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Fly tying kits

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I worked late tonight and wife is calling me for dinner (yes, at 10:42pm) but I wanted to give you a quick reply to say "DON'T BUY A KIT!" I'll be happy to give you some additional advise but one thing that has helped me is buying quality materials.

 

Do you have a vise and tools already? That may be the first step to consider.

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I will second that advice...Do not buy pre-packaged kits.

 

You can find some some decent deals on ebay for pre-owned set-ups and/or batches of tools and materials BUT you realy have to know what you are looking at to wade through all the trash that is on there. I realy don't know how else to advise you on this though...i am not the best judge sometimes my-self.

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I will second that advice...Do not buy pre-packaged kits.

 

You can find some some decent deals on ebay for pre-owned set-ups and/or batches of tools and materials BUT you realy have to know what you are looking at to wade through all the trash that is on there. I realy don't know how else to advise you on this though...i am not the best judge sometimes my-self.

I third that.If you have a fly shop near by,go and tell the proprieters what u r planning 2 do.They should be able to build you a customized kit to get u started.One final note,Get the best vice u can afford>and get hackle pliers,scissors,boobin,bodkin,iand a good book or dvd on tying pike flies.Just get the materials u plan to tie your first few flies with and then u can go from there.I've been tying 13 years almost and am still adding to my "FLY TYING KIT"

shane

P.S. IF YOU PLAN TO WORK WITH HAIR WHICH I PRESUME,although i may be wrong never fished for pike with flies, ALLOT OF PIKE AND PANFISH PATTERNS CALL FOR, I WOULD ALSO GET A STACKER.

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I fourth that. Decide on the patterns you want to tie or like to use and buy the materials accordingly. This is a great way to build up your collection without having a bunch of unwanted materials from the get go. My mom gave me a kit for Xmas when I was around 15 and I still have a bunch of the materials (unused). I am now 41.

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OK, I'll go ahead and say it too, "skip the kit." Like has been said, buy the best vise you can afford. Don't run out and buy every tool out there thinking you need it. You don't. I use scissors, bobbins, and a bodkin....that's about it. I don't use any of the other tools out there. I have them, but don't use them. That doesn't mean you won't use them, or that you shouldn't, but I ran out when I started tying and bought everything I thought I'd ever need....and then hardly used them before, and now never use them. Buy what you need, and again, get the best vise you can. Buy a good vise now, and you'll never need another. I bought mine almost ten years ago when I started tying, still have it, and will always have it.

 

As for materials, pick a couple of pattern recipes that you want to tie, and then put together a shopping list and go buy those materials, and build from there. Again, don't run out and buy every material and color in the shop. Keep it simple and figure out what you need.

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Wow, thanks for the help. I do not have any fly tying tools of any kind. I will be tying some simple streamers since that is what I have been catching most of the pike on. I will keep looking, any ideas on vice/tools I will need for starters.

 

Thanks once again

 

Notf :thumbup:

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Wow, thanks for the help. I do not have any fly tying tools of any kind. I will be tying some simple streamers since that is what I have been catching most of the pike on. I will keep looking, any ideas on vice/tools I will need for starters.

 

Thanks once again

 

Notf :thumbup:The griffin montana pro i think it is.It holds 7/0 hooks.Costs 78.00,never used it but i own the griffin odyssey spider and have nothing to say about it except sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Plus made in usa and lifetime guarantee,my .02 cents

shane

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Yeah I’ll 33rd the advice about staying away from kits. The exception being if you’re really on a tight budget and need to keep everything to 50 or so all in. But the vise will have soft metal jaws and be poorly machined, the tools will be poor quality, and you’ll end up with a lot of materials that will have little use, especially for pike.

 

Much better to bite the bullet and spring for a decent vice, and a few tools. And just add materials as you need them, starting with one or two patterns. You can vary the colors and sizes of a few materials to make a lot of different looking flies to start.

Best thing to do is to look for a local fly shop (as opposed to a big box store) and spend some time looking at different vises and their features:

 

Base or C-clamp- personal preference, depends on where you’ll be tying. Some c clamps don’t open wide enough to fit different tables, and can scratch furniture. On the other hand, they are lighter to carry if you travel with them, and some prefer them for tying big flies with spun deer hair heads etc.

 

Fixed head vs adjustable (up or down) Being able to change the angle is very convenient

 

Rotating head 360 rotation is handy to be able to flip over the fly for tying, and view the far side.

