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I am constantly doing new flies and finding I don't have a feather that I need. I am going to buy some pheasant tails and wood cock today. I have every known cape by now but what other feathers should I have in my collection? I am just starting to tie nymphs. Suggestions?
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I am haunted by Waters
Get a good partridge skin -- not bulk feathers -- and peacock herl. They would be good for starters.
Joe
ostrich is really strong. Good for bodies and tails, even wings. Really strong! You can dye it if you don't want the white.
Maribou in all manner of various colors. A starling skin could be handy, and I'll second the recommendations for a partridge skin and ostritch herl. Also, some nice hen necks would be very nice.
Jeremy
If you are going to buy the pheasant tails, might look to find a full skin with tails attached. There are some useful feathers on a skin that could come in handy from the rump feathers to the church windows. Never know how you might be able to use those. Its cheap. You can probably get the full skin with tails for $8.00 and just the tail clump alone will run $5.00. Its a bargain.
snipe, wood duck flank, golden pheasant tippets, lemon wood duck in addition to what is mentioned above
Why Don't you get a hatch chart for the streams you fish and see what the flies needed are and look at the patterns and see what you need. Not real hard to do. Ron
Get some turkey - wings and tails for wing cases and bodies. One of the most difficult things in fly tying is finding out what materials may be substituted - nothing is set in stone. For years I thought wing cases had to be turkey.
midstream,
That's a dangerous question! I understand your frustration though. When you want to tie a new fly and there is just one item that you're missing, it's very discouraging. But I don't think you should just buy stuff based on people's suggestions. There are thousands of fly patterns and we all have different tastes.
What I do is keep a small notepad at my tying bench. When I want to tie a new pattern that I'm missing materials for, I just write it down in my pad and keep a running "grocery list". The next time I'm ready to do a catalog order, I just check my pad and see what I need. Of course if I just need an item that I think I can get at my local fly shop, I'll just run out and get it.