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If I were to go buy fly material....

1K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  hbmcc 
#1 ·
... in Puget Sound area, where would you send me? That would be for a comprehensive selection of fly tying material....

I really wanted to ask: For the bare bones *minimum* for a beginner, what would be the *minimum* stock I needed to catch fish in the most places, and most seasons, in Washington? But I knew you all would take advantage of the next sucker and send me on a mega-millions shopping spree.
 
#2 ·
Quite the opposite, but your faith in us is truly heart-warming. Most Places, Most Seasons, and I'll assume Most Species, covers too much ground for a beginner.

If you decide to start tying flies, buy what you need for the specific flies you want to tie. For example, a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear only requires a hook, hare's mask or dubbing that simulates it, some gold-colored braid, a bit of deer hair, a turkey feather, and maybe some lead or a metal bead.

That's why a fly shop is better than buying online. The fly shop employee can help you decide which fly or flies to tie, and sell you only the materials necessary for that fly. You can always go back when your repertoire increases.

I'll let Puget Sound residents recommend their favorite shops, or you can take 2 seconds to search for threads on the subject.
 
#4 ·
Thanks, Chicago! I am afraid you are correct ... about the trust. No, correct about how to start. I think Alexander (fish eggs) is wading through a similar maize.

Hi, Yellowlab. A bit glib for me.... Fly Fisher rings no bells. I assume "P.S." is the Tacoma people.

Thanks,
 
#5 ·
Gig Harbor fly shop is my go to for materials with PS fly a close second. The Fly Fisher is in Lacey and is an amazing place, first glance it's a train wreck of materials, but ask the owner and he knows where everything is...and I mean everything, pretty cool little spot to hang and his Lab is a hoot :)
 
#10 ·
That's kind of hard question without specifics. Here are a few thing to think about:
- grizzly hackle, also brown, black, etc
- peacock herl
- maribou (lots of color choices)
- dubbing ( different colors)
- arizona simi-seal

The list is really endless, this will get you able to tie some buggers and leaches
 
#12 ·
You can't start working with rabbit soon enough, and you want the whole skin so you can use the various parts, but you don't want to buy a skin in every color. So of course you should just get 4 and split them in half. Then buy 8 different colors of RIT dye so you can make them the exact shade of each color you are looking for. Then you will want to start looking into ways to make barred strips, so you will need....oh wait you are just starting. You are at least six months from going completely bat $&!+ insane, so disregard.

I think you should buy the following:

Size 4-8 streamer hooks
Black 140 denier thread
small gold wire
gold bead heads
3 colors of marabou (black, purple and white maybe)
3 colors of chenile (same as above)
3 colors of schlappen (same colors)

Now use the materials above to make some awesome wooly buggers. I recommend this because:
1. You can learn a lot about material handling, thread control and proportions tying a wooly bugger.
2. The wooly bugger is very forgiving and using a bead head makes it even more so.
3. These same materials can be used as a base for a lot of other flies.
4. wooly buggers work for most fish, in most water for most of the year.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Truth is you can probably get away with a minimal list of supplies. Tying gets out of control when you have an over-active imagination like I do. I have close to a cubic yard of tying materials and still think I need a half-dozen new things every time I step in a fly-shop. Wooly buggers are a great pattern to start with since their easy to tie and effective on almost everything that swims.

As a "beginner" I'm going to assume you're starting with trout and maybe steelhead. Marabou is one of the most versatile and effective materials you can have and is relatively inexpensive (keep colors separated or they will bleed). I'm sure I'm forgetting some important items but here are a few things that come immediately to mind:

Feathers:
> One good quality (grade #2 or better) grizzly neck (most expensive item - but you won't regret!)
> Strung saddle hackle in black, white and ginger
> Marabou (trout colors) black, white, brown, olive, ginger, and...?
> Marabou (additional steelhead/salmon colors) purple, pink, cerise, blue, chartreuse, red, orange,..?
> Strung peacock herl

Fur/hair:
> Deer hair
> Bucktail in natural, and as many of the above mentioned colors as you like (it's cheap and versatile)

Dubbing/body materials:
> 1 dubbing dispenser in assorted standard colors (you can mix/match almost anything natural)
> Chenille in med/small sizes in at least black, brown and olive.

Synthetics:
> Mylar tinsel, 2-sided gold/silver in small and med.
> Flashabou in at least pearl
> Krystal flash also in pearl
> Tungsten beads in gold, and sizes appropriate to the hooks you're starting with (see below)

Hooks:
> This can get out of hand quick, ask the fly shop guys to help get you started
 
#15 ·
I really wanted to ask: For the bare bones *minimum* for a beginner, what would be the *minimum* stock I needed to catch fish in the most places, and most seasons, in Washington? But I knew you all would take advantage of the next sucker and send me on a mega-millions shopping spree.
I'll give it to you straight if you want to go minimalist and still catch fish: ALL you really need for fresh and salt here in WA are:

Hooks (size based on your target fish)
For SRC you mainly need 6's and 8's, can do 4's if need be.
For Ho's and Pinks 2's will do

On rivers you can roll with the "standard trout game" hook sizes.

Get some UTC140 thread: white this way you can color it any color you want with a sharpie. If you don't like UTC140 get general 6/0 thread white.

Get some crystal flash in: olive, pink, white, chartreuse, black and "minnow back" colors

Get marabou, get any color you like but mainly: white, pink, brown, chartreuse, olive. There are various shades of these colors and then there are even more colors to get crazy with.

Get dumbbell eyes 5/32, or smaller or larger depending on hook size and rod you're using to cast.
Get some cone heads

And that should land you fish in the salt, in rivers and on lakes.... It's really ALL you NEED.

But the addiction is horrible so in the end, you'll end up with more than you bargained for.

Good luck!
 
