Ok, I’m totally into Fly fishing and retired my Spin gear. Now I want to learn to tie. What basic stuff do I need and what is recommended? I’d like decent stuff but I also don’t want to break the bank.
Hi…I’d reccomend checking out the “Basic Tying Kit” article in the Flyting section of this site. This will give you all the info you might need to get started. You certainly don’t need “high end” tools to get started tying for yourself. Get the best you can afford.
Al Campbell’s “Beginning Tying” (also on this site) has started many tyers off. Just pick out a few patterns that you want and start aquiring the materials you’ll need for them. Follow his great step by step instructions and pics and in no time, you’ll be hooked!
E-mail your address to me and I’ll be glad to put together a package of material that I have a surplus of to help you get started.
Always feel free to ask questions here…good luck!..Jason
Sorry to offer a vague response but a lot more information needed to be more specific:
What type of fishing(trout, bass, panfish, saltwater)?
What types of flies?
What initial $ range do you want to stay within?
I think you may be well served to look at the ‘Fly Tying’ section (to the left) and then to the Basic Tying Kit and the Beginning Tying pages.
Good luck.
Allan
you will need a vise, of course. When I bought my Danvise my tying improved immensely. Have fun.
Flytying is easy when you have mastered just a few basic techniques.
Read the Basic flytying section of this board. Buy or borrow a book from the library. These will give you the skills to master these techniques.
If you have any friends who flytie then ask them to help you. Its much easier to be shown than to learn from a book. Join a nightclass.
Buy only what you need to begin. Do not make the mistake of going into a shop and buying up all they have!! (That will come later!! Sadly!!)
Just choose a few basic patterns akin to your style of fishing and concentrate on them alone to begin. Once you have mastered these basics, then move on to a more difficult pattern. Even the most difficult or complex flies are only a series of basic lessons. There is no mystery to it. Even the crudest bit of wool tied to a hook will catch fish in the right conditions.
Once you have caught a fish tied on your own homemade fly you will be hooked for life!! Once that happens the fishing season will be extended for 12 months a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! (Eight days in our house!) You will constantly be on the lookout for that elusive bit of fluff that just about mimics that hatch of Large Olives… You will not be able to resist walking past a tackle shop just in case they have some strange and mystical material which is not obtainable anywhere else! When your wife is looking for that reel of cotton or embroidery silk, you will be rummaging though the various colours and reels looking for something to tie that midge or beetle that your fish are preoccupied with!! And worse of worse you will soon be sneaking into the ladies makeup stores, to buy an eyelash comb and that elusive nailvarnish! Or buying those stockings in just the right shade for booby eyes!
Welcome to the dark side…
brhokla:
The basic stuff you need is money…lots of money?and time. 
Seriously though, what Mick Porter says is spot on; find a friend who ties and/or join a class. And beware of fly shops with over zealous salespeople and lots of tools.
As an addon to what I said previously.
If you decide to take the plunge and jump in with two feet, please do not make the same mistake I and I assume most other guys on here have made and spend lots of money buying cheap tools. You may think you are saving money, but in the long term you will be wasting lots of cash.
Your main purchases will and should be a vice and scissors. Buy as good a quality vice you can afford. Cheap vices may seem like good value but have soft jaws which very quickly will stop gripping correctly and may even damage the hooks. A good vice will hold the hook securely and will last for years. Make sure the jaws are big or small enough to grip the hook sizes you intend to use. Ignore the information some manufacturers that their vices will grip from 6/0 to 28’s, cause they won’t! If you tie large flies and clamp your jaws regularly around them, when you come to fasten a small hook in the jaws you will find the jaws have been distended and will not grip properly.
Buy a vice that suits you and your tying methods. For myself what is important is that the vice needs to rotate, grips easily and well. I like the lever type vices, others prefer the screw down type. Some like the side lever spring types. Others like rotary vices. Buy one to suit yourself but over all make sure you spend as much as possible getting one, or you will very quickly (like me!) end up with a drawer full of vices I will never ever use again…
Likewise scissors. Buy a really good pair, sharp, good points, easy to fit in your hand and feel comfortable. I find it annoying to keep putting them down and picking them up, so have got into the habit of keeping them in the palm of my hand all the time. My scissors are the Anvil ones and I now no longer notice them there I can still use my fingers and cut when needed, its like an instinct. I could not do it with other makes or sizes it would not feel right. Scissors are a personal thing. By all means buy a cheaper larger pair for cutting deer hair and wires, never ever use your best scissors for this job. And rule 1 of scissors, is never ever let your wife, children or other loved ones borrow them! They will always come back without points or blunt!! DO NOT DO IT!!
