Any advice, I looked at Cabelas and Bass Pro, but thought I would run it by here and see if anyone has any suggestions. thanks, Shacked
and found what I was looking for, sorry to post in the wrong category, saw the fly tying category a minute ago.
Shacked;
You posted that question in the right place. You’ll get more responses here.
Be careful of the “Kits”, some are junk and contain tools you don’t really need. Check out Hook & Hackle ( sponsor ), you can get the basic tools for around $30.00.
May I ask what fly’s you plan to start with?
Welcome aboard!!
I started with the BassPro kit, most of the stuff in the kit is somewhat sub par but the video is very good. All in all it’s a good way to get started but once you get started you’re going to want to upgrade everything in the kit.
read this: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/kit/ and check out the fly tying lessons too. Some of the brand name suggestions may be out of date but the overall list is very good.
I suggest building your own kit. I received two as gifts a long time ago and found that 90% of the material I didn’t use. Make a list of flies you want to tie and purchase the material accordingly. It will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run. Good luck and tying is a great hobby.
Pat
Shacked,
The best thing you can do for yourself is to join a fly fishing club. Many people don?t have that option since they don?t have any clubs close to them but you are in luck. Jacksonville, Florida has a club you can join, the First Coast Fly Fishers.
Check out their web site at: http://www.fcff.org/
If they are a proactive club, and it seems they are, they will have fly tying classes to offer, plus many tyers from which you can draw some important tying data.
Also, local fly shops will usually offer tying classes for a fee.
And, don?t forget the FAOL tying lessons in the Fly Tying selection.
FAOL shows you what a basic kit should have: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/kit/
And they have some great beginning, step by step type lessons for you to learn from:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/
Hope you have fun.
Larry 
—sagefisher—
i would suggest a Dr Slick tool kit and an inexpensive stationary vise.
figure out what flies you want to start out with and buy only those materials
forget about prepackaged kits. theres tying materials in there you may never use.
tools
http://www.drslick.com/products_giftsets2.asp
vise
I got one from Bass Pro a couple of years ago and it was pretty good. I still use the vise that came in it.
I recommend buying individual components instead of a kit. You will get what you want or need to tie particular flies, you can control the quality of EVERY part, and you won’t have a lot of stuff left over that you will never use.
Do not be daunted by prices of some things. You don’t need a ton of materials to get started. A decent vise (no need to spend $400), some tools, a selection of hooks, and a collection of furs, feathers, threads, and so forth.
stone river outfitters; one of our sponsors has a tool set they put together for beginners. great company to deal with. be warned you can get yourself in trouble looking at their catalog!
IF at all possible, take a tying class. You will have a great outlook in what you really want to tie to begin with. Also you will always have someone to talk to later when you find so many different things that you want to try. They will be great friends, and alot of help. I advise against any KIT. A lot cheaper buying the tools YOU want.
I have a garage full of wild turked wings and tail feathers, ones I have shot over the last two years, if anybody would like some, let me know send your address and I will mail. Again, Thanks, Shacked
Shack;
do you duck hunt ? ha ha ha I’m gonna have to this year ha ha ha
Shacked,
A kit would probably be the only way to go if you had a limited budget, or didn?t want to sink a lot of money into it upfront and just wanted to try it out not knowing if you were going to stick with it. The risk is you?ll end up with poorly machine components, soft jaws in a cheap import vise, tools with rough edges and not enough of the materials you need and a lot of stuff you don?t.
But seeing your other post about heading off for a x-country trout fishing expedition, I think you?ll be much better off starting with a decent vise and tools and building up your assortment of materials and hooks a couple patterns at a time. Since you?re in Florida, you?d probably want to factor in tying larger stuff for bass and saltwater, so look for a vise that can handle a wide range of sizes, and if additional jaws would be necessary for large or small size hooks, factor that into the decision even if you don?t spring for them right away.
Folks on this board will have lot?s of specific suggestions based on experience, but as a starting point here?s a comparison and review of vises:
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/hwvise/index.html
and
http://www.flyfishohio.com/Vise%20Review%201/Fly_Tying_Vise_Shoot-Out.htm
Tools:
You can buy them individually, or as Normand suggested, the Dr Slick toolkit has all you need to get started: has good quality scissors, bobbin with ceramic tube, ?English? style hackle pliers, ?Materelli style? whip finisher, bodkin, hair stacker and boobin threader. It runs about $40.
For materials, I would start out slow, getting hooks and stuff for one or two patterns at a time that are recommended for the waters you plan to fish. If you stick to basic pattern design styles, you can vary size and color to imitate a range of insect hatches, baitfish etc. without having to buy all kinds of exotic stuff for ?one off? patterns.
Work your way up from simple designs and easy to tie flies in larger sizes on up to more complex stuff in smaller sizes. Pretty soon you?ll find you can combine techniques you?ve learned, using the stuff you have, to make all kinds of things.
In addition to the great intro to fly tying by Al Campbell here on FAOL, one of these would be a good resource if you?re tying trout stuff:
?Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple? by Skip Morris and/or
?Benchside Introduction to Fly Tying? by Ted Leeson
As others have said, hooking up with a good group is an excellent idea, and if you can get in a class you?ll move quickly up the learning curve. You might even get a chance to tie stuff using different vises before you buy.
good luck,
peregrines
I seem to have had the opposite experience of some of the folks here. I bought the Bass Pro Shop’s trout kit over a year ago and I learned a lot from it. The vise is a cheap $15 vise and it doesn’t do the things that a $300 vise can do. But I’ve tied a few hundred flies with it.
I ended up buying many more spools, thread, feathers and fur over the past year. I also built my vise into a workboard which you can see here:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=12965&highlight=newbie+bench
Now that I’ve been tying for a year I can understand why I need a better vise. But the beginner kit got me into the hobby at an easy price point and the video tape (it’s now a DVD) taught me some good basic skills.
So I’d say go ahead and get it. They’re cheap and it will get you started. You’ll be buying more materials as you learn to tie more flies and that’s fine.
Oh and don’t crowd the eye of the hook.Tie your flies further back on the hook than you think. Remember, the eye of the hook is not the head of the insect. The head is behind the eye. There’s nothing more frustrating than to be standing in the water in fading evening light with fish jumping all around you while you struggle to get the tippet through the eye of the hook because it’s blocked by thread and fuzz.
uh, not that I have ever done that. 
Check your local Craig’slist site for folks dumping their stuff. I have picked up a couple such deals just to have vises and such to give to kids. I know I have given 20 vises away in the last 5 years, minimum.