Buying Flies

hooker-of-men

hooker-of-men

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2015
Messages
1,029
Location
Currently ADK; formerly DWG
Due to kids and time constraints, I buy all of my flies. My experience with this is largely limited to the Dunkelbergers stores up here in the Poconos and big chains like LL Bean or Orvis. In all of these cases, the flies seem definitely to be bulk produced in Sri Lanka or wherever the hell.

I’m curious if, when shopping at a more specialized fly shop, you would expect that the shop ties their own flies for sale? Is that common practice? Or are most small shops also just reselling bulk purchased flies?
 
hooker-of-men wrote:
Due to kids and time constraints, I buy all of my flies. My experience with this is largely limited to the Dunkelbergers stores up here in the Poconos and big chains like LL Bean or Orvis. In all of these cases, the flies seem definitely to be bulk produced in Sri Lanka or wherever the hell.

I’m curious if, when shopping at a more specialized fly shop, you would expect that the shop ties their own flies for sale? Is that common practice? Or are most small shops also just reselling bulk purchased flies?
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are shops that sell locally tied or shop tied flies, but the vast majority of flies sold in fly shops are tied overseas, bought in bulk and sold through the shop.

Since flies are very labor-intensive to tie, and labor costs in many overseas countries are a fraction of the cost compared to flies tied in the US, one cannot expect anyone in the states to work for less than a dollar an hour. So when you see flies selling for a dollar or even two dollars, chances are they were tied overseas.

Some of the overseas flies are decent, some are not, though. If you find a shop or store selling flies you are happy with....I suggest you stick with buying from them. If you are looking to buy local tied or at least US tied flies, be prepared to pay a higher price.
 
Take a look at Big Y of Oregon.

https://www.bigyflyco.com/aboutus.asp

The youth fly fishing group I belong to buys from here and we have been very impressed.
 
Judging by the site and prices, this looks like it is worth a try.
 
The great majority of the flies at Flyfishers Paradise in State College are either tied by the owner and his employees or are bought from tiers in the region.

When you stop in the store you will often see them sitting there at a table tying them.

The flies are of very high quality.

They do buy some saltwater and warmwater patterns from the wholesalers. But the great majority of their flies are "home grown."
 
troutbert wrote:
The great majority of the flies at Flyfishers Paradise in State College are either tied by the owner and his employees or are bought from tiers in the region.

When you stop in the store you will often see them sitting there at a table tying them.

The flies are of very high quality.

They do buy some saltwater and warmwater patterns from the wholesalers. But the great majority of their flies are "home grown."
Click to expand...


FYI, FFP also will tie "custom" flies to your specs for a reasonable price, if you have a pet pattern that cannot be found for purchase in any shop or online site.

FFP Custom Fly Tying Info

 
Here's another vote for FFP. I sometimes buy their patterns to use as templates so I can be sure mine are tied correctly.
 
Great example of AFISH's comment. FFP flies are three times the cost of big Y flies. I'd venture a guess that some of the best, if not the best, tiers in the world are unknown unnamed folks from overseas.
 
Look at Etsy too. I used to have a guy who made me fantastic and reasonable bucktails for saltwater fishing, and he would even customize orders, as mentioned above. There are flytiers on there as well.
 
Great information so far. Thanks to everyone.

To be honest, my concern here isn’t finding the highest quality flies. I can find decently tied flies online for cheaper than in a store. My interest is in knowing that X shop sells their own flies and might have something unique/particularly well done/to my liking.

On the few occasions I’ve visited small shops when traveling, I often want to spend some money to be supportive. If my fly box is full and I don’t have any big purchases to make, I end up grabbing leaders or a hat or something equally random I prob don’t need. I’d much rather spend that to load up on some specific flies from a place like troutbert’s example. I’m really just trying to make small fly shops more of a destination for myself
 
I cast another vote for FFP. I pretty much tie all of my own flies. But, if I had to buy some, the ones at FFP appear to be well tied, and the bulk of them are tied locally.

(One thing: When you're fishing somewhere and head into a shop for info about hatches, etc., it is a good practice to buy some of the shop's flies that they recommend for the prevailing hatch(es). The flies you buy may well "pay" for the solid info you receive.)
 
I buy a lot of my flies in bulk from Cabelas..They have specials on flies ( 12 pack) for less than a buck a fly. On patterns like Hares Ears, Princes and Pheasant Tails they are a bargain cause you end up snapping a lot off.... Also on flies like Muddlers and Wooley Bugs it cost more for the hooks,beads and materials than they cost from Cabelas...That said ,I also buy from the local shops when I go in.....
 
If you see something you like tied here (see the fly tying section), you may be able to work out a reasonable price with the tier.
 
Mike the owner of Oil Creek Outfitters in Titusville Ties most of his patterns. He spends the winter down in Florida Tying and fishing salt. I think he travels back north toward the end of March.
 
Reelflies.ca. Best I’ve found.
 
Blue Ribbon Fly Shop (West Yellowstone) ties many in house. The shop also sells online.

Fly Shack (New York) has been a very good online source.
 
I have used theflystop.com happily for a while now. The flies are decent quality for what you pay for (average price is 70-90 cents per fly). All of their flies are sourced by Reisa Fly Fishing. I do drop a little bit of head cement on the nymphs to help them last a little longer though. They are based out of San Diego, but have AWESOME customer service, and they almost always ship the next day, which I've appreciated.
 
Catskill Flies in Roscoe tie all their own flies.
 
fly shack very reasonable and good flies.
 
troutbert wrote:
The great majority of the flies at Flyfishers Paradise in State College are either tied by the owner and his employees or are bought from tiers in the region.

When you stop in the store you will often see them sitting there at a table tying them.

The flies are of very high quality.
Click to expand...

This. ^

While I was not one of Steve's better tiers, I've always been proud to have tied flies for FFP back in my student days.

Buy your flies from Fly Fisher's Paradise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top