Fly Tying Kits

[Alex C. 0]

I was at the local sporting goods store today looking at fly tying kits. I haven't tied yet , I ordered a vice a few days ago through e-bay and was planning on buying materials as I needed them. But after looking at a few of the kits I started thinking maybe they would be the way to go. I have heard not to buy a kit cause you usually get a bunch of junk stuff in them that you'll never need. So, has anyone had any good or bad experiences with any kit in particular? P.S. They were in the $50-$70 range

[pacres 0]

I think it's best to select the patterns you want to tie, and buy just those materials. In the kits, you get a large variety, but you will likely need more stuff anyhow.

[Bamboo 0]

 

Like pacres said, with most kits you'll end up with materials you won't use and you'll be short material you do use. Spend your money on the best vise/tools you can afford and then by the materials on an as-needed basis. It will work better in the long run.

 

Bamboo

[Alex C. 0]

thats kind of what I figured. They sure do suck a beginer in though Thanks for the feedback

[Crotalus 0]

Buy a book, or use a website, and decide what flies you are going to start out with. Then buy the specific tools and materials you need for those particular flies.

 

Buy the best you can comfortably afford and go from there.

[Guest]

I agree with the others. It was funny, I was given a kit from Cabelas years ago. This was well after I was established on tying, and had my materials I would use. I was actually excited, because it was bought at what is now the old Cabela's store in downtown Sidney. Since I had it, I figured I'd keep it for the materials inside. Unfortunately, this was one of those kits that once you opened it, you couldn't return it (was in a sealed box). Well, one of the few things I could truly use was some of the tinsels. I was hoping the vise was better then mine (I had a cheap sunrise at the time, this was circa 1989). The feathers were low grade, the bobbins and tools weren't that hot. Guess ok for a starter. But for the price of the kits, you could buy materials you could truly use. Most of the stuff was for trout flies, and I wasn't tying any.

 

Even some of the new kits I've seen (had a friend who got a Cabela's kit last Xmas), wasn't that impressed. I've always said, buy yourself a decent vise (not expensive, but decent), good bobbin and scissors, then the materials to tie one or two flies you want to tie. Once you have the fly down, buy materials for the next fly. Just keep going. After awhile, you'll have a selection of furs, feathers, and misc to tie a variety of flies.

 

Another tip I'll give out too. This is what I did at first. Plus, this kept my butt getting blistered by my Mom and Dad for stealing clumps off his hides and raiding Mom's craft box. Had friends and relatives who flyfished. I offered to tie flies for them (those who didn't tie). All they had to do was supply me with hooks and materials. I tied them up so many hooks, and I kept the rest. Didn't take long to build up quite the collection that way either (with almost no cost to me).

[TroutNerd 0]

The Orvis Premium Fly tying kit is excellent. I started with this kit a while back and I was very happy with it. The one complaint I had was the bobbin that came with it was kinda junky, other than that it was great. It is pretty expensive at $250 but comes with enough to tie hundreds of flies you will actually USE!

[appalachian angler (tn.) 0]

Some fly shops will custom put you together a kit as you need within certain boundries . My first kit was tailored to tying trout flys for patterns that worked on the streams I was fishing. My wife just went down to Fly Fishers Paradise in State College Pa. and told the guys where i fished and for trout (naturally). They had a standard tool kit: Thompson model "A" vice, Martarelli bobbin, whip finisher, hackle piers, scissors and Orvis Beginning Fly Tying manual and materials to suit local waters plus some mustad hooks. Included in the materials were a half Metz #1 med. blue dun neck and a half saddle grizzly in #1 Metz. Not bad for about $75, four years ago.

Good luck with your situation. I wouldn't recommend a kit unles you can set it up like this. I would recommend an HMH spartan as a good solid starting vice.

 

A.A.

[TroutNerd 0]

A.A Sounds like he got a much better deal than i did on my orvis kit Oh well no regrets

[Guest]

i would recommend against a kit personally. i started off with one, and in the next few days i went out and bought more and different stuff. i still have the vice that came with it ( a thompson model i believe), and some of the material too.

 

i would suggest like everyone else, buy yourself a decent vice that you can afford (you can always upgrade, and there is always someone new to tying looking for an affordable vice to see if they like tying or not). buy good quality tools, bobbins with ceramic inserts, a very good pair of scissors (since you will use them the most) and a bodkin should start you off. no need to go with the whip finisher at first (IMHO) that can be an add on later down the road. get yourself the materials for you first few flies and go from there. as you go down the road of no return, you will come to find most basic patterns call for the same types of materials, just use what ya got, and if it is a specialty thing you will only need for one or two flies, think of how many you will tie and how often you will use them before laying down the cash for off the wall material.

 

usually you can get some material off of guys here or other sites, in some type of exchange or trade (i've done it as i am sure others have).

 

soon you will find that you have to much material and not enough time to use it all

[mrjim 0]

I originally bought an Umpqua in the late 90's for about $70. Had a great Tiemco ceramic bobbin in it that I still use (have bought 4 griffin ceramic tip over the years too), nice whip finisher that I still use, bodkin, nice Tiemco scissors that I wore out/ruined cutting too heavy materials (learned the hard way), Thompson vice (wore the jaws out - several thousand flies later to where it won't hold a smaller than size 18 hook) later got a used Renzetti which should last forever, hooks, thread, tinsel, very poor metz hackle (when I used my first whiting, I was flabbergasted how it almost sucked onto the hook) and a great starter book by Morris. Starting with good tools and taking care of them is the way to go - but if you have that still to learn, start with cheap ones. Then you will appreciate nice tools.

 

The Tiemco tools, Morris' book, and Vise were worth the money. It got me off to a good start along with some good info from the intranet (Al Campbell's website is one of my favorites - has a bunch of lessons set up)

[Alex C. 0]

I should have a danvise in the mail any day, $70 w/ shipping, how to video, and what I think is a bobbin holder? Soon as that comes I have the book " The Complete Book of Fly Tying" by Eric Leiser, w/c I have already read most of. It has you start on the light cahill then goes on to all other types of flys. I'm really enjoying reading it. So I guess the next purchase I'll be making is some mustad 94840 #12 hooks, yellow 6/0 thread, yellow/brown barred wood duckflank fibers ( I'll probably use mallard instead of wood duck), cream colored fur, and a dark cream hackle Oh yeah, hackle pliers, a bobbin, some scissors, and a bodkin Then hopefully I'l have my first fly to post on here for you guys to critique

[CTXFINS 0]

I started off with a kit that included a Dyna King Kingfisher vise, Dr. Slick tools, a great instructional book, and some materials. I think it is a pretty good set up really, but I do agree with the materials in that you don't use much or all of them. I actually used a good bit of the provided materials, but nowhere near all of them and have bought many other types of materials since.

[Alex C. 0]

I was so clueless back then And I still am Talk about a trip down memory lane

[Hywel 0]

"Flytying kits...any good ones out there?"

 

Nope.