Increasing my inventory

[Banks10]

For my birthday I received a cabela's material kit, which seems to be a decent start for someone who has never tied before. The quality of the material isn't great, but neither are my fly's yet! Here is a list of what I have:

100 hooks
Cement
Cyclops eyes 1/8 gold (10)
.020 wire
70-denier black and tan thread
140-denier black thread
Ultra wire (copper and red, small and medium)
Clear stretch tubing
Black and olive chenille and red ultra chenille
Thin fly foam
Dubbing (rabbit hare's ear, black, olive)
Partridge
Pheasant tail
Hackle (saddle black, brown, black)
Peacock herl
Marabou (black, olive)
Poly yarn white

I also received a $60 gift certificate to WS Hunter in Concord. I want to spend it all on materials. Since my experience is very limited, I thought I should ask those seasoned veterans what they think I should use the gift card on.
I am interested in tying a variety of flies - dries, streamers and nymphs including but not limited to mayflies, Caddis flies, BWO's, Adams, Hendricksons, Prince Nymphs, muddler minnows etc etc.

I'd like to stretch the $60 gift certificate as far as possible and get the most materials out of it. Any ideas?

[TGIF]

Banks,

That is the exact setup that I started with a few years back. It's not bad!!!

If you're new to tying, practice with the patterns and materials that they have given you, and do your best to master them. Don't get too far ahead of yourself, or you'll get frustrated, and you'll end up with a bunch of flies that you can't use.

From there, I spent a kings ransom on everythign that i thought that I needed.... DONT DO THAT!!!

Once you have gotten good at Wooley Buggers, Hairs ear nymphs, soft hackles, and pheasant tails (all items are in that package), then go shopping. Pick 3 new patterns, create a specific shopping list, and only buy those items. Then practice those 3 items, until you are comfortable.

For the patterns that you mentioned, off the top of my head you'll need, Dubbing (olive, grey, which, green, tan, brown), deer hair, elk hair, kip tails, turkey quills, tinsel, thread (olive, grey, white, brown), Beads, Goose biots (white and brown), hooks. That is about $60 worth. For any of the dry flies you also need hackle, which is where the real $$ comes in. Start small on hackle, or else, you'll be spending $250-350 to cover BWO, Hendricksons, and Adams.

You can burn through that $60 in about 15 minutes if you're not careful, and you'll end up with a bunch of stuff that you don't need and 100 flies that are useless. Take your time and enjoy it!!!

Shoot me an email or PM if you need any help.

TGIF

[Banks10]

Thanks for the response TGIF. This helps.
After looking at the prices of hackle, I figured that this would be a considerable expense for materials. When you say start small, do you mean purchase smaller quantities of different hackle to cover more flies?

[Flyfish99]

As far as hackles go, I would suggest buying half necks rather than whiole necks at first. Also, hackle quality has improved to the point that most growers #3 necks are fine if you arent't going to tie much below size 16. If you are really size specific, you might want to look at saddles rather than necks. They offer good quality hackle at low cost, but generally have only a couple of sizes on the saddle patch.

Good luck, and enjoy your new hobby.

[Banks10]

What color hackle would be the most useful or give me the most ability to tie different flies?

[TGIF]

You need 4.... Brown, Grizzley, Med. Dun and Cream. This will cover almost any pattern you could want.

I always recommend local shops!!!! But in the case of hackle, Cabelas sells portions of necks in assorted colors, 3 colors to a pack. They are about 25-30 bucks a pack. Again, start small, like this, and work your way into buying capes and saddles. Thus, you can mix and match a bit. The capes are from Metz, which is a pretty good quality cape.

Another way is the Whitting 100 Packs, for $14 a sleeve, but those saddles, while nice, only are one size. The packs from cabelas will cover a range of 12-16, 16-20, or 20 + . I would recomend Grizzley, brown and Creme in the 12-16 range, and grizzley, brown and dun in the 16-20.

Again, shoot me an email if you need any additional info.

TGIF

[Capt.Dan]

Try stone river outfitters in bedford great guys and very knowledgeable in tying. They helped me get started 2yrs ago. Also, hit the fly tying show in MA in Jan or feb. also there is one in pelham in march. I started tying streamers and wooley buggers then got into smaller stuff. Congrates and good luck.

[Capt.Dan]

Also, check out www.rotaryflytying.com good videos on how to i think it's only $25 per yr to join.

[Mountain Angler]

Check out Whitting Pro Grade necks and saddled. The price is below that of a bronze grade half neck and still provide excellent quality.