Financing a New Tier

[Allan]

Situation: Fly fisherman about 40 yrs. old wants walks into a fly fishing store and says he wants to begin to tie flies. He has an budget that he Cannot Exceed. He's not looking for advice such as, 'get in touch with a few hunters so you'll have a source for feathers, furs or hair. His purchase will be right NOW! Your store has a wide variety of items at competitive prices.His entire budget is $250. What would you list as items he must buy and what would you think the total will be?

This is an actual situation>

[NJTroutbum]

I’m assuming primarily Trout
At that budget….avoid the Proshops. Go to Cabelas. $280


Vise: Cabelas Super II (Generic entry level vise found in almost every shop. Full rotary, all metal, fully adjustable, C-clamp) $19.99
Gunnison Tool Kit: $20
Cabelas Standard Dry Fly Hook: #8 through #20 $4.99 (1 pack of 25 each) $35
Sally Hensons Hard-as-Nails (Skip the shop and buy it afterwards): $3
Bead Gold Brass Pack (Small and Medium): $8
6/0 Uni-thread (Black, Olive Dun, Rusty Brown, Red) $10.50
Ultra-wire (FINE Gold Silver Copper): $10
Metz Dry Fly hackle pack (Brown,Dun,Grizzly): $40
Hareline Rabbit: Basic assortment box: $20
Squirrel Dubbing (Nymph); $18
Ice-dub (Peacock, Olive, Black, White): 15
Deer body hair (Natural, Black): $16
Deer Comparadun patch (Dun, Natural): $7
Yearling Elk : $6
Moose Body hair patch: 2.50
Pheasant Tail (natural): $7.50
Goose Biot (Brown & Black): $3
Peacock Herl (Bundled): $4.50
1/8” black Razor Foam: $3
Natural Wild Turkey tail: $4.50
Wood Duck Flank: $6
CDC (White, Tan, Dun): $15
Peach Estaz: $3
Marabou (Black): $3

Final Edit.

[Panman]

Hooks?

Tim

[NJTroutbum]

LOL....You are correct. Left them off. I recommend to all new tyers, begin with dry fly hooks only. Aside from large streamers, everything can be tied just fine on standard dry fly hooks.

Cabelas Standard Dry Fly Hook: #8 through #20 $4.99 (1 pack of 25 each)

Add $35 to the total

$270......I'm close.

[whatfly]

This is an actual situation>

What species and what type of fishing? What region? His budget to start or for a year? If he thinks he will get away with just spending $250 for the rest of his life, or even just the winter, tell him to save his money and just buy flies instead. Tools are easy and mostly universal, so they would include: Griffin Superior 2A, 4" Dr. Slick Scissors, Whip Finisher, and Rite Robbin. This leaves about $145 for materials, which could be a little or a lot depending on number of patterns he/she wishes to tie, based on target species. Would NOT recommend scrimping on tools, unless you suspect this is just going to be a dalliance and therefore not worth an investment for the future.

[Byron haugh]

Never tried it myself, but you often see big lots of materials "former tiers" post on eBay.

Granted, you don't know what the final bid might be on this, but might be worth pursuing if you're on that tight a budget.

Can't seem to paste the ebay example here. If you do a search for "fly tying vise", there is a listing about 10 items down which includes a Renzetti vise and a bunch of materials. Current bid 150.

Here is one that includes a lot of materials and a low-end HMH vise which may end up being near his budget. Granted, the "buy it now" price is above, but who knows what it will actually sell for:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Huge-lot-of-...item2c8ecacec1

[Ray Kunz]

I'd go for the Eagle Claw hooks less than half the cost and made in the USA. Their quality is absolutely acceptable.
Best reply yet would be to contact an long time tier who could easily set you up with all you need in appreciation for your enthusiasm.

[redietz]

What species and what type of fishing? What region? His budget to start or for a year? If he thinks he will get away with just spending $250 for the rest of his life, or even just the winter, tell him to save his money and just buy flies instead. Tools are easy and mostly universal, so they would include: Griffin Superior 2A, 4" Dr. Slick Scissors, Whip Finisher, and Rite Robbin. This leaves about $145 for materials, which could be a little or a lot depending on number of patterns he/she wishes to tie, based on target species. Would NOT recommend scrimping on tools, unless you suspect this is just going to be a dalliance and therefore not worth an investment for the future.

I'd leave out the whip finisher at first (it can come later) but I agree everything else you said.

It would really help if we knew what kind of flies he wants to tie.

[Allan]

My initial post to this thread was poorly worded and had several errors. So I am correcting it here. If this alters something you've written, please correct. Thanks, and here's the corrected version:

Situation: Fly fisherman about 40 yrs. old walks into a fly fishing store and says he wants to begin to tie flies. He has nothing for tying and this initial purchase has a budget of $250 that he Cannot Exceed. He's not looking for advice such as, 'get in touch with a few hunters so you'll have a source for feathers, furs or hair', or 'go to ebay', or 'get the Cabela's catalog'. This purchase will be right NOW! Your store has a wide variety of items at competitive prices. He also states that he's been fly fishing for trout about 15 years and wants to tie flies with Mr. Trout in mind. His entire budget is $250. What would you list as items he must buy and what would you think the total will be?

Oh, this is an actual situation that happened last night.

[NJTroutbum]

In that case....my initial post stands.