Ok so here is a good one what are some recomended materials not the tools 
for the starting fly tyer. Looking onling it is very easy to become over whelmed so to help others and myself what do you all sugest?
i understand the basics
threads, hooks, sally hanson hard as nails. waterproof epoxy. but what about the fun stuff.
A lot depends on what flies you want to tie, or what fish you pan to target. Basically, it comes down to trout, or bass/panfish.
For trout, you’ll be tying mostly dries, nympths and midges, and maybe a few streamers. For dries, you’ll need some Whiting rooster necks, mainly grizzly, brown, and dun colors, a dubbing dispenser with assorted dubbing (they all come with close to the right colors in them), elk hair, maybe some kiptails and poly yarn for Hairwings and Wulfs, and some pheasant feathers. For nympths, the basic ones are the Pheasant Tail, and Hare’s Ear, so you will need pheasant tails, thin gold wire, thin copper wire, med alloy wire (for weight), asssorted bead-heads, peacock herl (or peacock Ice-Dubbing), and a Hare Mask. For streamers, you’ll need assorted feathers (or do it the easy way, and tie bucktails), bucktails, gold and silver tinsel, and various colors of floss. This will cover most basic trout patterns.
For bass, you need lots of various colors of bucktails, deer body hair, Kystal Flash, Marabou, long hackle feathers, chenille, weighting wire, 3mm foam, synthetic hair, stick-on and doll eyes, 5-minute epoxy, hot glue, and guns, and things that are limited only by your imagination. If you are on a budget, bass can, and are caught regularly, and in great numbers, on simple bucktail streamers.
It’s easier on your wallet if you amass materials a little at a time. In a short period of time, you will be like the rest of us, with materials taking up a whole corner of a room (or in my case, almost a whole room). In time, you will probably gravitate towards a few particular styles of flies that you enjoy fishing with, and tying, and then you will buy those materials in bulk.
Good Luck,
pick out 5 simple fly patterns that you want to tie and will work in your area. find the recipes online or in a tying book and buy those materials.
I agree with Normand, find five flies you want to fish, then buy the stuff for them learn to tie them well and then move on.
If you haven’t found it yet here is my favorite video site.
http://www.kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx
Eric
After seeing what’s in the kit you ordered compare what you have to Al Campbell’s reconmendations from the menu on the main page. With a set of materials from fifty years ago I would imagine you will not have very good hackle as that was much harder to come by than it is now. Check out the starter set of half a grizzly and half a brown neck from Conranch Hackles (that’s Denny) for dry fly hackle. Talk to friends and family who hunt if you don’t hunt yourself for duck flank feathers,CDC, and wings, squirrel tails and a patch of squirrel hair for nymph dubbing. deer hair,bucktail and complete skins from any upland birds. Go to the craft store for 2mm foam, goose biots,peacock herl and glass beads. You don’t have to spend a fortune to tie flies tho we almost all do.
Charlaine,
Welcome to the forum and a big thank you from all of us for your service.
As far as materials go, it’ll depend on what fish you’re chasing-- right now for example striper fishing along the coast should be getting red hot near you.
Let us know what you’ll be chasing. The good news is that there are some easy patterns using pretty inexpensive materials (at least to start) to get you going no matter what you’re after, but the materials and patterns will differ a bit depending on what you’re going to be fishing for.
This time of year a lot of beginner fly tying classes will be starting up at fly fishing clubs and local fly shops. It’s a great way to get off to a good start with some coaching from experienced tyers, meet some new folks and learn a ton of tricks and tips and usually they’re pretty inexpensive.
Good luck and let us know- I’m sure you’ll get some great suggestions.
mark
Cant go wrong with some of the grab bags offered.
Cabela’s:
$16.99 gets you all kinds of hair and some plumage to get started.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0001154310610a&navCount=14&podId=0001154&parentId=cat20542&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20431-cat20443-cat20542&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20542&hasJS=true
$14.00 Will get you all kinds of feathers to get started
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0033039318746a&navCount=17&podId=0033039&parentId=cat20542&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20431-cat20443-cat20542&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20542&hasJS=true
FAOL is a great 'board and all, but this reccomendation http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/kit/
appears to be from the same book of bullsh… er, um… nonsense that says an engagement ring should cost the same as 2 months of the grooms salary. I was mentally adding up as I read the list and stopped when I passed $300. And still had a ways to go.
Sorry Al, Thats WAY past a basic kit for a beginner! I’d bet there are some seasoned tyers that dont have everything on that list.
Hi Charlaine,
One more for the “figure out which 5 flies you want to tie and then buy materials for those 5 flies” camp.
