The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I am looking for a few on-line retailers to purchase my fly tying materials from - Does anyone have a favorite?
Thank you in advance.

what are you looking for. Some sites are better thsn others for materials.

I like kaufmanns for some stuff.

Thanks fishhawk. I am looking for basic materials -> hooks, threads, wire, feathers at decent prices. I am aware of retailers like American Flyfishing Co in Sacramento & The Fly Shop in Redding; Feather-craft & Stone Creek Outfitters in the East. These four shops could easily cover all my needs, but I wanted to make sure that I was not passing over other obvious choices. I will put Kaufmanns on the list. Thank you. jbear

All of the online retailers pretty much sell the same stuff. either Wapsi or Hareline Dubbin are their main suppliers. Imho
you aren't going to save much on materials by shopping around online. Plus I like to see what I am buying. I would bet your local shop would match any price you could find online. I know mine will.

Point well taken. Thanks!

I would agree with Fishhawk regarding general fly tying materials (thread, hooks, synthetics, dubbing, etc.), with the exception of fur and feathers.
For these I would recommend Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT. I think they are among the best sources for these materials.


Buzz

I agree with trying to buy at your local fly shop but sometimes they don't carry the product you are trying to find. Even some of the common items can be hard to find, I was looking for a Tiemco 8089 a few months ago and finally found it at Cabelas in Reno. I have had good luck with JS Stockard and they have a frequent buyers program.

I'm with everyone else. Check with your local shop first for the basics.

I buy my materials from Fly Fishing Specialties in Citrus Heights. It's stocked better in materials than the other two Sacramento shops combined.

AB

A couple other online suppliers that are worth mentioning are

kingfisherflyshop.com and montanafly.com. Both are very good and you can get free shipping.

I think with natural materials you are better off buying them from your local fly shop rather than from an online supplier. The reason being that natural materials do vary in quality (this applies to genetic fly tying necks and saddles too) and if you buy them from an online supplier you are basically buying them site unseen.

If you go into your local fly shop you can look over whatever natural material(s) you want to buy and get exactly the ones you want. Maybe you get the best ones and maybe you dont, but you'll get what you want.

As for synthetic materials it doesn't make any difference where you buy them since they're completely uniform. No chance you'll get a really good one or a bad one.

Hope this helps.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Brian

I second the comments below. Buy from a local fly shop if you can. There have been too many go out of business in the past couple of years.

If you need to go to the internet, I have had very good success at Hook and Hackle. They have a broad range of fly tying materials, and have been in business for a long time as a mail order outfit. I used to order from them way back in my early days of fly tying, and have rediscovered them in the past couple of years.

http://www.hookhack.com/

A second online alternative is EBAY. I often find what I'm looking for there, and often get pretty good deals....but not always.

I used to do the same with Hook and Hackle. Ordered a lot from them during my early years as a fly tyer but not at all within the last decade. Will have to check out their website again especially considering you get 10% off when you order from them online.

If you live near one of their stores, Sportman's Warehouse is another possibility. Their fly tying material section is pretty decent and their prices for tungsten beads are the lowest I've seen anywhere.

The problem with them is that their website is pretty useless since you can't order anything from them online AT ALL. You have to wonder how long they'll be able to stay in business if they continue their stone age online marketing strategy??

Brian

Thanks to alll for sharing your ideas & comments with me - it sure helped me out.
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all. jbear