saving money.....

[flytire 0]

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Again? I think he's laughing at me!?! :-) Well if he's not, he should be! You start tying flies cos' it's normal thing to do, you get sick of not being able to by what you want? Size? Type? Coulour? Blah blah blah! It's worse when you fish a lot of differen't styles & species! You end up with a small shop of half used materials in your home!

[Crackaig 0]

I'm not sure that this is quite as true as everyone thinks it is. Are we really comparing like with like when we say this?

 

One way in which most tiers make tying more expensive than buying is by not getting the most out of materials. That aside though there is still the question of "like with like".

 

Where do the flies you buy come from? Almost certainly not from someone who is trying to maintain your standard of living off the profits from them. Are all your flies exactly standard patterns or do you use the knowledge you gain on the water to adjust them in some way? Lets face it you would be silly not to. The comparison then should be with a fly tied to your specification, in your neighbourhood, by someone who has knowledge of your waters. What is the price for such a fly?

 

If you are careful with materials, certainly don't collect them, or have them "because they look good on the table at shows". Attach a value to getting what you want, over what is available. Then you should be able to break even, or possibly be in pocket a little.

 

Cheers,

C.

[Piker20 0]

I agree, tying a style of fly you'll never fish is where waste comes in. When I first started fly fishing it was for pike and I definitely saved money on buying same fly locally. Dare I say I saved money too on a cheaper overseas fly that doesn't even survive casting let alone fish.

Since I arranged my boxes into main prey groups even my trout tying has come in at better value.

[JoeBillingsley 0]

When I first started tying I would see a recipe using a certain type or brand of dubbing or flash material or feather that "had to be used" to get the proper action for the particular fly and I would send off for it, only to find out it was the same as what I already had only with a different name. The cost would add up pretty quickly falling for this.

 

Joe

[mikechell 0]

If you are tying to tie ... then you'll amass a huge amount of material and an ever increasing stock of flies that you'll never use. There's no saving of money there.

If you tie to fish, then you will, indeed, save money, and a lot of it. I've gone through my expenses on other threads like this. Lets say that purchased flies average $2.00 each. 100 flies would cost you $200.00. Which is about what I would go through in a year or so.

Using this equation ... I balanced out my materials cost the first year of fishing ... over 5 years ago.

[Adam Saarinen 0]

I ty for my own fishing, but differen't species & styles, not in the habit of buying everything when is a sale, but something! You never use it all, then learn something knew, stuff just adds up! And i'm shore i'm not the only guy here that thinks they also have a small shop of half used materials in boxes!

[FlaFly 0]

Piker.... I disagree. I tie flies that I know before I start that I'll never actually fish them. I do it just because I want to try something different. I tie sometimes just for the sake of tying... it's kinda like any art hobby.

[mikechell 0]

I agree, tying a style of fly you'll never fish is where waste comes in.

 

 

Piker.... I disagree. I tie flies that I know before I start that I'll never actually fish them.

Flafly, you are actually agreeing with Piker. His only mistake is the word "waste". You don't think you're "wasting" material, but you are spending money that has nothing to do with fly fishing.

This is where most fly anglers who "start tying to save money" fail to save money. They start tying to tie ... and spending more than they would if they just tied to fish.

[JasonV 0]

I partially used fly tying to quit smoking so I saved money switching from a habit to a hobby lol.

[utyer 0]

I started tying my own flies after my first serious fly fishing summer in Jackson Hole. I knew I was going back for the next summer, and I also knew just what dozen or so flies would work. Back home, I dug out our old vise, and other tools. The materials we had were all chewed and discarded. I assembled just the materials I would need for the patterns I knew I would tie. Cost was minimal back then. Hooks were $3.00 per hundred, thread .25, and most materials were under a buck. Hackle (Indian or Chinese necks) were well under $5.00. My total cost in a fly was under a dime, and the normal cost of flies was about .50. I was saving money right off, and I was soon selling flies, which further reduced my costs.