The reason that we suggest that is that if you start out buying stuff before you really know what is going on, you can spend a ton of money, as you can also do if you decide to start out “tying everything.”
If you go the “5 flies” route you will be surprized how fast your supply of tying stuff builds up.
For a first fly to work on I would suggest a nymph, either the pheasant tail or the gold ribbed hare’s ear. They materials for those two patterns are relatively inexpensive as fly tying stuff goes, and you can’t find a more generally useful pair of flies than those two.
Start out tying a large size, say a #10 or a #12, and after you are comfortable with that size, work your way down to the next smaller size. Repeat until you have mastered the #16 or so.
When you are comfortable with the numphs, then think about a first dry, something like an elk hair caddis.
By doing this you will be beginning to master the basic techniques of fly tying such as thread management, the “pinch”, tying in tails and legs, etc. Professional athletes practice basic things over and over for many years to get them down. Fly tying it like that in that to tie well you must master the basics, and practice is what it takes to master them. However, at least tying pheasant tails is pleasant practice.
When you tie a new pattern, especially now that you are a beginner, save that first effort. You will find that, in a couple of years, when you get those first efforts out, you will be amazed how much you have approved.
Regards,
Gandolf
Hi Charlaine,
I would also go with Normand’s idea of picking five flies that you want to tie. When you are ready to move on othe new patterns, pick five more flies. You’ll find that you have less to buy the second time because you will already have some of the materials from the first batch of flies. 8T 
thanks all i think what i’m gonna do is go by the fao beginers list and tie thouse then go with flys from other beginners books then tothe bible.
Might be helpful to know what the target fish species is so proper patterns can be suggested. I know there are alot of trout anglers in these here electronics parts, but believe it or not, many people DO use a fly rod for lots of other fish besides trout. Rhode Isalnd, I’m thinking lots of saltwater fishing?
I’d recommend finding a FF club close to you as well as a FF shop that does tying classes. I wish you luck with the buying only what you need. If you are OCD like a few of us on this board you will soon learn that one feather is too many and a thousand never enough. Same goes with fur, chenile, thread etc.
CharlaineC,
There is a fly fishing club in East Providence
The Rhody Fly Rodders
http://www.rhodyflyrodders.com/splash.html
Larry —sagefisher—
Well I’m going to take everyones thoughts for starting out with just a few flies and get the metarils for the flys on the fao beginners area. I’m going to get the meterials for around 20 of each fly offered on the site and do thouse till i can do them without the photos and computerefor advancing further. Pluse the fly tying meeting offer the meterals for what is tied that night. As for fishing i’m a freshwater gal. I dont really enjoy salt water fishing that much. As for fish I go after trout, bass, catfish, panfish, carp. and depending on my casting the rare Green leafed Tree-Bass.
Hey, Charlaine. Welcome. I lived in South County (Shannock) for about 10 years but am now in upstate NY. Thanks for your service to our country and welcome to the fun of fly tying. I was looking online to see if I could find you a local group focuses on freshwater fly tying and the closest one I see is up in Woburn, MA (about an hour away from you by car). I don’t know anything about the group but their website says they’re into teaching beginners how to tie flies. You might want to take a look. The link:
http://www.unitedflytyers.org/index.htm
I think your plan to tie the beginner’s flies in the Al Campbell series is a great one. That’s how I started, too. It was nice to have the computer screen next to the tying vice so I could stare at the picture of what I was supposed to be doing.
Have a blast!
Diane
A few more material kits:
Wapsi material kit from Barlows for $38.95
http://www.barlowstackle.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&Product_ID=2724&CATID=61
(Thanks Norm, I forgot about Barlows)
J Stockard starting at $23.95 (trout, bass & saltwater specific)
http://www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/item/OF-901070-0000/86000/Crest-Tools-Fly-Tying-Materials-Kit.html
Orivs materials grab bags. Small $14.50, large $19.50.
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=76RT&dir_id=1273&cat_id=10136&subcat_id=6176
BassPro: Trout, Bass or Saltwater. $59.99 each , but includes DVD, basic tools and materials to tie several patterns.
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SportingGoods_Fly%2BFishing--Fly%2BTying--Kits_10151_-1_10001_advisor_CA.CategoryExpand_N_175004001_175000000_175004000
I’m sure there are many more available, this was just a few minutes on Google for “Fly tying material kits”.
There is some real words of wisdom in Normand’s response very early on in this thread. Instead of buying materials that you “should have” buy materials that you will definately use. Al Campbell’s artciles on this web site are great to read. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/kit/
You come up with your own patterns that you like to fish but some solid basics like the following wouldn’t be a bad place to start:
Bugger, Prince, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, Adams, Elk Haired Caddis.