Sweatshop flys

Gotta agree with you on this. Actually, I agree with everything you've said in large part, but just wanted to point out that there is exceptions to what we've grown accustomed to as the "norm".

FFP is my favorite fly shop - it's had a lot of influence from George Harvey and Joe Humphreys. They are unusual, in a very good way. It's good to see that there is still some holdouts to the imports. They actually call out the imported stuff, and their imported stuff is a small minority of their selection - Humphrey's patterns (ironic), 9 Umpqua patterns, and hair bass bugs. The rest is all USA ties.
 
I can't speak for any other shop, but The Classic Fly Fisherman in Lansdale, PA sells only flies made in the USA by local tyers.

Chief
 
Ramcatt wrote:
i've never been to that shop or seen their catalo

if they have 20% of their fly stock from local tiers (highly unlikely)
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No, no, no. That's wrong. The vast majority of the flies at Flyfishers Paradise are locally tied.

I don't know the actual percentages of the flies they sell that are locally tied, and I doubt that Steve has ever counted. But as a frequent visitor to the shop, I'd estimate it at over 90%.

They carry Gaines poppers, and some of the speciality bass and saltwater stuff they get from wholesalers.

But those bins full of trout flies they get from local tiers or tie themselves. They make that effort to support local tiers, to keep the tradition alive, etc. And the quality is excellent. So, for people who think that is important, support it.

Slate Run Tackle and Spruce Creek Outfitters are also good sources of locally tied flies.

So, you can't generalize. In some fly shops, their bins are full of imported flies. In other shops, the majority are local tied. And some shops carry mostly imports, but have some local speciality patterns tied by local tiers. It varies from shop to shop.
 
I tie 90 % of mine here at the shop and buy 10% that I don't have time to or they are just to basic. IE: Elk haier caddis, adams,etc...this year is 100 % by myself...My boxes hold over 4,000 flies......
 
Flyfishers Paradise flies are definitely mostly tied by the people that actually work at the fly shop. Steve, the owner, ties 1000s of flies a year. The other people that work there also help fill the bins. The only flies they buy from whole sellers are the bigger poppers and big warm water streamers. Ramcatt, you shouldn't question someone, when they have been to the fly shop many times, and you have never been there.
 
TYoung wrote:
Flyfishers Paradise flies are definitely mostly tied by the people that actually work at the fly shop. Steve, the owner, ties 1000s of flies a year. The other people that work there also help fill the bins. The only flies they buy from whole sellers are the bigger poppers and big warm water streamers. Ramcatt, you shouldn't question someone, when they have been to the fly shop many times, and you have never been there.
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I agree. I have been to FFP many times. The guys who work there tie ALOT of flies as does the owner, Steve.
 
the store near me is orvis and many of the boxes of flies (trout) are from taiwan. they are quality flies and there isn't much wrong with them, save the price. $1.49 is a lot to pay for a size 8 bugger. thats 20 to 30 cents more than the other shops i have visited.
 
Frequent tyer I was stating that flies made overseas have a tendency to fall apart because they are tied without any reguard for the person buying the fly. Most of the people tying them have never seen or fished with a fly rod. The flies are thrown together as fast as they can be. You can't tell me that a foreign made sweatshop fly will stand up to many fish. They don't whip finish their flies, they use maybe one half hitch and no head cement. The thread unravels and the fly falls apart. This is why they charge $2.00 a dozen for them, they are cheap products. All I am saying is you get what you pay for. Would you buy a fly rod from china made in a sweat shop? No your gear would have to be quality so why stop at the rod, reel, line and tippet. I personally want a fly on that I know will hold up if I ever get that fish of a lifetime.
 
gaines poppers are made right here in gaines township, tioga county. pa..no overseas crap there..
 
I get mine from a sweat shop....My tying rooms on the second floor with no air conditioning and 1 window!
 
Leteras gets it.
 
Leteras wrote:
... I personally want a fly on that I know will hold up if I ever get that fish of a lifetime.
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then quit using those knock off hooks


 
sandfly wrote:
I tie 90 % of mine here at the shop and buy 10% that I don't have time to or they are just to basic. IE: Elk haier caddis, adams,etc...this year is 100 % by myself...My boxes hold over 4,000 flies......
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maybe you should reach out to a distributor and flip that ratio
 
willscreek wrote:
Leteras gets it.
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Does he really?

