Craft Stores Versus Fly Shops

[Dave Westburg]

Sometimes if pays to get creative when sourcing fly tying materials. I bought the badger neck on the left from a craft shop for $3.50. I bought the badger neck on the right from Hunters Angling supplies for $8.50. The markings on the craft shop neck are much more pronounced.

[Gabriel Burgi]

Was that supposed to be a photo? It didn't work.
I shopped a couple of big name fabric stores, JoAnne's and Michaels, and here is what I found:

- Peacock herl... $.99 at Joannes
- Copper Wire.... $10 for 6 spools, various colors (Actually at Wal-mart)
- Foam sheets.... $.99 at Joannes
- Beads.......... $?? Various prices and quantities at Micheals, but all cheaper than a fly shop.

The caveat:

None of their threads are waxed. The beads you get at a craft store won't necessarily fit a certain hook. Is their dye waterproof??

Nonetheless, it pays to shop around. I have never seen badger for sale at a craft store though. Wierd.

- Gabe:professor

[Dave Westburg]

I buy copper, red and blue wire at the bead shop my wife frequents.

Thanks for telling me you couldn't open the picture attachment. I've reattached the picture as a jpeg file. Hope this works Gabe.

[Kent Lufkin]

Yep. Try some of the specialty bead shops as well. There's one over in old Bellevue that has literally thousands of different sizes and colors of glass beads, all at a small fraction of the fly shop prices.

[Tim Cottage]

> The beads you get at
>a craft store won't necessarily fit a certain hook.

Just take some hooks with you into the bead or craft store to check the fit. They won't care.

TC

[Bogie]

After reading the other post I checked out a craft store near my house.Found peacock tails and herl,duck,goose feathers,biots,marabou and were sold out of chennile.The marabou was poor quality but the rest was ok.You could buy a 5 year supply of chennile for 1.50 when it is in stock.

[Flip]

ok ok, ill go to a craft store as soon as someone finds one with the small pearl-green tungsten beads i use on cronnies for cheep.. hmmm??

tom

[Dave Westburg]

You have to be inspect craft shop materials well. I wanted a well marked badger neck for tying atlantic salmon flies and Steelhead Sculpins. I was interested in vivid markings, not in dry fly quality.

Craft shop marabou doesn't always have the fine stems of fly shop marabou.

[JRSly]

I agree with brown on this one. Watch out for marabou that is purchased at a craft shop, not only is it often not fine stemed, but it bleeds a lot. It is also hard to find dry fly quality hackles at one, but for other things you can normaly save a bundle. The main problem that I have found in craft shops is that the color tends to fade more on stuff, the dye they use isn't always resistant to water. Just shop around, I have often gotten some great buys.

Sly

[wet line]

I am going to make this real simple. Support your local fly shop if they are reasonable people. So what if you pay a few pennies more as compared to a craft shop. If you are concerned about saving a nickel or dime per fly then you are into the wrong thing, unless you are a commercial tyer.
Your local shop needs all the buisness they can get to supply you with the high end quality goodies you want. Pay the little bit of extra freight for the small stuff and they will be around when you want that new Sage! Heck at the current price of gas how much stuff can you buy for the cost of gas from Seattle to Red's on the Yakima! SUPPORT your local fly shop! If you don't they will be gone and then you can go to Walmart!

Dave

[Dave Westburg]

Am all for supporting the local fly shop, but you can see from the picture that the badger neck I bought at the fly shop is inferior to the badger neck I bought at the craft shop. In this case the best material was at the craft shop.

[PeteM]

I'm all for supporting local fly shops but at the same time, I expect them to have reasonably competitive prices. When I can find peacock herl in a craft store that is as good as I can get at a fly shop for 1/2 or 1/4 the price, then the fly shops will lose my business for herl. It's not necessarily the actual cost but the principle. A prime example is the cost of beads in a fly shop. No one can tell me the manufacturing cost of those beads is anywhere close to the asking price for them in fly shops. All I ask is that the price for products in the fly shops we reasonably close to what I can find elsewhere (the prices doesn't have to be lower). I'll pay extra to support my local fly shops but I'm no fool.

Pete

[Kent Lufkin]

Since craft stores don't carry rods, reels, lines, hooks, or tying tools, I figure I'm doing a fine job of supporting my local fly shops. The few bucks I spend elsewhere aren't gonna make or break their business.

