1st Time Fly-Tying Kit

[Marv_Levy]

This is my 4th year fly fishing and i think its time i take a stab at tying my own flies. Ive been doing some research over the past few days on what i need. I was just looking at getting a kit but i hear you pay for what you get with those and the vise in the kit is usually bad and makes it hard to tie flies smaller that an 16.

Im looking to spend around max $150 for tools
Vise
Bobbins
Half Hitch Tool
Hair Stacker
Good Scissors
Hackle pliers
Whip Finisher

if anyone could give me suggestions as to where to purchase this stuff on the cheap "but good quality" or lead me to a kit thats great for beginners that would be super helpful.

If im out of my mind and my price range let me know and fill me in on what im really looking at lol.

 

[jayL]

I would get one of the tools kits from cabela's, then upgrade the bobbin, scissors, and if you need something fancy, the vise. Upgrade hackle pliers are nice too, but I went years without them.

The rest of the tools are fine. Price is only directly proportional to quality for the above items, imo. A $15 half hitch tool works as well as a $.25 pen. Nothing as egregious as a $25 dubbing twister, but there are some pretty bad sucker deals on tying tools from what I have found.

http://www.cabelas.com/tools-vises-cabelas-standard-fly-tying-tool-kit-1.shtml

The scissors and bobbin are garbage. Use them for wire.

Scissors can be had cheapest on sierra trading post, from what I have found.

I am not a believer in the whole expensive vise thing, so someone else will have to lead you to truth on that. I've been using the vise pictured in that kit for years.

 

[sandfly]

This is nice;
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=753Q&dir_id=1273&group_id=1279&cat_id=5206&subcat_id=6154
then buy this;
http://www.basspro.com/White-River-Fly-Shop-Crown-Spring-Tension-Vise/product/10220904/-1760826

why go to all the trouble buying a kit and have to replace half of it. the orvis one is very decent. no need to upgrade stuff. the vice I use it at my table and I tie a lot of flies.

 

[Ramcatt]

buy a good kit of hardware
then buy materials as needed

here are some good kits
http://www.peakfishing.com/VisePackages.html

 

[MKern]

I think for decent stuff you should look to spend...
$50 for a vise,
$12 for a bobbin of two,
$15 for scissors,
$10 for a whip finisher,
and about $5 for the rest.

Of course these are all estimates, but puts you just over a $100; which leaves you about $50 for materials (which is going to get sucked up real fast when you think about hooks, beads, hackle, and the tons of other stuff you'll need/want).

My rule of thumb is the beginner stuff is crap, btu intermediate stuff is of good quality, and the high-end stuff isn't much better than the intermediate stuff, but 5 times the price. This goes for all sporting goods.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

I have never known anyone who started tying and then gave up. It is an enjoyable past time and once you see the money you save, you won't stop. Do not get the cheap kits. MKerns advice of intermediate tools is spot on, may be except for the vise. - although i don't know what he considers an intermediate vise. For a vise; spend the ~120.00 for a regal or renzetti traveler. You might be able to buy a used one from ebay or a local shop.
Intermediate tools, sprinkled in with other home-made gadgets will go a long way.
PS add a finger nail cutter (walmart) and use it on wire, hackle stems and other tough materials to save your good scissors. People know about using it for wire, but things like mono (ribbing), crystal flash and feather/hackle stems is tough on scissors too. Buy a regular pair of high quality small scissors from a walmart to cut antron, deer hair (off the hide, not for trimming) and other tough materials.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

I bet you could find ideas for a homemade hair stacker on the internet

 

[littlelehigh]

MKern wrote:
I think for decent stuff you should look to spend...
$50 for a vise,
$12 for a bobbin of two,
$15 for scissors,
$10 for a whip finisher,
and about $5 for the rest.

MEH

Hook and Hackle
The Fly Shack
etc

all have cheap but good enough threaders, bobbins etc I paid $4 for my latest bobbin and it's ceramic. Hell why use anything else than toe nail skizzor from your local grocery store. Spend the least you can starting out and go from there.