Other tools are more or less optional. Hackle pliers are needed but are really cheapish. I have never really found a really satisfactory pair and as a result of my searches for the best ones have a drawer full. If you have a flytier friend I am sure you could probably scrounge a pair or two from him. Dubbing needles you can make your own from a darning needle.
Whip finish tools are good and handy, but if you are learning from scratch please please try to learn to whip finish using your fingers first. Its much much quicker and you then have the skills to whip finish anywhere along the body of your fly. For instance if you are using mylar tubing, you will need to whip finish near the bend of the fly when tying it in. You cannot do this with a whip finish tool, so learn to use your fingers its much quicker and so easy to do.
Lots of materials can be found lying around the house. Once you start tying you will find stuff in your wifes sewing box or in the kitchen drawers. Do not be too quick to buy tiny packets of stuff that may be freely available elsewhere. If you have friends that hunt and shoot, you will have a great source of feathers and fur. Just be sure you debug efficiently, and also you make sure the stuff is well dried before you bag it. Otherwise you may have a shock what will fly out (assuming they haven’t already eaten your stuff!) when you next open the bag. If its not dry you will not believe the smells that will ensue!! Till you know what you are doing, be content with plucking feathers (make sure you label the bags properly!) and cutting fur.
Most of all have fun. Its a great hobby in its own right. Most flies you tye will never get wet. But its a great way to pass those winter none fishing days and extend your fishing over the whole year.
Welcome aboard,
We all know that your going to buy stuff,And thats a good thing.
Do as others have suggested above and get an idea of what you’ll be tyeing,Maybe even go the kit route,when and if you find the one that will serve you best.
My best tip is this, Whenever possible,Buy your supplies where you can actually get your hands on them,Don’t be bashful of taking things out of a package and making sure it’s what YOU want.
Not all materials are exactly the quality you’ll be needing/wanting.
As for tools…Take your time and choose good stuff…I am not… Saying expensive…I’m saying good…There are some great vises out there for not alot of money…and try not to let all those kewl lil gadgets that are out there get to ya…lol…we’ve all been there a time or two as well…Use the tying tips section here often and every aspect of this site as well…and you’ll fare far better than I had at startup…as Idid not have this site and all it’s overwelming info at my disposal… 
…But I still had fun…Just spent way more than needed on things I really did’nt need…Best of luck to you and Happy tyeing.
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill
brhokla:
When you get ready to purchase check out H&H (sponsor here). I purchased a set of basic tools for a friend as a gift. The cost was around $30.00. The vise was the cheapest one Bob has but it has served her well. The other tools were of high quality. I found my first “Kit” on Ebay and found my rotary vise there for 45 bucks.
I missed about $200.00 worth of materials and tools that went for $80.00 because I was new to bidding.
I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!
Cactus AKA “Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)”
Well, I got a really good taste of tying over the weekend. My father had told one of the guys at work about fly fishing and the guy brought my father a tool-box full of furs, feathers, tools, bobbins, and a couple cheaper vices. I tied my first 5-6 flies while watching football on Sunday. it was awesome. I now at least have an idea of what to do and what I need. Thanks everybody.
Only problem is figuring out the finishing knot as the book was not very clear on how to do it. I forgot what they call it but I’m sure my flies will fall apart till I figure it out.
Well, the 14th is my B-Day so I will probably get a nice Vise since my wife got a kick out the flies I made and asked what I need.
brhokla:
The finishing knot I believe you are referring to is a whip finish. You CAN do it without a tool which is easy; or if you prefer, with one of the many tools available. I prefer a tool since I’ve been doing it that way since I started tying.
There is an EXCELLENT article by Dick Talleur in the current issue (Autumn 2005) of Fly Tyer Magazine that covers all of the whip finishing tools and how to use them plus how to whip finish without a tool. Try and get yourself a copy.
[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 12 September 2005).]
The whip finish is ILLUSTRATED in Al Campbell’s tying series, both types and the hand whip finish is here: [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/ldy/ldy110298.html:cf161]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/ldy/ldy110298.html[/url:cf161]
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
brhokla;
Check some of the tools like the bodkin or the bobbin threader and see if they have a hole in the end. If they do you can use the tool to wind on a half hitch and place the hole over the hook eye then just snug up the half hitch on the hook.
I use that method on spinners to keep from tieing down the hackle barbs. The hitch will go in under them.
I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!
Cactus AKA “Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)”
[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 12 September 2005).]
Since you have a Bass Pro Shop scheduled to open up next month in Broken Arrow, you should have a painfully convenient location to buy what you need. Hopefully they will have some good staffers in the White River (fly tying) area who can help you out. They have a fair selection of materials and tools, at least here in Nashville. (Although I’m still mourning the closing of the Fly Chucker, a nearby shop, earlier this year. <sniff> )