 

I continued tying for myself and others, and soon had a steady stream of custom fly orders all year. Many of the flies I was tying for others were not flies I would use myself until many years later, but the materials were an expense balanced against the orders. I build a huge assortment which was all paid for by selling flies. After more than 30 years of this, I scaled back my custom tying, and still have a very large assortment of materials.

 

Even at prices today, one can still tie and produce productive flies that will fish as well as and often better than store bought patterns. Obviously, if you try and keep up with all the trendy new materials, and think you must have the listed "brand" name item to duplicate a pattern, then you will spend a lot more than necessary. It takes discipline to keep your cost in line. It also helps to realize that there are many cheaper alternatives to most materials.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I've been tying a long time and have amassed a huge collection of materials & hooks. From past discussions I know others here have done the same. I also tied commercially for many years. On a per fly basis, compared to the price I might pay for a fly, I save money. But, I spend more on supplies than what I might spend if I bought all my flies. I also now have a fairly large collection of flies too, most I tied, some bought & some from other sources such as swaps and for me that's OK. I know I'm going to spend some of my hard earned money anyway, so would just as well spend in on tying supplies as anything.

 

Like any hobby, you have to decide how much you're willing to invest to get out of it what you want. My collection has taken me years to build & I'm OK with that. I can tie most anything I wish with what I have & dislike having to wait for an order to be able to tie something I wish to tie. So, I collect. Someday, and that day can't be predicted, I'll leave this world & can't take any of it with me, so I'll do my best to gain some enjoyment with it while I'm here. I enjoy this sport & tying flies & even collecting the supplies.

 

I agree you can save some money with tying if you're disciplined enough to only buy what you need & use it to the fullest before you buy any additional supplies, and only tie for the fishing you do. But, very few of us do that.

 

There can be good reason to tie some types of flies, even those you may not use, and that would be to learn techniques that you may not otherwise be familiar with. However, like any lesson, there's always going to be some cost involved. If you limit that aspect, as has been said, you can still save some. All in how you approach it.

 

Regardless of what I spend, IMO it's still cheaper than chasing women, gambling or booze! It's also cheaper than some other sports, such as auto racing!

 

If you only wish to save money, give up doing anything & go sit in a cave.

[Blackwater Virgil 0]

I've tied for 50+ years, at least in a very humble and small way, but it's historically been mostly just to get specifically what I wanted, the way I wanted it. That enhanced my catching. Now, though, since I've retired, I seem to be falling more for stuff just to see what I can do with it. I AM, though, broadening my tying horizons, and learning new to me stuff that I appreciate. I guess everything comes at a price, doesn't it? And then too, we ol' farts have to have SOMETHING to keep our hands busy, lest we fall into the vices of strong liquor and wild women. Now THAT could be HAZARDOUS! Fly tying? Not so much.

[cjsnyder1234 0]

You should also consider people that tie for fun or just the art of them it is like the fishing hobbie in of itself. As where Boone needs to fish but we enjoy it. So saving money by tying can happen but not in most cases. People enjoy reloading ammo for the same reason it is a relaxing hobby. I find I get more time to tie then fish. You have to plan a fishing trip and in most cases you need a good half of a day to fish where tying you can sit down for 30 mins.

 

All in all we each have a reason to tie flies and the enjoyment factor is worth more then the money we put into it.

[JoeBillingsley 0]

All in all we each have a reason to tie flies and the enjoyment factor is worth more then the money we put into it.

 

Very much agree.

 

Even though I mention saving money by utilizing the materials you have on hand and not buying the newest stuff because most of it is probably very similar or the exact same as what you already have, I don't practice what I preach. Living in Fort Worth, I'm a long way from fishing in small mountain streams for trout. Tying has always transported me to the places where I'd rather be but can't get there very often and I can picture using a fly I'm tying on a particular spot on a stream. I also still get excited when an order I placed comes in and to see if the new "different" materials I purchased really are different. It's hard to place a $ value on that, and, if you could, it would still be worth it.

 

Joe