Fly Fishing - Flyfishing Germany

tbostic1776

How to tie? and any vise suggestions? Can you use a regular vise? What materials to use?

Ted

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

Hi Ted. Great questions. The answers, could of course be unlimited - but I think I see what you are looking for. Just a basic way to get started. Like anything else in life, before you go crazy getting all sorts of fly tying gear and expensive vises and an abundance of fly tying materials .. it probably makes sense to start with the very basics and build from there. Who know, perhaps you may not like it .. and you may just enjoy fly fishing .. in which case buying rather than tying your flies might be an option for you.

So, for what its worth, here would be my recommendation. There are A LOT of starter fly tying kits out there .. that range from super cheap, to moderately priced to expensive. But, I guess all of those classifications is relevant to someone's budget. And "cheap" might very well be "expensive" to someone else .. and "expensive" might be "cheap" to someone else. It sounds like you are looking for the very basics and a few versatile flies that will work and get you started. Go ahead and do a google search for "Fly Tying Kit" ... and you will see many results that differ in what they have inside the kit and the price. Most "kits" especially beginner kits come with "everything" you need to get started .. Vise, thread, feathers, hooks, beads, glue etc.. And they usually come with instructions on how to tie a wooly bugger and other "starter" fly patterns. Typically what differenciates the price from one kit to another is the quality of the vise inside, perhaps video instruction or a really nice instructional book as opposed to a smaller instructional panflet or something like that. Also, one kit may have the materials and hooks etc.. to tie more flies and types of flies than another kit.

I think this way is much easier to go than trying to buy all of the stuff individually .. because you will be able to get this kit at a price you can afford and be guaranteed to have everything you need to get started and tie a few flies .. and an "upgrade" wouldn't even necessarily be required if you enjoyed fly tying. Ultimately, a good fly tier could tie flies on any vise .. whether it be a 9 dollar vise or a 900 dollar vise. So, "upgrading" in fly tying to nicer vises, nicer bobbins and all of those things certainly HELPS you tie better, but like anything else .. its the tier not necessarily the equipment. And my point here is, you could easily keep tying simply by getting more materials etc.. and upgrade vice and those kind of tolls at your convenience ...

So, do a Google search for "Fly Tying Kit" and see if you see anything you like. If you have any questions .. just come back and ask. I am sure others might have different advise for you, or advise to add ... But this is a good place to start.

PS. Yes, if you wanted to you could use a "regular vise" .. but trust me, once you get a fly tying vise you would see why you would not want to. Kind of like using a crane to pick up a feather. It not only is "overkill" but it actually makes the task VERY difficult. Good luck. Let us know what you find and if you like fly tying! Hope you do.

greg · Posted: Sun 06/21/09 6:23 pm Post subject: Fly Tying

Hi Ted
I don't think I can ad much to Jeremy's answer but I'll try. There is an endless variety of vises materials and tools. Decide and make a list of what you will need to Tye the flies you need. Always bring a list of things you know you need before going in a store to buy and stick to it! You can get carried away easily and buy things that look good and you will look at these things over time and wonder what you were thinking. Most fly shops, sporting goods stores and stores near fishing spots have begining start up packages. "Tye a Fly" is a name on the box of a one fly tying materials in numerous flies. See if you like it for little money. Your local "Things for Sale" books and papers might have sporting sections. Used book stores will have books on fly tying for beginers so you can be familliar with what you need. Then watch the spending!

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

Ted,
Jeremy and Greg make some good suggestions but I have a few things to add. Yes, buying a fly tying "kit" is a good place to start and a good way to learn. The only drawback is that fly tying kits usually come with very poor materials. You can still tie flies with them and sure they will catch fish, but you will soon realize that the material is usually of a pretty low quality.

I would recommend that you buy a fly tying "tool kit" where you get the vise and all the necessary tools. I would select this carefully if you think you are going to get into this. If you think it is something you might just try out, then don't spend as much money. If you think it is something you are going to like, then invest a little more. Your vise will be something that you will have for the rest of your life. Vises are made in such a manner that you very rarely have to replace or fix anything. The one I am using now, I bought 20 years ago. I eventually will upgrade it doesn't have a couple of features that some of the newer vises have, but it still works. If you aren't really sure how far you will take this, realistically you can just buy a super cheap kit for less than $50 that will come with everything you need, but you soon may realize that tying can be a big part of the fishing that you do and you will want to upgrade.

Next, I would buy a fly tying instruction book. If you can find a fly tying class in your area such as your local fly shop, that will make this a lot easier and take a lot of the confusion out of it. Choose a couple of patterns that you want to tie from the book and purchase the materials you need for those patterns. Fly tying materials usually come in quantities that allow you tie a lot of flies so you will accumulate material that you need for other flies when you buy materials for the first fly. As time goes on you will end up with all of the basic materials to tie hundreds of different patterns.

Hope this helps, good luck and let us know if you have any other questions.

liphooked · Location: Australia

Hi Ted.
As mentioned,I suppose there are no limitations in Flytying,really all the vise does is to hold the hook secure,so you can tie your flies,you don't have spend a fortune on a vise,as there are plenty of people with low cost vises who tie good Flies.
You will also need,Fly Hooks in 3 or 4 sizes, a small pair of scissors,a pair of hackle pliers,a dubbing needle,some Fly Tying Thread,Head Cement/laquer/NailLaquer,even though a whip finisher is good,you can finish fly heads by hand.
There are plenty of instructial aids,Books,Videos,CDs,DVDs,however you'll find the U-Tube,& other sites very helpful,as the old saying goes,"One Picture is worth a Thousand Words".Try the craft shops for Fur, Feathers,Beads etc. I've even in the past used fur from the family Cat & Dog.
liphooked