[troutaholic]

I'm all for supporting my local flyshop and I do by buying specialty materials from them, but when it comes to bulk items like foam and wool yarn its silly to pay 10 -15 times as much for the same thing. Mylar sheets you can get at the dollar store (or better yet, the 1/4 inch wide shredded mylar they use for decorative packaging)will last for years versus paying 3.50 for a little narrow spool of the same stuff.Sheets of winging material are really just krinkled mylar, again available at craft or dollar stores. Antron yarn is another example. I'd rather spend any extra money on hooks, leader materials etc. :-). I do occasionally use the brass and glass beads from bead shops for bodies but it's a real pain tying with them when they're used as a bead head because the holes on both sides are the same size and are often hard to get over the hook bend. Most of the time it's far easier to use the special beads from the fly shop. Also I agree with others you have to watch the dyes used in the feathers- especially in salt water, they'll sometimes leach colors everywhere! Just my 2cents worth :thumb

[andrew]

I agree fully in supporting the 'local' shop, however, I do tend to purchase materials elsewhere when substantially cheaper. I think it is ridiculous that shops charge a 'fin' for 25-50 glass beads...because they are a "specialty shop selling a specialty item"...well the bead shop on the other side of town is a smaller specialty business that will give you 1000 beads for the same price. I think it should be a responsibilty of the shop to keep customers/business...not solely the patron. It is they who talk to sales reps...who talk to corporate...who set the sale price.

Yes, it is a hobby, but it doesn't warrent paying more all of the time!

Andrew-who has walked out of a flyshop with a bill for 50 bucks, a bag with a few feathers/hooks/and a magazine.

[hikepat]

To the fly shops out there. The craft stores have always been there in compition with you. The things I can find in a craft store are limited anyways, though it can be fun working with diffrent stuff then then fly shops carry. The trouble is that the internet now is also your compition. I myself hate buying from the internet anything. To the Fly shops out there to keep me from changing my mind, you need to have larger packages of hooks then just 25 to a pack. I would rather have discounts given for large orders of hooks so I can fully restock. For the shops in the South end of King county which is where my dollars are spent. A hook assortment deal would go along way for me to not getting tired buying 3-4 packages of 25 here and there and allow me to get a full assortment all at once for a good price while still allowing you to make a profit.
An example would be and assortment pack of 250 common dry fly hooks or assortment pack of 250 common nympth hooks. A deal for Beads like that would also get me to spend more $ all at once when in you store. Something to think about for you shop owners. If its something you are willing to do from the stock at hand it would be nice if you posted something about it in your stores. This I feel would get more people to buy from you rather then going through the internet for their supplies.
I am sure if you worked with your dealers something like this could be put together and it would not even have to come with a fancy box for me to buy.

My hook supply is getting low once again even though I spent $30 just a few weeks ago at your store. I hope the next time I go into one of the little shops when I can find time to get there again, I might see some type of assortment deals. I may have left your shop much poorer after spending more that day but I would have felt much better spending the dollars this way. I hate the thaught of having to go to the internet for these types of deals.

[Hal Eckert]

"Take nothing but pictures leave nothing but your tracks"

I support my local fly shop buying almost all of my materials there. However I do frequent all of the craft stores for yarns, beads, wire, some feathers, tinselle chennille etc to save a lot of money. Don't forget the craft departments at the big chains like walmart, kmart, target etc you will also find some good things in them occassionally. Just did a big splurge on all kinds of colored play wire at Jo-Annne got every color and probably enough now for the rest of my lifes tying. Think I spend $2 a roll and got 6 rolls lots of it. At my fly shop their wire would have cost 3 times as much I imagine.

BTW nows the time to look for the end of season sales on winter clothes if you need them. Check out your local outdoor and retail stores.

The economically prudent and frugal fly fisherman that would be me and I am proud of it.

LOL

Just ask the Old Man right Jim ?

BTW Jim let me know when you catch something on those flys I sent you. I need some Washington fly fisherman testimonials for when I start my own web site - Black Ghost Flys or something like that. Let me know if you like any of the following 2004 winter additions to the fly wallett. Most of these are steelhead and salmon but there are some trout flys and nymphs also.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/112399464/125167459xSESTo

:thumb


BG

[Jay Allyn]

I'm going to have to agree with Wet Line as I too am a supporter of my local fly shop, mabey a little too supportive as I can never leave without spending quite a bit. I will occationall find something elsewere and buy something but I like roaming around a fly shop, a craft store can't satisfy that.

About the badger neck. I couldn't help but notice that the feathers where larger and more pronounced in color in the craft shop neck, but you did get more neck on the one bought from the fly shop, hints the higher price.

