G'day all
Just been breezing thru the posts in this part of the forum & seeing some people experimenting with their own fly patterns on local fish species gave me a thought, why not see if we can get enough interest in a "fly tying club". Having tyed flies on a small commercial scale a few years ago & experimenting with lots of patterns myself i know how hard it can be to access materials etc, but if a group throw into gether, it might be possible to approach a supplier & access all the goodies. One thing that will need to be looked into is a venue, (preferable CBD or close to it) for 20 to 30? people with benches or decent table & chairs. well I've thrown it out there lets see what the interest level is like.

Great idea Joe 8) 8) 8) It might be just the incentive for me to dust off the Fly tying kit

and fill the box up again : :

What about the back room at the Saracens Head for a venue? Air Conditioned too

Cheers, Tony.

I'm 100% behind the :icon_idea:, i think you will have a lot of responses for the club,good luck.

Great idea, let us know where and when.

Cheers, Dave.

Projoe
I am all for a fly-tying club but, right here on this web sight, I am prepared to provide stills and movie footage from my own collection as well as from my own techniques and would like to see others do likewise. This way we could receive contributions from Worldwide instead of a few people in a "Venue" in the city. I, for one, would not be prepared to drive a round trip of over 200km and I know of others even further out. A CBD based club would be great for Adelaide urban dwellers and I am sure that you would find a lot of interested people, however, your scope would be severly limited to the "Honoured Few" 20 or 30 that you cater for.
RogerG

Perhaps a combination of both would work.And with the moderators/site owners permission we could be called"STRIKE AND HOOK" FLY TYING CLUB.
Just a thought .Besides I live in Adelaide and fall asleep very early these days ;D and sleep through appointments :icon_lol:

Be nice to learn some traditional flies and try them out on bream etc

Just for the record, Joe raised the question at last nights SAFWAA meeting, explaining a little more fully what his intentions were for the proposed Fly Tying Club and I believe even he was surprised by the forest of hands that went up in the air, me included 8) 8) 8)

Cheers, tonyb.

Its a very good idea a place to meet like minded (be it salt or fresh) people.share ideas etc etc.
I certainly would like to see a video or in person that fly roger (i think) was talking.the one made from cutting a feather that floats .

I will see what I can do Mickyj, At present I am just completing my new shed which will have a dedicated fly-tying/rod building station as well as video-DVD conversion and sound/video recording set up. I have a lot of old time video footage of fly-tying that needs to be sorted and put onto computer together with day to day stuff like fishing trips etc. The shed is 14 m X 7 m and will house my Sundowner and pop-top in one half and my "clean" workshop in the other, leaving my "Old" shed for welding etc.
At present all my fishing gear, fly tying gear and sound equipement are stored in another tiny "Den" which gives me little room to work.
RogerG

better than me roger I just tie on my computer bench
I'm still mucking around with foam flies went tiny last week and have tied one between tiny and to big .
May try it out tomorrow arvo.

I think it would be an absolute shame and also a waste of years of knowledgeable experience if we couldn't nut something out between us all to make this work for our Fishing Community

My feeling is to have two seperate Posts on S&H, one dedicated to Fly Tying through the "Ether" and the other to report/share on the more practical, hands on approach. With the best will in the world and the best educational tools, there is still no substitute for getting down and dirty and DOING it :icon_e_biggrin:

Joe made the point that we can also band together to get some of the harder to get materials, feathers, skins, hooks etc.in bulk with a shared cost per interested person 8) 8) 8)

I've already got some freeby's from my involvement in the hunting scene, ie, Rabbit skin/tails, Hares Ears, fox tails and Fallow Buck tails. Any chicken owners could supply Cock and Hen hackles and I have some duck feathers from when we had the last Duck Hunts seems an age

Food for thought?

Cheers, tonyb.

I couldn't agree more Tony. The more knowledge we share the more we gain. The resources idea is a great one and it is suprising what comes out in a conversation between strangers with common interests. There are a lot of materials out there that are suitable for flies and with a bit of imagination you can save an awful lot of money. For example, I went into an "Op Shop" in Clare last year and scored enough grey and black chenille to make hundreds of "Woolly Buggers" etc. All from a crocheted woman's scarf or stole. Cost 50c. A tackle shop specialising in fly-tying would have charged $15-$20 for the same amount but in in tiny little packets at $6 - $10 a pop.
We have Venison for Xmas dinner sourced from a mate who grows them. Next time they kill a few deer I have my order in for the ears and tails and any other longish hair such as the hocks and neck.
Micky,
I came across some great video clips on bibbed, floating flies. The dive on the retrieve and instantly bob to the surface when you pause. Shows the bloke caning some fairly large bream on them. When I have everything set up I will post the clips. It is a fairly old video tape but the flies are dead easy to tie and utilise foam plastic.
RogerG

The fly was a Ozzie variation on the well used "Gurgler" complete with malibu tail

Talking of cheap resources Roger,I was in "Cheap as Chips" some time ago and scored a big bag of mixed dyed feathers of most primary colours, and more, for a couple of bucks, some sequins and various coloured/sized beads for a buck or two more. I always source Chenille from the likes of "Spotlight" in masses of different colours.

Sometimes it's not a bad idea to go shopping with the Bride :

Cheers, tonyb.

By then I should have the sound working again