Tying starter kit

[StantonR]

Hi There

Im gonna start tying and im keen to tye white lures (cars whiskers,white death, yellow dancers) and various bloodworm and midge patterns. Not traditional but i really like the style.
Im on a very limited budget to start heres my list.

White marabou
Flashabou clear holographic
Cdc puffs
Chartues body chenile
Red spanflex body ribbing
Silver wire
Peacock hurl
Red chanile
Black utc 70
White utc 70
Hot orange utc 70
Silver beads
Scud hook size 12
Wet fly hook size 10

Am i wasting my time and get the standard olive and brown stuff for buggers ect.
Also can i substitute hot orange for red or should i get both red and hot orange threads.

Thanks
Stanton

[JadeDsantos]

Hey Stanton

The thing with fly tying materials, is that you should have a good base of materials which allow you to tie multiple flies. This is a good base, but things like CDC puffs are very specialised.

What I would honestly do is go to Frontier Flyfishing and ask the guys there for a good list of beginners materials or find a cheapish kit online to buy. Once you have the base materials you can start experimenting on a few different flies. The more you practise the better you will get.

The most important thing I found that improved my tying was proportion. Once you get your eye in for the right size of which part of the fly, you will start tying much better.

To answer your question, yeah you can substitute the colour threads no problem, I generally used more orange than red - and the standard brown and olive bugger marabou is a bread and butter staple for many flies, so its definitely worth getting.

Jade

[Jax]

Jade has given some really good advice. All I will do is warn you that you are about to enter into a venture that could take you by the scruff of the neck and shake you up some.

Fly tying can become all consuming and a trip with no end in sight.

Lucky You! Go for it and Have Fun.

[edd]

Hi Stanton

Another thing you can do is buy a very good white thread (nano silk) and then when you whip finish colour it with a marker pen.

You'll quickly find that the two boxes of hooks will not be enough as you'll only be able to tie a few patterns on them and then you'll want to experiment with others. I have two plastic bags full of hooks, you're more than welcome to come take some if you like.

[Andre]

What dubbings do you have, and are you planning on doing dry flies at some point.?

[StantonR]

Thanks for all the advice guys.
Was planning on skipping the dubbing for now and using chenille for bodies.
I also live right next to a river that has loads of ducks and geese on it so im gonna see what i can collect maybe get some free feathers.

[Andre]

Free feathers are all good, but you need to have the experience to know what to pick up and what to discard.
Just a word of advice. Get yourself some decent dubbing. You cant learn to tie with chenille, particularly if you have bought yourself some scud hooks, and its a very limiting material.
By the way, what do you plan on using the CDC puffs for?

[Jax]

Just a word of warning with regard to Free Feathers. Fumigate them before putting them among your other feathers.

I Freeze any feathers I am Gifted for a 10 to 14 days then when they are thawed I give them a Quick Zap in the Micro wave.

I keep my gear safe with one inch strips of Dog Flea Collar in each drawer. Never had a Bug Infection. Have Fun.

[StantonR]

@Andre i was planning on using cdc puffs for smoke jumbers and midge and pupae ermerger patterns.

About the free feathers my wife doesnt want we bringing them in the house so we will be hitting the chinese and fabric shops this weekend. 😀

[JadeDsantos]

Just a word of warning with regard to Free Feathers. Fumigate them before putting them among your other feathers.

I Freeze any feathers I am Gifted for a 10 to 14 days then when they are thawed I give them a Quick Zap in the Micro wave.

I keep my gear safe with one inch strips of Dog Flea Collar in each drawer. Never had a Bug Infection. Have Fun.

Geez, and I thought I was being advanced when I used Doom :biggrin: :tongue:

I once got a bag of Greywing feathers from Carien Vosloo . . .They will still warm when she handed them to me. When I took them back to Cape Town my cat went nuts trying to break into my flytying kit to get them.

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