There have been alot of claims about the flies being junk, are they really? I am sure that some imported flies have "fallen apart". Does that mean that they all just fall apart, I dont think so. I have tied alot of flies in my lifetime; I have had hackles break, tinsle ribs break, wing cases tear, ect. I dont think there are many people who tie flies that could honestly say that they never had a fly come apart. Heck, there are some people that claim that the more the fly comes apart the better it fish's.

There are tying tecniques that can help make flies more durable; the use of extra glue through out the fly, wire ribbing through hackle, extra half hitches/whip finishes, ect, ect, ect. Some people choose to add these extra steps, some dont. Check out the tying style of a guy like Polly Rosenberg who files the hook shank and uses alot of glue. Then compare that to a guy like Randall Kaufmann, who is a minimalist with his thread wraps and is all about speed. Does that mean that Kaufmann's flies are junk?

As far as the imported flies using junk materials; I havnt seen it. I have looked at alot of the imports at places like LL Bean and Cabelas. They always seem to have good stiff hackle and tailing on the dries, nice peacock, clean well shaped wings on the dries wets and streamers ect, ect, ect. Maybe the hooks are seconds; I personally have never heard of that before. If it is true; I wish the major hook manufacturers would look at them even closer because I still get some bad hooks.

I also dont agree that you have to fish to be able to tie a well proportioned quality fly. The patterns these people are tying have set material list's and proportions, they are not designing the new latest and greatest trout killer patterns. Being a fisherman helps with customizing or tweeking a pattern to your liking. I have taught hundreds of people how to tie flies. Without a doubt the best students are young ladies. There are some people that pick it up quick and there are others who will never be able to tie a decent looking fly.

I think its great that some shops are able to get their flies from local people, and support the local economy. I think its great that some people feal so strong about supporting the USA that they will not buy the imports. But; to say the imports are junk is just not 100% accurate.

Good luck, Tony
 
Also, to say that all US tied flies are good is wrong also. There was a company west of Coudersport (I think Smethport) that had want ads back in the mid 90's that need tiers. I called & the rate was $0.25 each! They sold flies to the big chains like walmart. The flies were awlful! I did not tie for them. I did however tie flies USA Tied Flies out of Harrisburg /Camp Hill. They always had an ad in Fly Fisherman Mag. & the rate was very good.
 
I must add The Big Boss Man Steb too..he gets it. My origional point is American Made Flies. Why the heck not?
 
I'd like to put in another (couple) perspective(s) here; I've been fly fishing for years but only started tying my own flies last fall.

For the first year, while I was learning to FF, I didn't really care who tied the flies, as long as they caught fish. And I think that having a source of relatively inexpensive flies for beginners is a good thing, especially if 50% of them will get lost in the trees or stream bed. The better I got, the more I wanted my flies to last; therefore I started trying to buy for quality, not quantity.

Now that I tie my own, I'm buying less, and I know what to look for in a quality fly when I do buy. If it's an import, as long as it looks like it's made well, it could end up in my box. If I want a pattern for a location I've never fished, I either look online to see what works best in that area, or I go to a local fly shop there. If the flies are made in Sri Lanka, but the shop owner says it catches fish in the area, it'll go in my box. And if it really did come from a sweatshop, most businesses (and I say most) wouldn't sell them because Americans are more sensitive to that these days.

I've also had flies fall apart over the years. They've been cheaper flies, AND they've been more quality flies (and they could be imports OR from the US). But the one thing they had in common was that they caught fish. I'm repairing some of the ones that I've kept so they can go on catching fish.

And if you still really care about what flies end up in your box and on your line, tie them yourself as well. I've found that I have a greater appreciation for the art form as a whole by tying my own. It's not just a rod/reel/some line/fly. My flies getting pretty good, I've spent time working on my casting, paying more attention to aspects of the gear I buy, and I'm having more fun. If I can catch fish with my own flies, it feels amazing to know that "I made that and it worked".

I guess to sum it all up, spend more time fishing, less time worrying about where the flies come from.
 


Ramacat
maybe you should reach out to a distributor and flip that ratio
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Why should I sell inferior flys ???
 
yeah thats right Hoss you tie perfect flies, sorry I forgot..
 
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