Cheapskate's Club

All about flies Fly Tying
1

First off, I just want to make sure all of the thrifty souls here on FAOL saw the Tying Tips feature that basically shows you how to make good looking flies for practically nothing and probably for free Link Below:

[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part320.html:9f4c3]Recycled Plastic Fly Bodies and Hopper Legs[/url:9f4c3]

Secondly, sure would be great if some of the charter members of the Cheapskate’s Club could post nifty and thrifty cost saving tying tips. I’ll add one more:

Cheapskate’s Club members welcomed!

Cheapskate’s Club Tips

  1. Keep a pair of diagonal cutters on the bathroom counter. After using hollow plastic Q-Tips, cut off the tips and throw the shafts into a jar to be used later for tying tube flies. Recycled and free!

Rich

Edited to change link to archived Tip: Thanks Bluegill Budd

[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 08 August 2005).]

2

It’d work pretty well… pre-waxed!

I know- Sick, man! Sick!!!

There’s almost nothin’ wrong with the first lie, it’s the weight of all the others holdin’ it up that gets ya’! - Tim

3

How about recycling the lint from the drier into dubbing?
4.54 grams of extra small glass beads for $1.19 at the local craft store. (approx. 200)?
Furs and feathers from road kill?
Making friends with a trapper and/or a hunter is another way but the cost of the beer can rule out the “Cheapskate” rating!

I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!

Cactus AKA “Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)”

4

I’ve heard about some tyers, many of whom were quite well known, maintaining flocks of chickens for tying purposes. When interviewed, most admitted that the process was rather expensive for the capes and saddles they got out of it. Foxes ate a lot of the savings. I’ve also heard of tyers who kept a few peacocks around their property (at least until irrate neighbors shot the noisy birds).

I’ve never heard of a tyer who maintained a herd of carefully selected house cats for dubbing purposes. It would seem that 8-10 carefully selected cats (by color) could do away with the need for all of those $2-$3 dubbing packs that contain .2 oz of material. Feed is relatively cheap. Foxes and hawks are no problem. Brush the animals once or twice a day and they think you are the greatest guy in the world—they love you. Free dubbing for life in all the natural colors.

Come on Cheapskates, admit it! Any secret cat ranchers out there? If Micus fished fresh water more often, I believe he’d be riding herd on fifteen or twenty cats in well-selected colors. 8T

You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.

5

I tied two dozen flies today with German Shepherd fur as dubbing. Two days ago I had great success with these flies on wild rainbow trout.

another one - those purple plastic webbed bags that avocados and other veggies are sold in - cut, fold, and twist onto a nymph hook, tie in a hackle and you have a dynamite caddis nymph. Just ask that 13 inch cuttbow I caught three blocks from my house.

6

EightThumbs-
What do Cree Cats go for

and JC-Real tyers dun’t need no stinkin’ dubbin’ wax

Jack and G-Fish-Thanks for the tips!

Rich

7

When I first started tying and was super cheap I used to peruse the flea markets for old fur pieces. I usually found a few for next to nothing. IF you are fortunate enough to live near a furrier; you can get LOTS of FREE fur scraps. But knowing that many of the furriers still out there are crusty old Greeks like me; send a kid in to do your begging

I also would buy lots of those pointy tools from the guys that sell hemos, scissors and the like; they make great dubbing needles and picking tools. Another thing I discovered is that Chore Boy scrubbing pads make pretty good dubbing teasers.

But the best money saving tip I use is to buy my solvents in cans from the hardware store, not in little bottles from the fly shop.

8

Hey FM2, yer link is to the current tip which is about cement and stuff. You might want to edit the first entry to go to the Recycled Plastic tip which was last weeks.

