Ok, so I got some stuff....

So I picked up some tying supplies from a locale who bought some new supplies and pretty much gave these to me (I had to cover gas)

Now that I have these, I have no idea what flies I could tie with these, if any. In a couple weeks when I go into town to pick up my order I'll be getting some more stuff to tie with. But for now, if anyone knows anythign I can use this for, I'd appreciate any suggestions:)


Saddle Hackle ? Bunch of different colors.
Seal Fur Subs
Golden Pheasant
Flashabou Dubbing
Deer Tail Pieces
Duck Quills
Mallard Flank
Strung Marabou
Squirrel Tail
Calf Tail
Chenille

Pro Lak Head Cenemt
Red Yarny stuff
4 strand Rayon? Like black thread
French solid wire, size 20
Lurex flat tinsel, size M
More black thready stuff
more 4 strand rayon, red thready stuff
Cobweb 2 thread?
Gold tinsel
lime green wool

Some help would be so greatly appreciated:)
Shane

first thing I would do is throw all the fur and feathers into the freezer for a few days, then I would read through Al Campbells begining tying. Looks like you can tie many of the flies that are listed in the begining series from what you have .

Have fun

Eric

Thanks, I'll do that! One question though, should I always store fur and feathers in the freezer?

I'll do some reading today and get tying! I attemped some tying lastnight, 3rd fly looks like a fly, the second, ok. The first, well, it looks terrible:)

Thanks again!
Shane

Hi OttoDitta,

If the materials are store bought, you don't have to put them in the freezer. However, if they have been harvested by a hunter, then yes (to kill creepies). Once you've thawed them, and with store bought, put a flea collar in your tying kit with these materials to help avoid any bugs that arrive late for dinner, so to speak. You can cut the collar up into 1/2 inch pieces and put these in individual bags of material if you want.

Oh, and the "4 stranded thread like stuff" is called floss. Used for making the bodies of some wet flies. Try this, take one strand of red and one strand of black, each about 3 inches long. Take a size 12 hook, wrap your thread to just above the barb and tie in the floss strands side by side (2 tight wraps of thread will be enough). Bring your thread back to about 3 mm before the eye of the hook. Now, carefully wrap your two stands of floss so that they form a red/black barber pole along the shank of the hook. As you wrap the floss you'll see it "flattens out", which makes for nice smooth bodies. Anyway, once you get the two strands up to your thread, use the thread to tie them off and trim the excess (2 or 3 tight wraps). Now, take a light brown saddle hackle that has fibres that are about as long as the barber pole. Tie that in (two tight turns of thread should be enough to secure it to the hook) Wrap that feather around the hook twice, with the 2nd wrap pretty much on top of the first. Again, use your thread to secure it again (2 tight wraps) and trim the extra feather away. Form a small head, tie off (half hitches or whip finish), cement, and there you should have a nice wingless wet fly.

- Jeff

Shane, I freeze all my animal materials for a few days no mater when or where I get them. I am just paranoid that way, I also refreeze about every six months and keep a flea collar in with them.

Keep tying you will be amazed at how fast you improve, keep that first fly somwhere safe and look at it in a year. :D

Eric

The freezing or flea collar is to prevent any insect infestation that could hatch out and eat your stuff! Lot's of folk's like to 'quarantine' matrial before adding it to their collection.

That list of materials will tie a host of patterns, sounds like your well set. Here are a few ideas for where to start...

saddle hackle are great for collars on dry flies....
- adams, adams parachute
- elk hair caddis

seal fur (or substitiute) in a dubbing loop makes great mohair style streamer bodies...
- 'mohair' leech patterns
- seal bugger

golden pheasant tippets are good for tails on...
- royal coachman, both dry and wet

flashabuo dubbing is great stuff, I use it straight or mix it with natural dubbing to give it a little sparkle on dubbed bodies. Try it on...
- elk hair caddis
- scud patterns

deer tail (often called 'bucktail') is used for hair wing streamers, try...
- little brown trout
- little rainbow trout
- little brook trout

Duck quils are used as upright or down style 'quill wings' on traditional catskills dry flies and wets, try...
- 'no-hackle' dun
- blue wing olive

mallard flank has lots of uses. Try it for tail material on wet flies, as wing material on wets, as a soft hackle collars. I use it on the following patterns...
- hornberg (wet wings)
- scuds (tail)
- WD-40 (tail and thorax)
- platte river spider (soft hackle collar)

Strung marabou is good for tails and for some streamer wings, Try it on...
- wooly bugger (tails)
- leech patterns (tails)
- platte river spider (streamer body)

Squirrel tail is good for hair wing style streamers, similar to bucktail..

Calf tail is great for dry fly wings, spray it with some anti-static laundry spray and you can put it in a hair stacker to even the tips. I use is for...
- royal coachman (wings)
- lime trude (wings)
- parachute adams (wing post)

Chenille is the standard body material on wooly buggers, as well as a host of streamers and nymphs. Look for...
- wooly worm
- wooly bugger
- bitch creek
- yuk bug

Use the red yarn for tails on a wooly worm or hopper patterns.

4 strand rayon floss, seperate the individual strands to build smooth bodies on tradtional wet flies like 'the doctor' or use it for the red middle section (waist) on a 'royal coachman'

The wire and tinsel are used for ribbing, often over floss bodies for looks and to reinforce the fragile floss. Try...
- gold ribbed hares ear nymph
- prince nymph

Use the lime green wool for the body on a 'lime trude'

All of these are proven trout patterns in the Rocky Mountain region, for more detail try the fly pattern index on this site or some of these links...

http://www.westfly.com/fly-pattern-r...n-recipe.shtml

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/index.cfm

I just finished a couple more test flies. One of my own creation and a wooly bugger ( if you wanna call it that lol). I'll put everything in the freezer for the next couple days.

Thanks for the info Kengore, that helps out a ton!!
Shane

Shane,

Not knowing where in Ontario you are; but by saying your in SW Ontario I'll kind of presume your near the Great Lakes like I am. Sharing some advice for the Great Lakes region try Clouser Minnows and Wolly Buggers.

For me when I started tying a few monthes back everyone here pointed me to FAOL's main board. Under Fly Tying there are three areas:
Begining,
Intermediate &
Advanced.

Start there.

I have this extention table next to my computer. That's where I clamped my vise. Made it real easy...glance to the left look at screen...work on the right. Scroll mouse to next step...

You get the picture.
Have fun!!
Jim

Hi Jim,

I'm in the middle of London, Woodstock and St. Mary's:) About 2 hours from the lake, so I'm pretty close!! A lot of people have told me tie a bunch of wooly buggers haha. Thanks a lot, I'll be doing a bunch of reading!

Tying is a lot of fun, so much, I love it. Even though I suck at it lol.

Same here, my desk is more like a table, it's 4x8, with a 2.5" lip, so I just clamp right in front of me on my desk and browse what I need, it's all right here in front of me:)

I also have a unit to the left of my desk to hold everything, just can't clamp to it:(

I'll look at the minnow right now:)

Thanks for the replies,
Shane