So I'm back after a somewhat extended hiatus from the good old FAOLBB. Life has a way of getting annoying, but things are mostly squared away and I've got me a respectable amount of free time again. On that note, here's my holiday present for all of you: a review!

A Review of Cabela's Gunnison River Fly-Tying Kit

A very good friend of mine presented me with a fly tying magazine, a $50 Cabela's gift card and this kit as Christmas presents last week. (Of course, the magazine was instantly devoured and the card used to replenish hooks and thread.) The box is marked $69.95, the web site has it at $49.99 and my friend bought it on sale for $39.99.

The kit comes packaged in a hard plastic box that measures roughly 9x7x3 inches, sports a handle and sliding locks. The case looks like it could take a fair beating and certainly won't open once the locks are in place. That said, the case is probably the highest quality item here.

The contents of the kit are about what you'd expect for a "starter" kit, with a vice and tools fitted neatly in cut-out foam, materials, a booklet with instructions for a few flies and a DVD. The vice is your garden-variety A-Vise knock-off. The other tools are a bobbin, bobbin threader, dubbing needle, hackle pliers, scissors and small hair stacker. All of the tools are labeled as being made in either India, Pakistan or China and they're all very cheap. However, I was rather surprised at how serviceable they were. They're not pretty, they won't make your life easier or impress your friends, but they all work reasonably well for their intended purpose. The vice itself easily held hooks in sizes ranging from 8 to 16 and seemed to be about as useful as the real Thompson A-Vise I usually tie on.

The materials in the kit are mostly hideous. The hackle feathers might have an inch of useful material each, the black thread frays coming straight off the spool and thank god they shot the poor animal they got the elk hair from, 'cause if the condition of its coat is any indication it was suffering mightily. I'd say the only thing really useful in the materials is a spool of thin copper wire, a bundle of peacock herl, some "rabbit" dubbing in olive and gray, a bit of chenille, white yarn and possibly the hooks (one box of which is labeled "Flying Hook").

With these points noted, I think it is very easy to write-off this kit as possibly being more harmful to a beginner than helpful. Whenever I embark on a new study, I find meeting with some reasonable amount of success early on to be a big motivator. With materials like this, I can't imagine any absolute beginner finding anything but frustration.

That said, I'm going to go out on a limb and stamp a qualified recommendation on it for the average tier. The tools and vice are useful and no one would shed a tear if they were destroyed or lost. This, combined with the nice plastic case and fitted foam means this would be a nice streamside/emergency kit you could toss in the trunk and forget about until you needed it. Swap out the awful materials for a bag of better quality "standards" and you have a decent insurance policy against finding yourself on the water without a matching fly to the bugs zipping around.

Just don't pay full price for it.