Budget Fly Tying Materials.

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

just curious on the feasibility of what fly tying materials can be substituted. someone suggested using craft cheese wrappers for scudback, really? what are your ideas? pictures are welcomed. The basis for this post is that I am on an EXTREME budget. mostly looking for things to use for pike and walleye streamers. anything that will catch a trout in a lake, chironomids, streamers, scuds, you get the idea. and anything for catching arctic grayling. the idea is the only fishing specific stuff I need to buy is hooks, thread, and the basics that come in a walmart kit! so show me what you got!

[kevin1949]

I use a lot of stuff from Value Village and Goodwill.If you use your imagination there is an abundance of wool,fur and sometimes feathers that can be turned into flytying material.

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

okay, lets expand this a little bit. I am a hunter so I can get things like bucktail and elk hair. but what else can I hunt for? also, how do you die your bucktail?

[FlyTheory]

Originally Posted by The Flint&Fly Guy

okay, lets expand this a little bit. I am a hunter so I can get things like bucktail and elk hair. but what else can I hunt for? also, how do you die your bucktail?

Coyotes, squirrel and rabbit, even gophers. Ask around local farms if they'll give you a rooster Cape for free. Cheap Halloween wigs have good hair for streamers too. Imagination is the limit really..

[lds]

I'm also a hunter so I use fur and feathers from what I kill and then you would be amazed at what you can use from random junk laying around. I'm quite frugal when it comes to tying materials and always have my eye out for stuff I find around the house or work. I've even used shed hair from my dog as dubbing.

[lds]

Also dollarama has a great craft section with lots of goodies. Steal your wife's nail polish for streamers hard heads or nymph wing sacks. All that stuff will catch you just as many fish as the people spending a fortune at fly shops

[pikergolf]

I can't think of a single material other than hooks that is manufactured for fly tying. All these fly tying materials you buy are just materials that happen to have an application for tying flies. Someone has to find them, package them, and get them to market. Hence the cost.

A lot of materials can be found at Micheals, but you'll have to buy a lot. Unless you tie a wack load of flies, it can get real expensive real fast.

I get what I can from nature, pheasant, partridge, duck etc. But even deer hair is not worth harvesting to me. I can buy a life time (for me) tanned supply for five bucks, not worth having a salted stinky piece that I harvested.

Dubbing can be made with a coffee grinder and knitting yarn, but again you have to buy a lot and unless you tie a lot your losing money over buying prepackaged dubbing.

Once you get into tying you will begin to recognize materials around the house that have tying applications. I harvest hair from my wire hair dogs paws for the backs of my caddis flies, it floats, must be the oil.

My two cents.

[burningfreak]

craft stores like michaels can be a goldmine. Thats where I get all my foam and some other good material too. I've found some cheap paintbrushes there with fine fibers that make good mayfly tails.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by burningfreak

craft stores like michaels can be a goldmine. Thats where I get all my foam and some other good material too. I've found some cheap paintbrushes there with fine fibers that make good mayfly tails.

X2 Bonanza for foam, my hopper foam came in the shape of yellow stars for kids party favors. Just need to keep an open mind.

[Backyardhunter3006]

Go to a taxidermist shop. Most of the time they will have left over fur and they have no use for it.

[pipco]

Wigs and sometimes tinsel
at the dollar store work great for pike and walleye streamers.

[jeprli]

Good source of Antron dubing are shopping bag handles. Cut it into size that suits your needs, blend it with different colors to match your fly patterns.

Old extension cords and electronics for copper wire.

Celluloid dissolved in acetone makes great glue/finish.

[Ozzzzz]

Originally Posted by The Flint&Fly Guy

someone suggested using craft cheese wrappers for scudback, really?

I use the anti-static bags that electronics boards come in for scud backs. One bag goes a long way!!

[32-40win]

If a person stops and considers it, you only need to look for materials with the characteristics you need. Foam will make it float, wire will make ribs and add weight. Hair or feathers of various kinds to make it look buggy, some you want a bit softer, some a bit stiffer. Some items are a bit trickier, beads with the right ID/OD to be able to use them, you can use plastic ones and weight the fly. Not sure where damsel barbells could be found, marabou is easy to find outside a fly shop. Raffia and tinsel are easy to get. Bungie cords have rubber leg material in them. Synflex tubing for tube flies.
That is part of why there are so many variations of fly patterns out there, only so many basic styles, but, zillions of material variations, that really don't look like copies of what the fish are eating, but, close enough that they'll bite at it.

