Supplies for Beginners

[Alligator 0]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to this site (and to fly tying) and am probably asking a question that's been asked many times. I'm setting up my work station. I have a vice and essential tools. Now I need my supplies.

 

Working out of Charlie Craven's book, I understand which hooks I need. But beginning with threads, I'm overwhelmed . He lists 10 different types of threads in 10 different colors. And then there's floss, wire, etc. On to dubbing, feathers, fur, beads, synthetics, groundhog innards, and more.

 

Someone must have put together a list of essential supplies. I'd like my workstation to be comprehensively outfitted; from here in rural MN I can't just run out for something I'm missing. But of course I don't want to buy items I'm not going to use.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Alligator

[salty fly 0]

Welcome to the site.Pick out a few patterns you want to work on,then get what you need for those flies.Start out small,you cant get everything,this way you get what you need.I order all my material online,there is not a fly shop for over 100 miles from me,so I feel you about just running out and picking up some stuff.Start with eazy ties,get what you need for those,then move on to the next patterns,order,ect.

 

Bryan'salty fly'

[flytire 0]

i agree with bryan above

 

pick out 5-10 flies you want to tie and buy only those materials. it will be a good building block for future flies.

 

you said that you have charlies book so why not tie a few patterns from it. read the recipes of the fly patterns and buy those materials including thread.

 

it would be totally cost preventitive to buy every fly tying material.

 

thread. since you may be starting out with larger flies, i would buy size 6/0 danvilles flymaster in black & white. with a few sharpie or art type markers you can color the white thread any color you want. as you progress with tying, then but the smaller threads like 8/0, 12/0 etc.

 

"I'd like my workstation to be comprehensively outfitted". i think everybody would like that but its taken me 30+ years to achieve a small fly shops collection of materials and i'm still buying

[H.Champagne 0]

I agree with both of the previous responses in that you need to figure out what you want to tie. Do you fish for trout? bass? musky? etc...I live in MN also, but i only fish for trout so when i started i got the materials i needed for wet & dry caddis flies and scuds. As you progress you will keep finding patterns you want to learn to tie and of course new materials. One master list is almost impossible to create unless you have a ton of money to just burn on materials you may or may not need down the road. Even to this day i still come up with things i want to learn to tie and go buy materials for it. Check out Angler's Workshop, you can request a free catalog and they have a vast amount of stuff available for mail order and the catalog has great pictures. You can place your order over the phone and the people are really nice and will answer any questions you might have about what you want. This might be helpful as you will def. hit a point where you want more stuff and its easier than driving really far to get something. If i had to create a basic list of materials that i would want to be able to tie trout patterns in MN, it would be roughly this (im sure im going to forget something haha):

 

Waxed and unwaxed 8/0 thread - black, brown, white, olive, red, gray.

Hareline dubbing - dark hare's ear, black, olive, light cahill, adam's gray, amber + some antron colors

Hackle is expensive but those whiting 100 packs are nice to explore different sizes and colors without having to buy a full/half cape. I would get grizzley, black, tan/and or white, Brown, gray.

Head cement

Various colors of elk hair

Small pack of two or three pheasant tails

A turkey feather or two

Peacock herl

Bead heads

Turkey biots in black for now

Hairline dubbing makes mayfly tails that are really easy to use and look great, gray and yellow are fine for now

Some copper wire for ribs

 

Please post up if i have forgotten something. This list by NO way is what is required to learn to tie well, you could go out and buy what you need to just tie one or two patterns and spend plenty of time learning to make them perfect, but i think this list covers a ton of different basic patterns and leaves a good amount of room for growth without having to buy more stuff. Depending on how much of a variety of hackle you can afford, you could easily fill a fly box with all of this and have what you need for a great season. good luck and welcome to the site!

[utyer 0]

One thing I would suggest, is cut down on all the thread colors. A properly tied fly will only show thread at the head. Just buy white thread. Or a very light tan, or yellow. That will blend well enought with most light patterns, and if you need to, touch a brown or black sharpie to the head of dark flies. When you tie dubbed bodies a dark thread will darken your bodies, a light color thread won't.

[JSzymczyk 0]

One thing I would suggest, is cut down on all the thread colors. A properly tied fly will only show thread at the head. Just buy white thread. Or a very light tan, or yellow. That will blend well enought with most light patterns, and if you need to, touch a brown or black sharpie to the head of dark flies. When you tie dubbed bodies a dark thread will darken your bodies, a light color thread won't.

