Fly tying club???

[Ranger 48]

a little nibble has been detected on my hook, dangled in the pool of wisdom

Wrong pool fellah! You're currently fishing in Cretin Creek! :icon_lol:

[Highfly 0]

Sorry just saw the thread,Ive caught trout on a fly that was a small bead passed over a hook to the eye of the hook with some black thread crudely wound over the shank. Thats it..... u now have a bead head nymph.My 4y/o and 7 y/o have tied Crazy charlies and caught Salmon, tommies and snapper on fly. It can be as anal or simple as u want it to be. Some white cotton wool bound to a hook will catch salmon.Start slow, see where it takes you, when its wet and wooly you can participate in fishing in the lounge room. I remember trying to tie a traditional fly and stuffing it up, took it fishing and outfished a gun fly man 15 - 1 with my mistake fly.I now tie them intentionally, they still kick arse everytime I take them fishing, No one else has one. :icon_lol: Very rewarding, start with a basic kit and just like your fishing gear it will accrue in time.

[tonyb 1,017]

Solid gold highfly :fishing:I know heaps of guys who hardly cast a Fly but are so dedicated to the art and pure fun of sitting down at thier Fly Tying Bench, that it becomes thier whole life

[RogerG 1]

I tied my first fly at 7 years and remember the frowns from the neighbours of the Scottish uncle that I was staying with during my summer holidays. " We dinna use WET flies arooned here laddie." Being the "Hunter gatherer" type, I DO use "WET" flies almost exclusively. When I go fishing, I go to catch a feed and so have learned to tie flies that almost guarantee me at least a taste. These "Frowner" Types were usually fairly well off and could afford to pay ridiculous prices for exotic feathers and furs to tie their flies and would not dream of fishing with a rod that cost less than a "Working man's" monthly wage plus a reel of similar value. They also paid huge fees for "Rights" and permits to fish exclusive areas. This stuffed it up for the general public and made it beyond the means of the average working bloke to Fly-fish. Except that hunter-gatherer types (Poachers) like me improvised to the extent that we became adept at making gear that works rather than just posing like the other mob. Do you want to learn how to catch fish or just spend thousands so that you can pose with these other dickheads?RogerG

[tonyb 1,017]

Go gett'em Roger, great to have you back online again mate

[grubb 0]

I agree Roger, there is absolutely no need to spend a fortune on gear. I have never paid more than $150 for a rod and $100 for a reel as there is absolutely no need. There are low priced rods and reels that get very favorable reviews on English and European websites, having a look on such websites is a great way to find good gear that works and doesn't cost the earth. I'm going to Spotlight now to stock up on fly tying materials. :icon_e_biggrin: :icon_e_biggrin: :icon_e_biggrin:Cheers, Dave.

[fishnuts 55]

I agree Roger, there is absolutely no need to spend a fortune on gear. I have never paid more than $150 for a rod and $100 for a reel as there is absolutely no need. I'm going to Spotlight now to stock up on fly tying materials. :icon_e_biggrin: :icon_e_biggrin: :icon_e_biggrin:Cheers, Dave.

I agree when you are fishing freshwater fish that wouldn't pull the skin off a 5 day old custard but in the Salt I believe in fishing the best gear that I can afford and especially reels with a good drag system.If you have used them you will know what I mean. As far as spotlight goes, I love the place it's a flyfishermans treasure chest.Cheers

[tonyb 1,017]

Geez boys, I'm off to see my broker, I can feel a run on Spotlight shares coming on :icon_lol:

[MarsOne 137]

Speaking of spending a fortune on fly gear...I bumped into a fella at a SAFWAA dam last week, who was having a crack at trout on the fly. Always been fascinated by flyfishing, yet never had a go at casting myself.He was running a reel he bought off ebay for $9 and a rod worth around 100. He reckoned it did the trick for him.... Just mucking around catching small trout in dams. I might end up going down a similar path... I'd only ever use the thing to have a quick cast in the fresh. If it can add to the experience of chasing fish, why not?

[tonyb 1,017]

Certainly adds to the challenge and enjoyment of catching Trout in those skinny streams of yours mate I've picked up some great second handgear in Cash Converters as mostly the sales people don't have a clue to thier true value : My last purchase was a Shakespeare Fly Reel with Floating line AND backing for 10 bucks :PCheers, Tony.

[MarsOne 137]

2nd hand stores are another idea... Might have to have a look around.Would probably be a few around in UK second hand stores.... Might have a dig when I'm over there

[tonyb 1,017]

Word to the wise mate, Aussie quarantine rules are very strict on feather products being imported due to feather mites which attack our native birds :police:I learnt this fact the hard way when I had to give away nearly 500 flies carefully collected/tied over many years, when I came to the lucky country in 1990 :'( :'( :'(I personally know quite a few guys who just brought them in with them when they came here to live and got away with it ::)Worth checking up anyway as there may have been changes since the 1990's :icon_e_ugeek:Cheers, Tony.

[MarsOne 137]

Thanks for the heads up....You would've been cut after losing 500 :icon_eek:

[grubb 0]

Fishnuts, I use reels with disc drags and ball bearings and agree there is a major difference to the average trout reel. I just recently bought 3 reels NOS(new old stock)all 4 weights with disc drag and ball bearings $60 the lot. The bargains are there, you just have to search. Here's a pic, sorry about the quality of the pic.Cheers, Dave.

