The impact of a “world economy” certainly applies to the " manufacture" and selling of fishing flies.
There are periodic posts here about “How do I get into commercial tying?” Well, it’s very tough to do so today as you are competing with the big fly companies who have their flies tied in third-world countries by girls and young women willing to tie all day for a very small daily payment.
I did a little commercial tying at one time. Then, and, I believe now, the standard payment was about half of what the shop sold the flies for. I got $1.00 per fly as the shop sold them for about $2.00.
Interestingly, before we had a world economy, the old time fly tiers did much better.
The Dette’s tied their own flies and got about 20 cents each in 1929 which would be about $2.80 in today’s dollars.
Franz Pott sold his wildly popular Pott (woven) flies at a premium in the 1930’s for a premium of 35 cents which would be the equivalent of over $6.00!!
Here is a link to a very interesting article on foreign flies and quality. If the importer has decent quality control, it is impossible to beat with local fly tiers. No one will work for that price, nor could they compete with the cost of materials and experience of foreign who may be tying 30,000 of the same pattern a year.
The only US based ‘professional’ tiers I know that are making a decent living at it tie only specialty flies. Mostly their own patterns and/or local favorites in their areas that the mass producing companies don’t tie.
And, most of them are supplementing fly tying with other fishing related pursuits; guiding, writing, demos, classes, etc.
It’s hard work, and takes incredible dedication. But it CAN be done.
Both the Dettes and the Darbees were custom tiers, and in Castkill Flytier, Darbee notes that he wouldn’t have made it had he only produced for the large houses. Walt Dette worked many jobs and Winnie worked at a bank nearly her entire tying career, if I remember the history correctly. Rube Cross died broke.
I donate thousand of flies a year to various fly fishing organizations and trust me, I do not tie all those. I buy them. They are good quality and do in fact catch fish as I will use some of them every now and then. I also tie flies but just for myself. These old eyes and fingers just ain’t what they used to be.
Its tough. I tied custom orders for about 6yrs while in Washington State. I was not competing with anybody really. It was a loyal customer base that simply liked having their flies custom oordered. They were all my patterns & tied with premium materials. But it was a hobby/supplemental income. Nothing a person would live on.
Interestingly enough, in one of George Grant’s books, he mentions that he talked to folks at a company like 3M (don’t recall if that was the specific one, but) and was told that they could actually “make” acceptable hackle if there were a big enough market for it.
I myself have considered tying custom flies, but also as supplemental income in retirement. I believe as has been said, you have to have some patterns not commercially available. I still purchase a few, but tie almost all my nymphs. I have come up with a streamer that is pretty awesome. I too don’t believe you could live on the income from just tying. I have tried many commercial ties, some were decent, most only survived a couple takes. Filling boxes with cheapos is a waste of money just to say you have them. Commercial materials often vary in both color and texture, and you are never sure of hook quality. I have found a couple of hooks, that are dirt cheap and very strong and sharp for little more that pennies each, and most common sizes are available.
I have some experience here. There are varying qualities of flies. (as with everything). Sometimes, the flies fall apart or dries don’t float… other times… for 50 cents each, hard to say no. I have found an on line dealer of imported flies & another source that provide flies that are “good enough”… considering how often I lose flies (rocks, trees, bushes, fish)… it’s hard to lose $2 a shot… (with $4 per gallon gasoline).
My background is/was “Traditionally Tied Flies”… before JK Hill & all the other companies… until I found a good wholesale resource, quality control was a beyatch…
I have gotten into fly tying in a big way for a simple reason. I’m not able healthwise to use the flies and other equipment I have safely and for any length of time anymore. Tying flies gives me an outlet that keeps me in touch with the fishing scene and is definitely not ever going to save me money. I only hope somewhere down the line someone can get further use out of the amount of items that seem to almost appear magically around the tying bench (well, paypal would disagree with the magically).
Years ago when we were out on one of the first excursions with the new to me bassboat I landed a nice fish. Wife looked up from her book as I released it and said, “Oh good, we’re down to $10,000 a fish and you throw it back.”
This is similar to trying to save money tying flies. I have many hundred flies sitting in boxes and if I figured out cost/fly ratio including those boxes and items on the shelves I’m sure I could buying Rapala lures for the cost of each fly.