 

 

beat me to the punch. For the vast majority of tying, 6/0 (70-80 denier) White thread will do just fine. For a little bit heavier work such as bucktails, maybe learning with 3/0 monocord white is good. When you tie with white thread, then touch some head cement to it when you're done, it goes a bit transparent and the colors of the materials tied in show through--- if you didn't use too much thread. I agree also maybe a spool of darkish olive would be good. Later on for deer hair work a spool of 100 denier GSP will do good. That's later though and you won't need it until you know you need it... if that makes sense. I could get by very well forever with just white and olive thread. YES, I have 40 or 50 different spools of threads, but I've been doing this hobby for 30+ years. It's taken me that long to realize that I only NEED white and maybe olive (or brown, or dark tan,,, some medium-dark natural tone). It's always nice to have a spool of fluorescent chartreuse or fluorescent red for special occasions too.

[utyer 0]

Yes, I too have dozens of different spools in different colors, I even have 2 hugh spools of 3/0 NYMO, both black. I will never use up that much black thread. Most of the spools of thread I have were purchased from shops going out of business.

[lykos33 0]

No need for me to add my 2 cents as these guys have given you the best advice available. One thing I will say is that if you will buy the combo pack of "Sharpie" markers (or any of the other quality brands) with 8- 10 colors in it, then the "all white" thread idea will never be a problem.

[H.Champagne 0]

yea,I cant argue against the thread thing, you really don't need that many colors. Thread is so inexpensive its easy to have lots of it and it looks cool on your bench all lined up though and i do use almost all of my colors of thread that i own. But to start out on a budget, you could easily get by with just one or two.

[flytire 0]

the bugs we try to imitate come in 4 basic colors: black, olive, tan and brown. white thread and those 4 basic colored markers and your good to go!

 

with that being said, we as fly tyers always try to amass every type of thread in every imaginable colors out there!

[poksal 0]

The following is one of the fun things about fly tying... the scavenge hunting. This post will get you started on that part of the hobby.

 

But first, I'd add some clear nail polish to your list. Wallymart has a brand called NYC, it is cheaper and is a larger bottle than of Sally Hansen. We tend to use "Sally" to mean nail polish. When a fly pattern says head cement or SH or Sally it means use your NYC or whatever nail polish you have. Later you can order a bottle of Flexament & thinner. I tend to use nail polish in clear, white, and clear with glitter. I tend to use black thread the most, the white nail polish is to make a head white. The clear with glitter is for pan fish as an attractor accent. Also, clear with glitter on dragon flys. I tie some bass killing dragon fly flies. For those dragons I use dark brown & dark blue on the eyes, then neon green, neon blue, neon red, & neon orange for body hi lights.

 

If you have a hobby shop, craft store, or fabric store near be sure to walk the isles next time you go by. MANY items are on those shelves under other names and in larger, cheaper packages. Also, they tend to have a large assortment of various sized compartmental clear plastic storage boxes. You will want to know the sizes they have as you accumulate materials. Don't buy too many storage boxes until you get a grip on what lengths and shapes your collected materials come in.

 

If you intend to tie some foam body flys you can go to a Dollar type store and buy flip flops for a buck a pair. Select a pair of each color and you will have foam for years. In many parts of the country a selection of foam spider and dragon patterns are a staple section in your “go to box”. Plus, at first these are extremely fun flys to tie up in an assortment of colors. I find yellow body spiders and light blue body dragons are killers. When that BIG fish explodes on a foam dry fly your heart will stop.

 

For dubbing wax I have several kinds, (professional & homemade) but tend to use what comes in a box at the hardware store as a toilet ring wax seal for less than 2 bucks, by far the most. That ring will last your life time. I filled a small plastic flip open box with some. I also smear a dab on the vertical shaft of my tie vise. This is a good place to stick the quill end of small feathers so they don't float around the room after I have selected them to tie flys.

 

To get you started the lint out of your clothes dryer will substitute fairly enough for dubbing. It tends to be a bit lumpy but absolutely works. You can select your clothes just a little differently to vary the color. Later order a multi pack which comes with several colors in a compartmented clear plastic box. I like Antron Dubbing Blends by Waspi. Dubbing comes in various coarse, medium and fine lengths, and you can mix them to get additional colors. Start with a medium length selection.

 

Your craft store will have a feather area with assorted grouped feathers for putting into plastic flower arrangements. Often these will have peacock tail feathers in the group. You want to get one of those selections with the peacock. Lots of flys have peacock hurl on them. That same batch of feathers will likely have some pheasant tail feathers with it, you want those too. The other feathers will provide countless quantities of fibers you can have a great time learning with on the cheap. You will likely get to love a few of the fibers you bought there and will know where to get them again locally.

