Ray’s answer on the post about hackle color on the parachute Adams got me to thinking, and it dawned on me that it is time to cut back on purchasing of materials. I think it is an addiction.
The old timers didn’t have a fraction of what many of us on the fly tying bulleting board have, and I have bought stuff to tie a specific pattern when I already have material that could be substituted in, and it would likely work just as well.
I am thinking about buying very little in the way of new and different materials, just replace materials that I use up, and a very limited amount of new and different materials. There just is no need to buy more stuff that takes up space, when I will use only a fraction of it in any reasonable time frame.
Time to spend more time tying with what I have and very little time looking at the new stuff. I have plenty of stuff now, I may be a materials-aholic. (Well, that is an exaduration, but I wonder if anyone else has had the same thought.)
I’m just a beginner and when I look through material catalogs I’m overwhelmed…I want to get into tying as a hobby, but my wife won’t allow me do to the expense…So I am left to just my dreams.
Ok I’m a material aholic LOL but I’ve got it I think a bit worse than most. I have all the fly tying stuff that I keep buying, BUT!!! I also still fish on the dark side so I have lead molding equipment, I bought 4 new panfish jig molds, I few months ago I bought 7000 jig hooks to re-stock the hook box, then won an auction for 1000 more on ebay that were cheap. And then I had to buy a bunch of stuff to refresh the jig tying box. My wife bought me a new UL spinning rod for my birthday but forgot the reel which she says I can order and that will add on to the craziness. Oh and I gotta buy a fish tank air blower for my fluid bed so I can powder paint my jig heads.
I think I’m done buying for the year but maybe I gottta have…
Buy some flies and show her how much you paid for them; maybe she’ll relent (even though we all know none of us will ever recoup our investment in materials). If my house caught on fire, the first thing I’d do after making sure the wife and kids are safe is grab the Rubbermade tubs I keep my hackle in (sorta kidding).
I tried to go the simpler, kinder route a few years ago, then I started fishing saltwater and found that I needed a whole new bunch of stuff for those flies. Luckily, I’ve resisted the temptation to fish for Atlantic Salmon or I’d open up a whole box of Pandoras.
I seem to have come across the same type of realization lately when I go into my tying room only to find many, many materials that were purchased but have yet to even be opened. I started to describe myself as a fly tying material collector rather than an actual tier. How many flies can one person tie for just themself? I started giving away flies so I could tie more. It’s a strange twist, but I need to stop collecting materials and just tie.
I admit to being a material-oholic. I have enough stuff to stock a medium sized fly shop very well. While giving my daughter and new son-in-law some casting tune ups I let her know that when VEE and I pass, she and Phil will inherit a mess of feathers, fur, tinsels, hooks, etc. There is probably enough stuff to last through our grandkids (none yet) lifetimes.
This post is exactly the reason i made the adams post, i would rather have a quality materials that can be used on multiple applications. I have had too many conversations lately where after explaining my efforts at following the exact tying instructions a friend will tell me he didn’t have the materials so he just put this and that together and had a wonderful day.
Where do I sign up? Is it a twelve step program? I just won a ton of new material in a raffle at a tying show and can’t wait to get started on figuring out what to do with it all! Of course for me, there’s the fun and the source of the addiction right there, trying to figure out new things to do with new materials.
So Miss Betty has admitted to being a Material Girl. I, of course, have no of the problem of accumulating fly-tying material. Just a quick perusal of the 12Plano boxes of “travelling light fly-tying kit” should prove that. A dozen Plano boxes, that MY 12-step program…
