Tying Materal Brands

RCFetter

RCFetter

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Joined
Mar 11, 2008
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Montgomery County
Three brands I'm thinking of are:

Wapsifly

Hareline

Nature's Spirit


Based on my own experience, Hareline seems to be higher quality than Wapsifly. Is that a true statement?

I don't have experience Nature's Spirit, but I know it's sold by Performance Fly and some say Performance is a top quality retailer. Is Nature's Spirit generally better than Hareline?

Are any of the brands considered the best in a category? It seems that Whiting is about the best for hackle. Is Hareline the best for dubbing?






 
I use hareline quite a bit but I use many different dubbings. Personally I'm not sure there's an overall best, but I feel there's a best for each application for the outcome desired. This probably didn't help did it?
 
I feel like there are so many tying brands and for me, alot of my preference comes from combining so Im not brand loyal or specific. And i think each brand has their own specialty i guess. If i feel tgat a piece of yarn from Michaels makes a better fly than special egg fly steelhead yarn, then i go with what I like. I think its all preference...

Ive bought LLBean pattern tying kits (spirit river)and wasnt impressed with their hackle. I do like their dubbing though.
 
I 2nd what lv2nymph said. You're talking about a ton of different material compositions, so I don't think either are necessarily better than the others. Its all about what you're trying to accomplish with the pattern you're tying.

Heck, I believe you'll catch more fish on whatever you have the most confidence in. I tied op a pattern calling for Wapsi rainbow sow dubbing, couldn't find locally, so I used Hareline UV ice dub. The fish didn't seem to mind the other day I got to test it out. The other fly I was using was all natural materials, and produced well too...
 
Wapsi and Hareline are two of the better brands IMO.

When it comes to synthetics, brand almost doesn't matter. However, natural materials, particularly loose, whole feathers and fur pieces can vary quite a bit in quality and characteristics. That is why I prefer to shop for certain materials in person rather than mail order. That said, I've had pretty good luck with wapsi branded materials.

The only "major" brand I avoid is Rumpf. Tends to be a notch or two below everything else. Orvis can be hit or miss too.

Kev

 
lv2nymph wrote:
I use hareline quite a bit but I use many different dubbings. Personally I'm not sure there's an overall best, but I feel there's a best for each application for the outcome desired. This probably didn't help did it?
Click to expand...

It does help. I know you tie a lot of flies and you're saying Hareline dubbing is not noticeably better than other brands.

Otherwise, there may not be any answers to my question.

Relative to pheasant tails, I've noticed that hareline is better quality than Wapsi.

On an older thread about tying material retailers, a few forum members mentioned Performance sells top quality stuff so I assumed the brands they carry are better. Also, they are the only retailer I know of that sells genuine hare's mask but they don't list the name of their supplier.

I just started tying back in March and at the time I searched the fly tying section for posts started by novice tiers. One piece of advice I saw over and over was "buy and use the best material."
 
For natural materials, Veniard has quality and hard to find stuff. If you like wets/soft hackles, look into their stuff.
 
Dubbing is dubbing, the natural materials are worth waiting for until you need them. Buy whole skins and not bags of feathers, even if you never use them up you will get the choicest ones and someday you'll be able to tell the difference. Make friends with hunters and you'll get a large majority of what you need for free or close to it.Collins has the best hackle and he's a guy not a corporation, don't buy too many necks, you won't use them unless you tie catskill style or parachutes.
Don't get the latest thing in materials, ignore the hype until you see some advantage in changing materials.It's supposed to be a long winter so have fun, turn off the boob tube and start tying.
 
Thanks Steve and Blue. I do appreciate the advice I get here.

As of today, I have been looking at whole skins and they are expensive.

I also appreciate when some comment "it will still catch fish" but what's wrong with aiming for the classic or perfect fly (rhetorical ques)?

 
Great topic and replies...and I love that shooting for perfect is something others go for! I can see both sides, but really appreciate that philosophy.

I apologize on getting to this party late, but wanted to share some thoughts. For materials, it's tough to say one is better than the others because there are so many specific materials to think about. For instance, when we're talking dubbing for nymphs, I prefer SLF Spikey Squirrel, though for dry flies, I opt for the dubbing sold by Delaware River Club.

Basically, what I've learned is that many companies have something that I like a lot, and I try to focus on those specific materials from each.

I know this doesn't exactly answer the question, but I think it's tough to make an outright comparison between brands without refining the topic.

TC

RCFetter wrote:
Thanks Steve and Blue. I do appreciate the advice I get here.

As of today, I have been looking at whole skins and they are expensive.

I also appreciate when some comment "it will still catch fish" but what's wrong with aiming for the classic or perfect fly (rhetorical ques)?
Click to expand...
 
If you're looking into whole skins or capes, this forum might be a good way to help reduce your costs. Put feelers out to see if someone would want to go halves on materials. A good full partridge skin can cost as much as a dry fly cape. But split in haf, still has a ton of feathers for you.

If you're looking at splitting some skins, let me know. A few months ago my dog ate a partridge skin, snowshoe feet, and some wings which I need to replace.
 
RCFetter wrote:
Three brands I'm thinking of are:

Wapsifly

Hareline

Nature's Spirit
Click to expand...

if we have only used these brands how do we know they are the best if they havent been compared to the other brands of materials out there?

all they do is repackage materials into zip lock bags but never produce the actual material

what about the fly tyers dungeon, ligas, flyrite, hends, sybai, danville etc brands?
 
Nature's Spirit has the best goose biots around. The colors are fantastic. I am using these biots for bodies not tails.
 
SteveG wrote:
If you're looking into whole skins or capes, this forum might be a good way to help reduce your costs. Put feelers out to see if someone would want to go halves on materials. A good full partridge skin can cost as much as a dry fly cape. But split in haf, still has a ton of feathers for you.

If you're looking at splitting some skins, let me know. A few months ago my dog ate a partridge skin, snowshoe feet, and some wings which I need to replace.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but at the rate I'm going, I use about a partridge skin a year!
 
RC - Best advise I can give you is to make a list of stuff you want, and then wait for the International Fly Tying Symposium and/or the Somerset Flyfishing Show.

There will be many vendors there, and you'll have a huge selection to choose from. Vendors like Charlie Collins, Whitewater Flies, Performance Flies, etc typically show up for these events, and you'll surely have a much broader selection to choose from if buying in person.

The Symposium is first (November), and the Flyfishing Show is in January.

Hit both, go early, get the items on your list first, and go with an experienced tyer if possible - he/she will know what to look for in choosing quality materials. Try to stick to buying items on your list, as you can rack up a huge bill if impulse shopping.

This is key - buying online is basically a crapshoot. Seeing things firsthand is the way to go, especially when buying natural materials.
 
Hareline or Spirit River https://spiritriver.com/

Spirit river has a lot of great natural materials.... tip dyed stuff, UV infused, some good hooks as well
 
Thanks HA. I do plan on hitting the Symposium but I did not check out their website. Thanks for the link.
 
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