My amazing wife bought me all my Griffin Montana Mongoose vise for Christmas and all the tools, and left the material for me to get. I bought a packasge deal off of Ebay, and I got it today. Very dissapointed I must say. Any suggestions on where to get good material for a good price would be appreciated. Bass pro seems way too high.
Feather-Craft, Hook and Hackle, Cabelas, Blue Ribbon, etc. By the way, I’ve bought lots of quality material on EBay, you just need to look around a bit to separate the wheat from the chaff. Usually those “Package Deals” aren’t worth it, as you found out; sorry.
Regards,
Scott
As was stated most package deals and kits just plain suck. There for the most part a conglomeration of material that can be used in any area. The best bet is to make a list of flies that you are gonna tie and buy those materials until you get more experience.Many dubbing kits will also give you colors that you will never use. They seem to be a good deal but in the long run are not.
I have to second narcodog. When I first started tying I bought one of those material packages and it was not very good in quality of material or the range of size I wanted. I just picked a couple of pattern’s I wanted to tie and bought the material’s for those flies. When I would move on to other pattern’s I would just add more material to my collection for those pattern’s. You wind up with a collection of quality material without a big expense upfront.
I’m going to echo what the other guys are saying. Pick a few patterns and buy materials for those. Next trip to the fly shop (or ordering online) do the same.
I buy from Cabelas and Feather Craft online a fair amount and have had great luck with both.
What kind of fishing do you do? What are some flies you use a lot, maybe in a couple different sizes?
If you have a fly shop near by, I would highly recommend going there and getting your hands on the materials before buying. For one, you SEE what you’re going to get. And two, you can ask all sorts of questions about stuff you will encounter.
Material in the kits may not be the best quality but material kits are good for the first time tyer who’s not sure what they are doing yet. I think of it as practice material. It lets you get basic techniques figured out with wasting good material.
Even though we only pay a few bucks for any one material (necks/capes and exception) lets face it, Fly Tying over the long haul can be an expensive hobby(obsession).The vise is your first step toward an obsession many of us embrace. But if you think Bass Pro is too high, you should give up now send the vise back. Their prices are at or a little less than most fly shops. Cabela’s generally has higher prices but usually has a bigger selection( at least in the stores). Also between the 2, the retails stores carry more than the web sites (sometimes items are only offered online), and retail selections vary from store to store regional fishing. So whenever you get the opportunity to stop at one you should to see whats different.
Even though I’m a computer guy by profession, I’ve never bought from eBAy. Just never been looking for something I haven’t found at a brick and mortar or a reputable web site. But thats just me.
I learned of Feather Craft from some folks on the board a while ago and recently placed a $200 order with them. I’m just starting out and had practically no materials, so this order set me up rather nicely. All of the materials I received are great quality and the prices were reasonable enough that I didn’t feel the need to shop around to save a few extra dollars with this order.
As for what materials to get, I’ll say the same as everyone else more or less. Make a list of a few flies you can fish successfully where you are and buy those materials. A couple dries, a couple nymphs and a couple of streamers is the route I went. I also selected flies that would let me practice different techniques and had a good overlap of materials, so I didn’t need to buy a lot of specific materials that would only be really useful for one fly.
the ket you got off of ebay was it one of the ones that give you a dvd with it as well. if so then you only have the stuff to make what is on the dvd and still have extra and the quality is so so.
The kit I got did have a dvd which is actually very helpful. The worst part about it was me waiting to buy materials because I thought I had everything on the way. It took about three weeks with the holidays for me to get the package. I was expecting a box, and I got an envelope. If I had known, I would of been tying much sooner.
yep he squeses it in the envelope doesnt he.
One thing I learned buying off of ebay is to find a few good sellers and stick with them. Then you will pretty much assured of good quality materials. There are some really great sellers that will always do you right.
Here is a link directly to the fly tying category:
http://sporting-goods.stores.shop.ebay.com/_stores_W0QQ_sacatZ44912
Look for the top rated sellers and check out their listing.
Mike
I’ve had fairly good luck with getting some materials off of e-bay, but you do have to look at what is being offered closely to determine what is in the listing. Some of the stuff is not worth bidding on, but there are others that are well worth a bid. Personally, about 2 years ago I bought a materials collection that was listed on e-bay for ~$350. It looked good in the listing, and when I contacted the seller prior to bidding, she sent me additional pictures of the package. I ended up with a LARGE box of material from the auction, and was quite pleased with the contents. There were enough Whiting 100’s packages that just the cost of those alone would have been worth the price. Overall, when I did an inventory (which ran to 7 pages) and added reasonable retail costs to it, I paid well less than 10 cents on the dollar for the materials and hooks, which in my mind was a great deal.
So don’t be afraid of making a bid on something on e-bay, just do your homework before you buy.
Also, to put in a plug for another material source, Little River Outfitters in Townsend, TN has a very good selection of materials in their shop. They have a website at littleriveroutfitters.com. While their materials inventory is not listed in their online catalog, just call the shop and they will pull whatever you need from their shelves. And a great bonus is that they also have free shipping, no matter what size order you place. They are definately good folks to deal with.
Bob
I have no vested interest, but Stockard in Connecticut is unique as a mail order source because the guy answering the phone will most likely be a tier and will add special jnstructions to the stock picker. An example would be to “Make sure the calf body hair is long.” Dan Bailey in Montana. is also very good in my opinion.
If you must order by mail, as I do, one clue is to note if the material packages are from reputable sources, with labels, or if they are packages made up by the retailer themselves.
There are several of the latter who just repackage junk and scraps. Good luck.
Yes J.Stockard is one of the best online dealers for fly tying materials I’ve come across. Excellent customer service. James will answer just about any question you have either by phone or email.
Mike