Rainbow
Pm sent. Thank you.
Rainbow
Pm sent. Thank you.
Most of what. I tie comes from stuff I kill. Most of The rest comes from sales and the generosity of friends and trades...At 1.50 to 2 bucks per fly, I think I am coming out ahead, IF I don't include my time. And I don't, because tying is therapy.
"Trust, but verify" - Russian Proverb, as used by Ronald Reagan
Here is something to consider. Durability.
I personally have only bought a handful of flies in my life, and the commercial ties typically have big time issues with durability. I was fishing a commercially tied PMX a few years ago, and the parachute would unravel after just a few fish (this happened with 6 of the flies that I had). In contrast, I have flies in my boxes that are investments that are going on a couple years of service. I tie to save money, I tie commercially, and I tie for fun. If I were to price out my fly boxes in the value in today's market... I'd be rolling with several thousands of dollars worth of flies. The best part is that I can go home and tie up many many more flies with the materials that I currently have at zero cost.
Long story short. It takes a bit of time to start seeing savings, but in the long run I absolutely save money tying my own.
Tuesday night I bought the fly-tying estate of a man who most likely saved money tying flies. I paid $10 for it. It appears that he mostly tied cork and deer hair poppers for bream and bass. I last saw his type vice available couple of years ago for <$2, new. He had a couple of homemade bobbin holders and I strongly suspect his hackle pliers began life as paper clips. I doubt he had over $50 worth of material when it was new. If it hadn't been for the generous box of corks, I probably wouldn't have given $10 for the stuff.
If you are disciplined and intelligent about your purchases, and use up enough flies, then you can save money tying flies. I am far too far gone to ever hope to do that.
Regards,
Ed, a Consumer fly tyer
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