#16 ·
Hey! Alexander, I am following you. See my above 'salmon eggs' reference? You're the plow. I'm just following, picking good grubs along the way...:D Now, get back out front, then report back in a week...:)

Really, thanks everyone. I started a tying class last weekend, and yup, black and olive marabou, dubbing, and #8, x3 (long shanks). Woolly buggers, I think? And, yes, seasons and type and species do enter the picture. I just need to avoid fly food gluttony like a plague. For the class, Teacher happened to grab the 'last of' from the shelves. He's actually pretty good.

And, Port Angeles is on my radar.... After Lacey--the fly shop.

Got my list, got my list. Only what's on the list...:rolleyes:

I want a pheasant, too.
 
G
#18 ·
Avid angler,Patrick's fly shop ,pacific fly fishers are all good, Patrick's dyes some of thier own materials so they have some awesome hard to find colors. I guess it comes down to what's closest to where you live & what type of fishing your into Stillwater or flowing water, saltwater beach fishing,trout , panfish or steelhead & salmon . All the prementioned shops have thier strong points.
 
#19 ·
Hi, everyone, and thanks a hundred grand for your help! Someone could tell me all this in a conversation and I might remember "peacock barf".

I did some soul searching last night. Here's what I came up with.

I am too old and stupid to be running around in winter rain and snow and slush chasing monsters I won't/can't eat. Even thinking about it was stupid. My seasons will be March, or so through Fall. Places I enjoy are trout streams, rivers, and float tube still water. The basic needs in material would satisfy the game regimes in those waters.

I wish there was a way to pin information like this--more thorough and categorized--to a spot on the forum. But I think this is the best one could wish for.... I enjoy meeting people and this works.

Bruce
Between Sea. and Tac.
 
#20 ·
There are many good fly shops in western WA that have an adequate to excellent supply of materials for fly tying; almost all will be sufficient for someone just getting into tying. Find the one closest to where you live and develop a rapport with the staff; they can point you in the right direction. Many also will have fly tying classes for beginners.
D
 
#21 ·
All of this is horrid advice. Ill give it to you as straight as can be.......

Find the nearest fly shop to your house and go there and purchase one of everything they have. Then when you get home, do some research and find a pattern that youd like to try to tie.
Now at this point you will realize that you are missing one material needed to tie the fly you picked out, regardless of the fly.

Now, this step is optional, but you can sit down and tie said fly using a substitute material. This will lead to disappointment and the next step anyway, so feel free to skip.

Now, find the next closest fly shop, go there and purchase one of every item. Come home, pick out a new fly youd like to try, realize you are once again one material short, and repeat the above steps.

This will go on for a few years, or you can just cut to the chase and simply buy one of every item at every fly shop within a days drive. After enough trips to the fly shops you will finally have every material needed to tie any pattern known to man, as well as any not yet invented.
Its at this point that you will come to the realization that you really only fish about 5 fly patterns 99% of the time, and you had all you needed to tie those flies after your first fly shop trip.

Welcome to the club.
 
#22 ·
All of this is horrid advice. Ill give it to you as straight as can be.......

Find the nearest fly shop to your house and go there and purchase one of everything they have. Then when you get home, do some research and find a pattern that youd like to try to tie.
Now at this point you will realize that you are missing one material needed to tie the fly you picked out, regardless of the fly.

CUT

This will go on for a few years, or you can just cut to the chase and simply buy one of every item at every fly shop within a days drive. After enough trips to the fly shops you will finally have every material needed to tie any pattern known to man, as well as any not yet invented.
Its at this point that you will come to the realization that you really only fish about 5 fly patterns 99% of the time, and you had all you needed to tie those flies after your first fly shop trip.

Welcome to the club.
See! There! Just what I said in my OP! The first honest person, here.... :)

You know, I looked at Scott(?) cook up a chubby chernobyl. If a fish goes after that thing, then I'm going to make flies from an old sponge mop and older shirt rag. :cool:
 
#24 ·
My advice is to go get several of your favorite adult beverages and rethink this fly tying thing. ;) Its an addiction as evidenced by the responses here. I have been addicted for many years and I have more flies then I will ever fish and tons of fly tying supplies, but I keep tying.

Dr Bob :)
 
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#26 ·
All this is great advice! Years ago, we would laugh at people who collected road kill for their fly hobby. You didn't see much on the pavement back then. Now-days, there is all kinds of stuff on the streets. I guess there isn't much demand for "Bloody Plaid".

How did the post turn this direction? Oh!

Ps. Just having fun. This aspect of the sport is an easy one to go bonkers over.
 
#29 ·
Years ago, we would laugh at people who collected road kill for their fly hobby.
This summer, I saw a heavily-spotted, days-old fawn dead on the side of road.

My immediate reaction was "Aw, poor little thing." as I slammed on the brakes, while visions of new patterns danced in my head. I chided myself for being a sick SOB as I pawed through the regs to see if it was legal to collect some of that soft spotted fur. :)

Don't walk, but run away from that fly tying class! Trust me, you'll have way more money left in your retirement account if you buy flies rather than tie them.
 
#28 ·
I started fly tying in 1980, was fly fishing 2o years before that. I still have a few materials from my first kaufmanns fly tying kit bought in 1980. Have some unopened fly materials from 10-15 years ago. Now trying to limit any new purchases to hooks and perhaps something very new and unique. Sadly kind of glad our local fly shops went out of business in the last 10 years. Still a great hobby!
;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#31 ·
Here's some simple advise Before you buy anything, take a class. Whether it's from a local shop, club or school, you'll learn a ton of good information and save time and money by trying out tools and materials that work out for you. It's fun, addictive and gratifying to catch a fish on a fly that you tied. My 10 year old son, just tied his first fly next to me while I was working on my class homework.
 
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