That is really a good website, there a a good bit of good info on it and some great photos of flies. The biography of the pro staff has some great achievements.
I find Orvis acceptable but for equivalent quality and a good price I also like these guys from up north - they do really nice work:
www.reelflies.ca
Also - just a plug for the O: at Christmas time they make available a special package of 20 flies for $10. Makes a great stocking stuffer… in fact I just discovered this pack is still for sale online here: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=76tk
Bob
Orvis are good but look at these hand tied in their shop in Maupin Oregon http://www.bigyflyco.com/items/Big-Y-Fly-Co-Specials/list.htm
FlyChucker,
I’m still trying to find those flies that aren’t hand tied.
I would love to buy a machine to tie my flies.
Some folks around here use Sportsman’s Warehouse flys. What say you?
Gary,
I see you’ve been posting several questions and I’ll try to chime in here with one long answer that covers my views on your inquiries as one who lives and fishes here.
First, I don’t agree with the idea of selecting my gear ( flies included ) to fish a specific area by internet consensus. When I go to the Keys to fish, I get my info from local Key’s fly fishing pro’s…who fish those waters - often, as in daily. In the sense of fishing localities and being able to fish these waters at will, on a drop by basis, Roseville and Sacramento are not any more local to much of the Sierra range, than San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego are. They all take time to get to and back from.
Time that most work a day folks don’t have. There is a huge difference between taking advice from a shop employee who lives in the city, down in the valley, 1 to 4 hours from the river, who goes to the Sierra on weekends ( sometimes - if he doesn’t go somewhere else instead. ) and a local Sierra fly shop staffer who was on the river this morning before starting work and who’ll be back on the river this evening. I wouldn’t ask a Truckee fly fisher for info on the Shad run in the American, or how this mornings tide was for the Striper bite in the delta. For that, I’d go to the source. For the same reason, I wouldn’t get my updates on Sierra fishing locales, or patterns from valley or city shops.
Internet fishing reports will never take the place of first hand, face to face accounts by locals and fly selections are built up over time, not in some shotgun approach.
If you were on the water and two other guys were fishing, one was spankin’ them and the other couldn’t buy a strike, which would you ask for pointers? Now tell me, which one gave your local fly shop in Roseville it’s fishing report? You can’t say for sure, can you? Two different anglers, with completely different experiences. If you want it pure, go to the source ( the successful angler who you talked to in person ), not to a faucet ( third or forth party ) two hundred miles away. Oh wait, maybe the shop only takes reports from guides. Which guides and from which of the literally hundreds of creeks, rivers and lakes were their six guides, guiding on, yesterday.
Buy fifty or a hundred different patterns to start fly fishing with and you’ll likely never use half of them and you’ll play the devil with trying to learn those patterns names. So you’ll end up with that deer in the headlights stare on your face when you arrive at a local fly shop and start reading the fishing reports board with patterns suggestions on it. Let alone when you hit the river and need to match some fly tiers fur and feather interpretation of a particular insect in a single stage of it’s life cycle, to what you thought you just saw buzzing around your head, while trying to stay upright and dry in a boulder strewn freestone. A better idea, if you’re intent on buying patterns, is to go to a local shop, read the reports, speak with the guys there and get only those patterns that are recommended at the time and a handful of standards ( half dozen ) for that area.
Over the course of several fishing trips you’ll put together a selection or working patterns that you’ll actually use and catch fish on, rather than a truck load of flies that some in-town store happened to have in stock when you walked in waving a platinum card. You know the old saying, " How can one man own so many flies and still not have the right one ?".
Saving money on fly patterns is great, but saving money on flies that will never get wet, is a waste of money. Chances are, you’ll be sorting through and passing over half of those patterns when you’re looking for the right fly, for years to come. You’d be better served by paying full price for those flies that are indicated for the times and waters that you are going to fish, rather than filling fly boxes with flies for times and places that you may never fish.
I happen to agree with Mike ( MAO ) about the Orvis store in Roseville, although we may differ on our reasons. Both my wife and I were good customers of that store ( My wife more so than I. ) and now, we refuse to step into the store until there are some staff changes in the fly dept.
There are simply to many vendors of fly goods and soft goods to be taking a half dozen smart mouthed shots from a male staffer as we enter the store, together or individually.
If you were fishing the Yuba or Feather in the valley, then that Orvis store might be of some help due to their proximity, but lets not kid ourselves, being a hardcore regional fly fishing center is not really their specialty.
The Orvis store over in south Reno, off of 395, out near the Mt. Rose hwy. has a better grip on the Carson rivers and the Truckee. Since your earlier stated goal was to fish the waters between Tahoe and Yosemite, the Reno Orvis would be a better source than the Roseville store for the waters just up the hill from your home and to the immediate southeast.