 

“True” Rotary allows you to spin the fly to wind on materials, instead of wrapping by moving your hands around the shank

 

Jaws – most important, what size range of hook sizes will the jaws accept? For some pike flies, you may need larger salt water jaws (if available) in addition to standard jaws for panfish size hooks.

 

If you can take a fly tying course or get a few lessons, that would be great. Lots of shops offer them, or can point you to a club or local chapter of Trout Unlimited, or Federation of Fly Fishers. You’ll learn a ton, and have a chance to try out different equipment. If you’re out in the boonies that might not be possible, so….

 

Try and set a budget for vise and tools. To some extent you get what you pay for. Vises run from cheap Asian imports from 10 to sleek primo stuff at 700.

But if you can see your way to spending 100-200 for a vise you have a lot of great options, and of course more options up from there. Here are some to do the google on, and you might want to search some past threads on this forum, just to get an idea on what’s out there

 

Anvil Apex about 100 bucks, comes with BOTH c clamp and pedestal base

 

Peak Rotary about 150

 

Griffin has a bunch of models from about 100 up worth a look

 

Renzetti and Dyna King are a bit more expensive with a range of models

 

Regal, I use a Medallion base model for trout and salt water stuff. Holds a wide range of hooks rock solid with the same set of jaws, no adjustment is a 360 rotary (not true rotary) A great vise, but definitely not for every body,

 

As Kodiak said, you don’t need a ton of tools. You’ll probably want to add some down the road, but all you really need are:

 

Good pair of scissors (Dr Slick or Anvil) about 15 bucks

 

Bobbin to hold thread You can get a Griffin with a metal tube for about 7, or more expensive ones with a ceramic tip or tube (not as likely to cut thread accidentally) by Dr Slick, Umpqua, Tiemco, Materelli etc for 13-20

 

Bodkin- just a needle on a shaft. Any will do 2 bucks

 

Other optional stuff

 

More bobbins, so you don’t have to rethread them everytime you change colors of thread

 

Whip finisher- Materelli 15 bucks, or a “Materelli style” import for 7

 

Just some stuff to smoke over for now if you want to do some research.

 

Materials, again starting out slow, you’d be looking at some basic stuff figure for a couple of patterns, maybe 30 dollars worth of stuff including a box of hooks or two, thread, flash, bucktail or two, marabou etc depending on what you’ve been using and want to tie. BTW you won’t use up most of the material, so you’ll have enough to tie a bunch of stuff left over, and you’ll be adding to your collection of materials.

 

Hope this helps. Keep asking questions as they pop up., and welcome to the board.

 

peregrines

 

 

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My fly tying carreer/ addiction was started when a family member gave me a kit for christmas and a book of initial patterns. I tied a couple of flies but got very frustrated when my hook slipped just as i finished palmering my first wooly bugger using all 10 thumbs.... aaAAHHH. i did enjoy it overall but ended up buying a renzetti traveller and a whole lot of other materials within a couple of months. i concur that its best to get professionnal advice when buying a big ticket item but don't we all have toys that we don't use anymore.

 

what area are you from?

 

Jon

 

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Again, Don't buy a kit. When I started I went to a fly shop and asked for a kit. They said they would sell me one but the materials were soso and there was alot of stuff I may not use.

 

They asked me how much I wanted to spend and what I wanted to tie. I told him and he set me up with decent tools and a vise. Then he sold me the materials for a wolly bugger and showed me how to tie a few. It was worth giong to a shop.

 

Where do you live? Maybe someone here can recomend a shop.

 

Jeremy

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I'm from Hamilton.

 

The guys at Grindstone Angling (waterdown) are really good, however their website is really old. give them a call there is also wilson's in toronto that has a good reputation or at least it did. I think it may have changed hands last year or so..(just what i remember i may be wrong .... no body get upset please.) check out the fly tying clubs around the credit river area or come to the hamilton area club. www.HAFFT.ca we meet every month second and fourth mondays. PM me for more details or if you want to borrow some of my old stuff.

 

 

Jon

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I started with a kit I got off ebay for 10 bucks (retail was 40 on it). within 1 week of having the kit I dropped a hundred bucks into a better bobbin (ceramic love it) and materials to tie the flies I wanted to make. I think the best thing to do is as others have said check into patterns of what you would like to tie and make a materials list and get the best tools you can afford (all this being if you are certain you will enjoy and continue tying).

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