[greylynx]

Do you have a "Fluffy" or "Fido" at your house? Lots of dubbing material and hair running around.

Whoops. I see PG has already aluded to the family pets. Sorry.

[rycoma]

Multi strand bungee cords make a lot of rubber legs. I work in construction and I am always bringing stuff home. Love the data and phone guys they always have good stuff for tying

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

wow, this is great. lots of good ideas here! time to make a trip to the local dollar store.

[greylynx]

Are you into making a snow cone with some grey-silvery wire?

Rip open an old computer and strip the insulation off of some of the wires.

And if it is your old computer take minute or two with the 12 gouge to clean the hard drive.

[J D]

People say I have a problem

I hunt/trap, friend is a taxidermist, I pick up random feathers I see, and I turn trash into flies. I have used chip bags, carpet fibres, drier lint, cut hair off family pets, my own beard hair and many other odd things over time.

What I have learned is you can tie all sorts of crap on a hook and catch fish. It is only your imagination that stops you

I hope I am not the only crazy one here suffering from tiers disease

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by greylynx

Do you have a "Fluffy" or "Fido" at your house? Lots of dubbing material and hair running around.

Whoops. I see PG has already aluded to the family pets. Sorry.

Some of my best scuds were dubbed with blue gray cat fur off a brush. I have a long haired orange cat we are fostering at the moment. Not sure what to tie with orange. Used a long hair tortie cat fur for leeches. Just ok. Friends that hunt will have plenty of deer fur and pheasant tails. Road kill rabbit and squirrel are also great sources of fur.

[denniss13]

yes one can use almost anything. I found at the $store fake eyelash segments that I used for mayfly tails. they have a nice curve and have 3 fibers. and they come in small, reg, or large.
Ladies hair bands can make some pretty neat Chomies. They are very stretchy and come in a ton of colours. again the dollar store.

Tight Lines Always
Dennis S.

[burningfreak]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned the steel bead chains like the ones that are attached to a tub drain. You can buy it by the foot at Can-tire. When you snip off 2 of the beads and tie them across the hook like you would a barbell weight they make excellent eyes for things like damsel nymphs. Also, I've shot grouse and dried the skins. They have all sorts of excellent feathers to mess around with. Plenty of good ones for wet flies. Just remember when your using material like this that you've acquired from the wild you need to be washing it thoroughly and putting it in the freezer for a couple weeklong cycles to kill any crawly things that might infest your other fur and feathers. I even give my stuff a quick zap in the microwave to be certain...

[pikergolf]

All right I'll play too. I make my eyes out of 80 lb test mono, heat the ends a little and press against a hard object to get the buggy look. Window screen rope makes fine eyes as well, I get it for free from widow places. Just the cut offs they have laying around. I bought stretch floss by the mile lol off some Chinese clearing house for 3 bucks a mile. Not an incredible amount of colors but I found 5 useful ones. Prime CDC feathers can be had off of late season Mallard hunters.

[jgib01]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Some of my best scuds were dubbed with blue gray cat fur off a brush. I have a long haired orange cat we are fostering at the moment. Not sure what to tie with orange. Used a long hair tortie cat fur for leeches. Just ok. Friends that hunt will have plenty of deer fur and pheasant tails. Road kill rabbit and squirrel are also great sources of fur.

I'm just guessing here, but the long-haired orange might have a lighter undercoat if it can tolerate a deep brushing. Our long-haired dog has a coat of many colours, but the undercoat stuff mostly comes out as a varying shades of tan, running from what one would get away with calling brown, to an off-white from his lighter patches. He's at the groomers today, and I forgot to ask for some of the by-product. Oh well, it will likely be there again in just a few days when we next brush him. I've yet to tie a fly from pet hair (complete newbie to this tying thing), and still trying to come up with a great name for the first fly I create from our "Blaze" sheltie.

I've started putting out feelers (to my brother who hunts and to a friend who volunteers at the zoo) for any stray bits of stuff they can manage to send my way. I have been accused of being frugal, but think I might stick to buying rabbit strips/masks... not much for handling roadkill myself.