[wet line]

Part of this question revolves around what is a good fly shop. Well it is knowledge and service as well as a good product. Materials that don't fade and quality where it is needed. I hate to bore you with this but a few months ago I found a new shop run by a couple of young guys that are very knowedgeable and very helpful and just starting out. They have helped me as much with a $10 purchase as they help out someone else on a $500 purchase. They have helped me decipher maps and told me the secret of tying a particular fly and even showed me how to properly double haul. Now a craft shop can do none of that! The shop I am refferring to has good materials and are reasonably priced and of good quality.
So if I pay an extra dollar or two it is well worth the time they have given me. They are a sponsor here and I will spend an extra bit of money just in repayment of what they have done for me. Who are they? Puget Sound Flyfishing Co. And thanks Anil for the tip on using clear thread on the fly. I thought you were nuts at first but after I tried it you are right on!

Dave

[Old Man]

I would but right now my interests are turned toward trout not Steelhead. But when ever I get back to steelheading I'll be sure to use them.

Yes I also use craft shops. There's just some things that I can get there that the fly shops don't.

And yes BG is as cheap as they come. And I thought that I was the only one that could make a penny scream. Boy was I ever wrong. Now all we need is BobK here. Oh hell another Bob.

Jim

[Anil]

Thanks for the supportive coments Dave,
I don't blame any of you for trying to find great deals or new materials at the craft store. I invite anyone who is unsatisfied with the service or goods that they receive at their flyshop to speak up, I think most would be happy to provide the service you need. I know that Clark or myself will do our best to special order or stock any item that a customer really wants.
Please bear in mind that everyone has there own preferences and that all a flyshop or manufacturer can do is try to meet as many customers' needs as possible. I can't count how many times two customers have had completely opposing views of what they want from the same product. The photo that started this thread is a prime example of this; while one neck has more pronounced coloration, the other is at least twice the size. Many people would consider the larger neck, the better value.
On a completely unrelated topic, check out our new website!
Anil
Puget Sound Fly Company

[Dave Westburg]

Fishingjunkie, you are right that the badger neck from the fly shop has more hackles but the craft shop has more true badger hackles. I wanted heavily marked badger hackles for tying flies like the Lemire Steelhead Sculpin, Haig-Brown Silver Lady and the Lady Amherst.

I suppose the real moral of the story is to inspect a neck personally before you buy to make sure it's what you want. I did that with the craft shop neck. I bought the other neck through the mail due to Hunters fine reputation.

I have to second the comments on the board about the importance of finding a helpful shop. Avid Angler has been good to me and is willing to go the extra mile for my special requests.

[Hal Eckert]

"Take nothing but pictures leave nothing but your tracks"

Just got back from my every two week trip to the Super Jo-Anne store they just opened. Rats nothing new I was interested in I already have enough colored wire for years.

BTW, I have never found many good feathers at my local craft stores, once in awhile I may find some decent saddleh hackle and pheasant feathers. I but all that at my local fly shop. May stop there on my way home today for a few things under the wifes radar screen again. LOL

Its a great feeling when you walk out of a craft store with some new stuff without spending an arm and leg, great feeling it is.

:thumb :beer1

BG

[Rob Blomquist]

Badger is a really hard feather to purchase these days, as it is not all that popular a color for many patterns. I have a badger neck that I traded for, that is a pretty good one, but not as great as in the 80's.

Its sad that tying materials have gotten this way. If I got the neck from the shop that you got, I would have returned it. Or kept it if I wanted a cream, or something to practice dye.

Craft shops in my opinion are not something to resort to. About all they have in there for me is pearl paper twist, wire, and glitter. Basically all the feathers I have ever bought I have tossed later as trash not worth keeping.

But the thing to check out is the small shops in someone's rec room, back room, or where ever and buy from them. Jack Cook of River Run Anglers used to sell that way. I understand that John Shewey does, I hear Alec Jackson does, along with many others.

Another thing to do is to ask for quality materials from your local shop. Any good shop will understand, and do special orders, and have stuff from the back room they may offer their special customers.

I'm off later today to go to the NW Fly Tying Expo, as I hear that one of the advantages of going is the quality of the materials for sale. But not only that, I can hob-knob with other tyers, and get the scoop from the guys that know.

Rob, formerly bummed, now excited.

[Hal Eckert]

"Take nothing but pictures leave nothing but your tracks"

Your right about Badger hackle being a hard feather to find now that I think about it. Better make sure I use my current supply prudently. Have not seen it any fly shops out here in a while.

BG