 

Tie mostly classic fish catching fly patterns at first and shy away from making up stuff. You will soon toss that made up stuff in a junk fly box and not want anyone to see them. Plus, tying classic proven and established patterns will improve your tying skills much quicker. You will "quickly" love and highly value the skills you are developing by forming good habits with established patterns and can find plenty of step-by-steps on line of them.

 

For rubber legs, cut open an old bungee cord and you will find an ample supply of the legs inside. Just add sharpie colors or accents.

 

If you are rural, check out your neighbors' chickens. The roosters often have hackles (long thin feathers on the neck and saddle of the back). You absolutely need hackle feathers to get started tying flys properly. These are great in black, sorrel, tan, and grizzly (grizzly looks black and white speckled but when you look close each feather is stripped). Grizzly roosters are often in the mixed breeds of chicks they get from the farm store. DON'T tell your neighbor why, but buy that extra Grizzly rooster for your next chicken meal, price is not an object. YOU WANT THOSE GRIZZLY HACKLE FEATHERS! ! ! ! ! ! You will not be able to buy them in the shops for several months, they are seriously out of stock. Sorry but, grizzly hackle is a near mandatory key staple in your fly tying inventory. Be careful, many online shops show it as a for sale item but few have it in stock and the ones that do naturally hold it for their established prfessional tying customers. Do not expect to get any.

 

One of your favorite ladies most likely has a pile of yarn somewhere. Ask for a selection of short (3feet) lengths of each color. You will find them thrilled that someone found a use for their prized pile of yarn they haven't touched in years. These yarns will do at first for a Chenille selection. Even after you buy a selection of "real" Chenille you will still find that pile of yarn a valuable keep. Be sure to check that craft store for Chenille.

 

In your junk you may have an old relay or door bell ringer or similar. The magnetic coil in those has plenty of copper wire you will charish. For "lead" wire (we don't actually use lead any more) go to your hardware store and buy a spool of fine (thin) solder.

 

Now add this to the other posts and you should be off to an amazing start!

[flytire 0]

For dubbing wax I have several kinds, (professional & homemade) but tend to use what comes in a box at the hardware store as a toilet ring wax seal for less than 2 bucks, by far the most. That ring will last your life time.

 

have you ever refilled an old lipstick style dubbing wax tube with toilet ring wax??

[poksal 0]

For dubbing wax I have several kinds, (professional & homemade) but tend to use what comes in a box at the hardware store as a toilet ring wax seal for less than 2 bucks, by far the most. That ring will last your life time.

 

have you ever refilled an old lipstick style dubbing wax tube with toilet ring wax??

 

 

....YEP!.. or tried.. with my home made mix between the toilet ring wax and rosin. My mix was VERY sticky and the screw would not work. But I have that tube at my bench and use it when I have unruly dubbing to contend with.

 

But.. no I keep the toilet ring wax in a small clear plasitc flip top box.

 

..did I answer the question? ... scratching my head...

[perchjerker 0]

I will be the "odd-man-out", and say that in my 40+ years of tying, 99% has been with black thread. And, like several others have noted, I too have threads in about every size and color made. The thread head on a fly is such a small part of the total that it's color probably makes no difference at all. I do endorse the 6/0 size suggested by others as a starter size.

 

For head cement, if you by any chance have a can of either varnish or lacquer, you already have head cement. You just need a proper thinner for it. Another alternative is to dissolve any of the"Goop" 'forms' in Toluene (Toluol), or Xylene (Xylol), which is available at any good paint store, to make your own "Flexament". (The variously labeled Goop tubes is a marketing ploy; the contents of the various 'labels' is one and the same material.)

 

If you are not a hunter, ask any hunting friends to save the feathers (skins) from their game birds, and the hides, or portions thereof, from any animals legally killed. Any basic book on Taxidermy will tell you how to care for, and prepare, such materials. You are in an area that produces some of the best of bucktails, and dyeing them is not all that difficult. (Another fascinating facet of this sport/hobby.)

 

There is an extensive body of literature out there on how to make your own dubbings, etc. I highly recommend that you check into them. The fly fishing/tying literature is very old and very rich. Take advantage of it!

 

Here is wishing you a very pleasant journey into the world of fly tying.

[BBBruce77 0]

Your question about basic materials. Most of the thread advice about lighter thread is right on for most applications. I use UNI 8/0 Rusty Dun more than any other color myself. My tying is primarily for trout. Primary supplies after thread would be peacock herl tails NOT strung. Buy the tails and you will get much nicer herl. I'll stop here as I do not know what the main species of fish that you will be pursuing.