[Kingfisher]

There are tons of places to get free or almost free ingredients for tying flies. I have used them all.

1) Plastic bags. They can be cut in strips for scud back.
2) Antistatic bags. Again great for scud back and chronimids.
3) Permenant markers. Great for coloring your plastic bags or antistatic bags.
4) Wool from moms knitting supply. Mom doesn't knit. Then go to a knitting supply store and buy a lifetime supply of your favorite color for a few bucks.
5) Wire from an electric cord. Strip the cord and you have a lifetime supply of ribbing material. For different colors use the permanent markers.
6) Pets. Yup, pets. The old dog or cat will never mind if you trim them for the summer. Keep a bag of it and use the long hair for clousers and the fine fur for dubbing. It's not cruel. It's helping them stay cooler in the summer.
7) Feathers from dead birds. Yes, dead birds. There are always feathers in places you don't expect. I find magpie feather to have a nice sheen. Yesterday I was driving and saw a dead Canada goose. I was in a hurry going somewhere or I would have pulled over an plucked a few feathers for my collection.
8) Road kill fur. Yup again on the dead animal thing. But I have picked up some beautiful coyote tails, fox tails, squirrel tails. You name it. After doing this for 30 years my wife expects me to pull over and grab some road kill fur. In fact sometimes she points it out for me. Who would have thunk it?
9) Foam from craft stores. You can buy 8X11 sheets that you will have to cut up. But they will save you a lot when tying hoppers and other terrestrials.
10) Bungie cords. Cut them up and inside is a ton of great rubber legs. If you want various colors then again use the permenant markers.
11) Mono or florocarbon fishing line. You can use it for ribbing or make a whole fly from it. You will be shocked how versitile that stuff can be. Again color it with those darn permenant markers for other colors. See a pattern developing with the markers?
12) Craft stores like Michael's carry a ton of things like bulk peacock feathers. strip the quils off the main stem and use them in your flies. I do find their feathers a bit dry though and I'll pay the extra in the fly shops for some quality ones.
13) Halloween masks and wigs. Yup may as well make good use of them all year round.
14) Sally Hansen's hard as Nails, nail polish. Yes sir. I alwasy have at least a few bottles of this stuff in my tying kit. It is great for head cement. Also for coating chronimids. I usually coat my chronimids with 2 coats. It makes them very durable.

Of course some of these were probably already mentioned and there are a million more materials out there. The only limit is your imagination.

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

thanks kingfisher, that's a great list to get the creative jooses running.

[slivers86]

Originally Posted by Kingfisher

There are tons of places to get free or almost free ingredients for tying flies. I have used them all.


8) Road kill fur. Yup again on the dead animal thing. But I have picked up some beautiful coyote tails, fox tails, squirrel tails. You name it. After doing this for 30 years my wife expects me to pull over and grab some road kill fur. In fact sometimes she points it out for me. Who would have thunk it?

I remember walking down the road with ya one summer day last year, and cutting the bushy multi coloured tail off a gopher that was fresh roadkill on the gravel! we sure showed it!

[32-40win]

Is there nothing sacred to a true scrounger, when it comes to tying materials? Fess up---been to the local zoo? the petting zoo? Guzoo? I expect if you asked there, they could get you any shed hair or feathers you want from the cages at the right time of year.
Wonder what a guy could use elephant hair for? Lion's mane for streamers?
Panda hair?

[Kingfisher]

Your right 32-40 the zoo is a great place to get some unique feathers and fur. I have a few flamingo feathers. No I didn't pluck them. But I thought of it.

One other place you can get some unique stuff from is taxidermy shops. I have a buddy who did lots of stuff from Africa. He had a customer who brought back way more of the cape than he required for a head mount. So I was lucky enough to get some really interesting hair. Some of the leather on those African animals are thicker than you'd imagine. I have one chunk of 5" long chocolate brown hair. It makes the most amazing clousers and bucktails.

Another place is thrift shops. I used to buy old coats or hats. They would have fur lined collars and most people don't have a clue what kind of fur is on it. I was able to get some really nice chunks of beaver, fox and mink for dirt cheap.

[bark284]

Make sure ur bobbin is ceramic otherwise the thread will break easy