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Flies off ebay

2K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  teflon_jones 
#1 ·
I was looking for anyone's experience with purchasing flies off ebay. I was trying to find a relativly cheap way to stock up my fly box, and paying $2 a fly wasn't my idea of cheap, so I thought of looking on ebay. I was hoping someone would have some experience of the quality/value I would be getting.

Thanks
 
#3 ·
The truth of the matter is that if you want decent quality flies, you aren't going to get them cheap. It takes time and effort for a fly tyer to become good at it, and it takes good quality materials and hooks as well for good quality flies. In other words, cheap good don't go together when talking about flies. So, if you are looking to get flies for $1.00 or less apiece, be prepared to have very poor quality hooks, materials, and almost universally poorly tied flies.'
 
#4 ·
flytyer said:
So, if you are looking to get flies for $1.00 or less apiece, be prepared to have very poor quality hooks, materials, and almost universally poorly tied flies.'
I second flytyer completely on this one. When I fist started out I thought I was doing pretty well buying $1 bass bugs.....
two or three casts and a quick hook up later, I was left with an unravelled feather tangle and a broken hook shank..... :mad:

You always have to be careful when buying flies.. sometimes you will find tremendous deals on great flies, but I never trust them unless I can inspect the fly and hook quality myself.
 
#5 · (Edited)
$2 flies was motivation for me to just bite the bullet and learn to tie them myself about ten years ago. Plus you can tweak flies to what works for you and test your own "theories".

Sticking .35 cents worth of top quality hook, material and 5-10 minutes of effort in the dull winter in a tree is more fun than two dollar bills dangling on a branch out of reach.


I agree with the idea that you get what you pay for. The hooks and materials on those cheapy flies are a joke. Even though you pay more, if you don't stick it in a tree then you will get far more life out of the more expensive fly.
 
#6 ·
I think that Tying your own is 50% of the whole thing...now...you may not save money in the end because you will spend most of your time at fly shows looking at material instead of tackle, etc...But.... once you get going... you will find that your tied flies hold up more, alowe you the luxury of perfecting different patterns and basically having more fun.... once you get a trove of material... the big expense is usually keeping your inventory of hooks up to date and ready to go.....Once you get the vise and some help...$100 of materials and hooks will go a lot farther than $100 of flies... and perhaps those you really won't use are the bought ones.... ( Also, all tyers tie more than they need...but like I said...tying itself is part of all this and really fun.... break in and give it a go.... I think you will love it....John
 
#8 ·
BLACK FRANCIS said:
flytyer nailed it.

they cost $1.85 to buy or about $1000 to tie one
Yeah, but the second one is only 35 cents, and same for the third one, etc...

Anyone who thinks getting in to fly tying is going to save themselves money is crazy. I've spent WAY more money of tying materials than I would have if I'd just bought flies. I just enjoy tying. I'd tie and sell flies but I'm just not that good a tyer. (I'm also slow enough that I'd be better off flipping burgers at McDonalds.)

What fly tying allows you to do is to experiment with flies you'd never consider paying money for. My wife got me a copy of "Tying Flies with Foam and Feathers" for Christmas last year so I've been tying a bunch of weird foam terrestrials. I've also been tying some of the patterns in Gary LaFontaine's "Trout Flies: Proven Patterns" Some of them are really bizarre. But what the heck, I'll give them a try.

Having said all that, if you only fish with the same 4 or 5 patterns you can get an inexpensive vise, some tools and materials for less than $150 and have enough materials to tie a hundred flies. The second hundred will be cheaper. But once you get into tying you'll find yourself spending way more on different materials than you would have for the flies...
 
#9 ·
I've bought some flies off eBay for bones and stripers and some of them were ok, but some fell apart without ever using them, just from handling. It's hit or miss and you'll have a hard time telling from the auction pictures how good the flies are.

The flies that fell apart weren't complicated patterns either, just some clousers, and those aren't exactly hard to tie. Those purchases were in my pre-tying days and I don't think I'd buy flies off eBay again. I think you're much better off going to your local fly shop.
 
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