The megalithic Schell’s store out in Sparks has a few very knowledgeable fly anglers on staff with strong regional fishing ties. ( Davis, Frenchman’s, Truckee, Pyramid ). For that matter, the Cabela’s store in Boomtown is closer to the Truckee River in Nevada than most fly shops servicing the Truckee river in California and the guys in that fly shop department fish often, which is more than can be said for a lot of in-town fly shops staffs.
Better still, Mountain Hardware in Truckee at 89 and Donner Pass Road, has been supplying uninterrupted service to the fly fishing community longer than any other store ( currently in operation ) in that region.
Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters on the South Shore of Tahoe ( between the Y and Stateline ) would be a good choice for local info and patterns that are working on the hwy. 50, 88 and 89 corridors and the south rim lakes.
[SIZE=1]Sportsman’s Warehouse is fine for bargains, but they are better suited to those who can help themselves and know what they are looking at. By the way, there is also a Sportsman’s Warehouse out in Reno, south of I - 80 just off of 395, near Moana. Not far from where the old Reno Fly Shop was located.
Then there’s a little shop called The Anglers Edge in Gardenerville, NV right on old hwy. 395. I pass it every couple of weeks, but haven’t been in there in years. No reason, just haven’t been so inclined lately.
There’s a hunting and fishing store in Placerville too. I haven’t stuck my nose in there lately either, but last time I did, they were building up their fly gear inventory. Yet the little fly only shop that was in Placerville closed it’s doors a couple of years ago.
You’ve got the little water sports shop on west river road near hwy. 267 in Truckee that opened a fly section ( West River Fly Shop ) with much fanfare when Andy Burk joined them. I can’t say what’s going on there now. Most of our gang tend to head over to Mountain Hardware when we run short of something in the Truckee / North Tahoe area.
Any of those smaller local shops have more in depth, up to the minute info than the in-town shops do and they can speak intelligently about the lesser known waters, that don’t show up on usual mass emailed weekly fishing reports.
Of course you already know about other Sacto fly shops Kiene’s & American Fly Fishing and Fly Fishing Specialties in your neck of the woods. So what’s that, a cool dozen fly shops ranging from a few minutes from your front door to a couple of hours, plus or minus. They dot and rim a large part of area you have indicated an interest in fly fishing. All of them will profess a knowledge of those places.
[/SIZE]There are way to many vendors of fly gear to get hung up on any one business and each has it’s own niche. Some try to know it all, they’ll give you info on every piece of water in the state, all the while trying to sell you travel all over the world. Some want to be the switch rod kings, or the surf perch guru’s or the Delta Dan’s. Others pretty much concentrate on the waters in their own backyards and those shops tend to have the inventory that more closely match their local waters. There’s something for everyone. But the best advice I can give you is to stop the price and vendor shopping and go fishing. Ask questions as you are doing, but aim small. Be specific about your destinations and goals. Get a few basics, but let your time on the water, guide your fly selections.
From Roseville, you could be on the NFA, MFA or the South Fork in no time.
Good luck out there. Dave
Thanks for your good counsel, Dave. Here is a composit list I cobbed together, just for giggles…
Dry Flies:
Elk Hair Caddis, #16, olive, tan
Parachute Adams, #14
California Mosquito, #16
Perfect Ants, #16
Egg Patterns
Stimulator #12
Griffith Gnat, #16
Dave’s Hopper #8
Royal Wulff, #14
Nymphs:
Pheasant Tail #14, brown, olive
Prince Nymphs #12, dk. olive, copper
WD-40’s #18, olive, brown
Zebra Midges #16, black, brown,
Copper Johns, #14, red, olive
Hares Ears, #14, olive
Birds Nest, #12
Streamers:
Wooly Buggers, small, (olive)
Seems like a bunch, huh? Thanks again…
REALLY?? I can’t say the same. I’ve tested them. Since Reelflies isn’t a sponsor on this site, I feel I can be free with my evaluation. Like I said… you get what you pay for.
But then, maybe I expect more than some from a fly.
Gary,
Thursday afternoon he and about two dozen of his friends were munchin’ on Birds Nest’s, Lime Trudes and Barr’s B.W.O. emergers about 60 to 70 minutes drive up the hill, followed by a 30 minute walk in, from your digs.
Go get 'em. Dave
I bought some flies from the Orvis shop in Jackson last week. Here’s my take on them. One fly, came apart after 2 fish. Another fly had the hook break off on a fish. Never had that problem with any other fly.
One thing i always suggest if you buy commercially tied flies. Check the knot and add a dab of cement to make sure it won’t come loose. Flies from Flyshack always come apart just from casting, unless I dab the knot with a bit of cement.
Paul