Originally Posted by scel
For the record, I got into fly tying to save money. I probably go through 100 hooks a year. I know that sounds crazy. My record for number of lost flies in 1 day is 22. I lost 12 caddis dries just the other day.
It is not a question of 'if' a subsurface fly will be lost, but rather of 'when'.
The particular risk is if you are using multiple hook rigs. Like a typical bow river nymph rig, or a hopper dropper.
The price of a less expensive rotary vise and the materials to tie flies for both pike and Bow River trout costs about $1000.
This is the materials to tie:
San Juan sz6-10
wooly buggers (olive, black, brown, white) sz6-12
beadhead nymphs sz12-20
trout/bass streamers sz2-12
caddis dries sz12-16
mayfly dries sz10-20 (green drakes, PMD, BWO, and tricos)
Pike rabbit strip leeches sz 4/0-2/0 (black, white, olive, red, chartreuse)
Pike synthetic minnows sz 4/0-2/0
There are many expensive materials, but they last a really long time, like rooster cape. A 'bugger pack' costs over $30, but will probably tie a couple hundred flies. But to buy black, white, brown, and grizzly will be upward of $120. Once you get everything in front of you, the approximate cost per
trout dry fly: $0.35
trout nymph: $0.50 ($0.75 for tungsten bead)
trout/bass streamer (weighted with a bead, cone, or eyes): $0.80
pike fly: $2.00
Take an average cost of tying your own flies to be $0.50 at about 100 flies per year, it would take 20 years for tying your own flies to be even with buying flies from Icky. It will come to parity much quicker if you tie your own pike flies though. Pike flies are very expensive at the store (usually $6-$10), and every one of them has a finite lifetime (pike destroy flies). So, if you are an avid pike angler, spending between 15-20 days on the water, I would expect to go through 10-15 flies. I went through 25 pike flies between May 8 to June 16 (I spent 10 days in Northern Sask). Those pike flies would have cost upward of $220 in the store, but they only cost me about $50
There is also the cost of learning. It takes 10 or so tries to tie a new fly. This cost goes down with practice.
For fly tying to be a value savings endeavour, you have to fish a lot for many different species. With over 100 rod days, it will probably take 5 or so years to come to parity with buying flies.
I will fly fish for my entire life (or as long as I can physically do it), so fly tying will definitely be cost-saving skill.
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