterns, so thank you in advance and sorry for the dumb questions. Maybe in 40 years I'll feel qualified to help others with tying but for now if anyone has questions about archery or bushwacking through miles of blackberry to get skunked again, I've got a little experience. I'll keep the good stuff in the PM's.