If you have a family to feed like I do money is tight and you make do with what you have. Most time I use a razor blade to cut thread and materials anyhoo. The fish don't mind.

This post looks like Gfen hacked my account and gave his opinion.

 

[MKern]

I was basing my ideas off his $150 limit and buying true tying tools.

Of course you can find deals on the internet and make your own stuff, but if you walked into a fly shop and starting filling the basket these are close to the prices.

I aggree that there are areas that can be cut, which leads to buying more/better quality materials. This leads to better flies sooner.

 

[buffalo7]

To start off, make sure you have a good vise. It dosn't have to be fancy, I tied for years with a Thomson model A befoere I bought a rotory vice, and that wasn't an expensive vice. I started with a kit that some one gave me as a gift. The fly would either pop out of the vice or the vice would come unclamped from the table. I soon gave up flytying until one day I was in a store that sold tying materials, I bought my model A there for $14.95 and started tying again.

Start with basic tools then pick a few patterns you want to tie and buy the materials you need for them and go from there. If you buy a kit you will probably end up with some junk materials they wanted to get rid of.

The tool kit below I bought for $19.95 at a Sport Show a couple years ago, you can get it from Cabelas now for $29.95. It's made for traveling but you can use it at a tying desk just as well. It has more tools than I started with and I don't see any limitations, the fancy high high price vises you see with gold platting only blind you from the reflections. I would only need to add a few more tools like a hair staker,rotory hackle pliers, rotory whip finisher but you don't need them to start of with, you can put the rest of the money into materials for specific patterns you want to tie.

 

[gfen]

littlelehigh wrote:
This post looks like Gfen hacked my account and gave his opinion.

Kinda sorta does, except you needed more big words and whining.

FWIW, I'm a big fan of the guys at Badger Creek, whom I buy plenty of Indian made junk at Somerset yearly.

The Cabela's all-in-one toolkit with the vise is actually pretty nice, and the whole thing is quite usable. I beat the hell out of the scissors that came with my craptacular kit and really only ruined them this year on egg yarn.

The bobbin sucked, though. Out of the gate was notched.

So that kit will work just fine, yuo may end up needing a new bobbin, just drop the extra couple bucks on a ceramic one. After that, replace as needed. I can't use that style whip finisher, either, but YMMV.

If you want to go more piecemeal, I'm gonna second the Indian Regal clone of Sandy's for a supercheap and awesome option. No fiddling.

 

[gfen]

Oh, you're in Northampton? Make a Tuesday night run to LL Bean in Center Valley after 6pm, and take in the tying class. Chances are, one of the guys who've been there a time or two can let you borrow their stuff for the class and you can get yoru feet wet, so to speak.

Free class, great teacher, some of the students can be a bit useless though.....

 

[Heritage-Angler]

gfen wrote:
.... some of the students can be a bit useless though.....

Mmmust rrresist. :lol:

On a useful note, doesn't the Bean sell an HMH starter vise with tools? I seem to remember something like that for around $75 or so. Check it out for him - you're there more than me, but at least they pay me to be there.

 

[gfen]

I haven't been in awhile, actually. Met George's new class, came back that weekend to buy an outfit for a friend. With the broken family, I don't know the next time I'll be down in the area.

You guys did have a semi-decent kit, I don't remember who made it though. Other than that, it was Doctor Slick scissor sets, a half Metz neck that's been there for three years, and some black thread.

However, the tying class makes up for lack of materials.

 

[Marv_Levy]

gfen wrote:
Oh, you're in Northampton? Make a Tuesday night run to LL Bean in Center Valley after 6pm, and take in the tying class. Chances are, one of the guys who've been there a time or two can let you borrow their stuff for the class and you can get yoru feet wet, so to speak.

Free class, great teacher, some of the students can be a bit useless though.....

cool i didnt know about that ill have to check it out.

thanks for the suggestions guys.