Clint

9

Well, I’m not as cheap as the guy on another board who has a bald cat named “Dub.”
I got into fly tying ‘cause it had to be cheaper than buying the flies (right). What’s my time worth?
I save things like plastic newspaper bags (scud backs),
wine cork foil (lead weight),
exercise elastic bands (yellow makes a great golden stone nymph),
bendy soda straws (shrimp patterns),
flat tooth picks (nymph body forms),
Xmas ribbon (plastic raffia is great),
plastic glow-in-the-dark halloween fingnails (fingernail flies!),
craft store bead boxes (perfect hook boxes),
unraveling carpet pieces (perfect spinner wings),
foam #1 finger from football game (foam popper bodies),
hair from combing the dog and cat (more dubbing),
broken toilet ring seal wax (clean and unused, its perfect dubbing wax),
electric motor wire (fine wire rib),
ball point pen half (half-hitch tool),
Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails (don’t use “head cement”),
aluminum rivets after the head has been cut off (tube fly bodies),
thrift store fur coats (got more mink for $25 bucks than I can use in a lifetime),
conference badge ribbons (they make perfect fly fishing neck lanyards),
used shotgun shell (hair stacker),
plastic shot gun shell wads (more popper bodies),
foam ear plugs (guess I like poppers),
old plastic cutting board (vise base),
rubber bands (good nymph bodies),
bulk silicone rubber legs (spinner skirts, works great as a larva lace substitute),
road kill (remember to kill the bot flies or you can have a real hatch in your living room),
old battery-operated mustache trimmer (spun deer hair flies never got so quick),
panty hose (mandatory for booby flies),
packing foam sheets (wings for salmon flies),
pistacio shells (beetle bodies),
old leather grooming aids case (holds my tying tools),
sewing needle (I pull the brush out of the sally hansens, stuff in the needle and use hot melt glue. Great applicator),
pull chain from light fixture (bead chain eyes),
small plastic mardi gras beads (more bead chain).
I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but this should be a start.
Frank Reid
Oh, my tying table is a 6’ piece of kitchen counter top bought from Home Depot (cost $10) on top of two old 2-drawer filing cabinets from the thrift shop. Perfect height, tons of room, can watch tv and tie. Put some veneer on the back and it looks great.

[This message has been edited by Flytyer37 (edited 08 August 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Flytyer37 (edited 08 August 2005).]

10

Well yes you did forget coffee beans for beetle bodies.

11

I use good beans and have none left over. Unlike JC, I also don’t “nuke” my coffee.
Oh, by the way, don’t let your dog get into your coffee beans. My evil 15 pound hound was up for three days beggin’ for donuts. He can now spot a Starbucks from 2 miles away (starts whining to go in the opposite direction).
Frank Reid

12

native american pow-wows are a great place for furs and beads. head shops have beads also (and the neighborhood kids will think you’re hip) crafts store for foam and beads, fabric stores for scissors, chenille, yarn and floss. abel for reels (ooops…)

13

When my dog (how much dubbing is there on a standard poodle?) shreds a stuffed animal toy, the filler is great dubbing. It’s white, crinkly, some sparkle to it, and it does not absorb water (or slobber).

14

flymaker2,

Cree colored cats are not that hard to find—honest. 8T

15

I made my wife worry about me today… took a trip to the grocers and picked up some glycerin, 4 kg bag unscented non-clumping cat litter, and 3 litres scent free detergent. Now I’m mashing up the litter while having smokes out on the front porch.

16

Okay, the ultimate in Cheapskate Club. Go to your local fly shop/outdoor store with a set up tying bench. Do a demonstration on tying BHPTs. Tie a dozen with their vise, hooks, tools and materials. You end up getting a bunch of folks hooked on fly tying and you pocket the flies.
One other method is to get yourself in as a demonstration tyer at a show. I did the Chatsworth Angling Fair in the UK. Awesome. Not only did the booth supply me with hooks and materials, but other folks from other booths came by and gave me materials so I could be seen tying with their stuff. I tied flies for two days, kept most, and walked away with two shopping bags of materials, including one of these new Danica Danvises (before they licensed it to Orvis). Also got in on the supply of “real ale” that the tying guild and vendors had stashed away in the back.
Frank Reid

17

Hi,

Strands from an avacado bag make great caddis pupa bodies.

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:c6356]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:c6356]

18

Dental floss threader in place of a bobbin threading tool.

Internet in place of about a dozen tying books.

Make a list of big stuff to be purchased at Michael’s whenever you happen to get another 40 or 50% off coupon. (think Ott lite)

19

Network on FAOL on your needs for a new vise instead of driving 2 1/2 hours to check out the limited supply at an outdoor superstore.
Use naval jelly to remove rust from flies found in trees, sharpen and stick in fly box
Frank Reid

[This message has been edited by Flytyer37 (edited 09 August 2005).]

20

Hey!! Those are my flies!! I distinctly remember putting them in that tree.