Basic Instructions

Nothing beats personal instruction. There are many groups which run fly tying classes for a nominal fee-usually the cost of materials. Ask your fly tying buddy for help, if he/she ties. If all those avenues lead nowhere, buy an instructional video and a pattern book.

You find youth clubs, Trout Unlimited chapters, Federation of Fly Fishers chapters, Project Healing Waters programs, fly fishing shops and independent clubs that'll help you get started. The web has countless sets of instructions and videos that will help.

Books - for tying instructions Skip Morris' Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple is one of the nicest we have seen recently. For patterns - There's the American Fly Tying Manual or the super comprehensive Flies: the Best 1000.

These two books are a MUST for the beginner tyer or anyone wanting to advance their skills with fly tying. “Benchside Introduction”is the best way I know to start!! We love these books!! They're expensive, but will get you well on your way to becoming proficient in tying a wide variety of flies.

The Benchside Introduction To

Fly Tying (great for beginners!)

Leeson and Schollmeyer created this new milestone in this comprehensive beginner’s book. 190 color pages with over 1500 beautiful color photos. Just terrific!

Item No. BOOKLS2 Each........45.00

Fly Tier’s Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles. Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer. Over 464 pages with 3000 color photos and 400,000 words to describe hundreds of fly tying techniques. Zoom in/print/etc.

Item No. CDROMPC CD ROM Ea. 59.95

Item No. 2100001 BOOK Each....100.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting Materials Here's an area where the novice tends to be a hunter gatherer. First, it's very expensive to amass a number of unwanted materials and hooks. Secondly, materials do not last forever and must be cared for. It's best to ease into material collection as your expertise grows.

Below is a very basic list of materials that will allow one to get into basic fly tying with a minimum investment and waste.

?    Hooks are covered above.

?    Thread. Start with 6/0. Get a spool of black at a minimum. Black thread will be used the most. After that a spool of the earth tones in 6/0 may be a wise investment: olive, grey, brown, cream and beige or tan.

?    A jar of head cement.

?    A container of dubbing wax.

?    Gold wire

?    Lead wire medium to start.

?    Flat reversible tinsels-Fine, medium and wide.

?    Floss-Red

?    Standard chenille-best to start with medium in black, yellow, olive and brown

?    A package of gold bead heads in a variety of sizes.

?    A buck tail piece assortment.

?   Calf tail - white

?    Grey Squirrel tail.

?    A rabbit fur dubbing box.

?    A dry fly dubbing box.

?    A piece of natural deer hair.

?    A piece of light elk hair.

?    A piece of moose body hair.

?    Hackle-here is another place one could invest hundreds of dollars quickly and foolishly.

?    Hackle can be bought by capes, saddles or in packages. Capes can be domestic or imported. If you intend to tie dry fly only - start with either 1/2 no. 3 genetic hackle capes or No. 1 imported capes or if you intend to tie flies primarily in sizes 10, 12 and 14-choose a genetic hackle saddle in grades 1 or 2 (these will yield 2 or more flies per feather).

?    Packaged dry fly hackle is very expensive and should be bought only by experienced tyers who need just a few hackles of a particular size and color.

?    If you intend to tie only wet flies or nymphs - buy hen necks of the appropriate color.

?    For streamers, buy packaged saddle hackles of the desired color.

?    Again, if you are starting off just doing 1 or 2 fly patterns, buy the hackle you need for that job only.

?    Mallard wing pair - from which you can pluck matched wing pairs.

?    Turkey white tipped tails - package.

?    Ringneck pheasant tails - package.

?    Package of stripped goose in assorted colors (Goose biots).

?    Packages of marabou plumes in black, olive and brown.

?    A package of peacock herl.

?    Packages of mallard flank in natural grey and dyed wood duck.

?    A package of gold pheasant tippets and crests.

?    A package of silver pheasant body feathers.

?    Perhaps a package of partridge hackle.

?    Perhaps a package of imitation jungle cock eyes - medium size.