[RogerG 1]

If you picked up a good collection of quality flies, overseas, you would have to declare them at Customs but would have the opportunity to have them fumigated etc at a nominal cost. They should have given you that option Tony! If they did'nt then the officer responsible is a rotten, useless, git!I own eight assorted fly reels, the most expensive was a Shakespear Phlueger Medalist 2783 with spare spool. This was new/old stock from a dealer in Pt Pirie. I cleaned out all his fly fishing gear, including half a dozen lines and several boxes of hooks, for $100.00. The reel was marked 1/2 price at $90 but he sold it to me for $45!!!It had been in his shop since pre GST and he was having a clean up prior to moving to new premises. I use this reel on my 7/8wt rod which I bought from Brian Forcythe via eBay. Brian imports lots of stuff to Tassie, mainly for the trout fishers, and it is bloody good stuff for the price. I also have a 9/10wt rod from him. Both rods are very well finished except for a couple of runs in the finishing coats (Obviously factory seconds)but they are good, strong, well balanced rods with nicely shaped cork grips and qualit fittings for the money. Under $60 each including freight from Tas. I use an Olympic 460 on the heavier rod, for salty work. I have given the 7/8wt a pretty good workout around the creeks between Pt Broughton and Pt Pirie and have caught some good sized Bream and lots of Salmon plus some huge Snook a little further out. Snook on flies are good fun! The 9/10 has only been used half a dozen times but has caught some nice schoolies. I am still to catch a decent flathead on fly however.eBay is a good source of second hand gear but there is a lot of crap too. Some of the cheaper new stuff however is worth a look, especially for fresh water stuff.Most of the used reels That I have cost around $15.00 each plus postage. $5.40 - $10.00 and usually had line and backing still on them. Lines can be obtained cheaper than anywhere else that I have found but certain dealers are just plain GREEDY!!!CheersRogerG

[tonyb 1,017]

Fascinating stuff Roger, I didn't feel too bad about the flies I left behind as they went to my mate who is/was the most fanatical Fly Fisher I ever met in a chequered 40 + year interest in the art of the angle with a Fly :fishing:I do regret passing a lot of my books over to him tho', one in particular called Clyde Style Flies. This was for fly tying in the hard fished waters of the same river where you tied tiny exact representations or you didn't catch fish. To illustrate, the tiny neck hackles of a starling, tied on size 18 hooks with stripped peacock herl bodies was one of many killers. If you ever get hold of a introduced blackbird there are lots of useful parts on them to tie the "Clyde Style" patterns as well. Another glossy illustrated book was "House of Hardy's" catalogue of flies covering Trout, Sea Trout and Atlantic Salmon, Awesome :PThanks for sharing your thoughts Roger 8) (Karma)Cheers, Tony.

[Mickyj 3,205]

Certainly adds to the challenge and enjoyment of catching Trout in those skinny streams of yours mate I've picked up some great second handgear in Cash Converters as mostly the sales people don't have a clue to thier true value : My last purchase was a Shakespeare Fly Reel with Floating line AND backing for 10 bucks :PCheers, Tony.

but just on the safe side I always check cash converters .have only seen 1 fly reel with line they wanted 40 bucks for it .i had laugh with the wife as i paid 60 for rod and reel brand new .

[fishnuts 55]

Grubb you can call me a tackle snob but I have been let down by cheap gear on good fish before and as long as I can afford it I'll never use cheap stuff ever again. I work too hard and put in too much time in the pursuit of the sport I love so I won't compromise myself by using inferior gear as the I've found you only have to go and re-buy the same stuff again any way. It's like you go and put in all the effort and get the strike then have a 2 cent hook let you down because it's a cheap blunt one when you could have bought one for 5 cents that would have scored you the trophy fish. Bad economics. Anyway mate each to their own, here's acouple of my latest bits of tackle, a 4wt Shilton and a 7wt Nautilus.Cheers Darren

[tonyb 1,017]

OOOOH! you "scattercash" you, Mr Rudd will be delighted that you are single handedly getting the Aussie economy back into the black again

[RogerG 1]

FishnutsYou seem to be confusing cheapness with inferiority, the point that I and several others are trying to make is that there are rip-off merchants out there who will sell the gullible a $50 rod for $299.95 just because it has a sticker on it or a name on it that sounds important when it isn't. You can walk into a "Specialist" shop in Adelaide suburbs and find fly-fishing tackle with price tags up to seven or eight times the price of the same gear, at another "General" tackle seller down the road. People actually pay his prices because they joined the same club and are told that this is the place to shop! You DO NOT need to listen to these posers. If you shop around for long enough you will get what you want without having to pay a small fortune for it. No experienced angler would use a blunt hook etc but they do not have to be gold plated. They usually work better when black.CheersRogerG

[fishnuts 55]

Roger G I know what you are saying but when you know what you are looking for and you know the quality of the products you are buying then you don't get sucked in to buying the overpriced crap you are talking about. I shop around for tying equiptment in the most unusual places as most tiers do but how many fly fisho's do you know that still tie on Mustad 34007 hooks and think they are good when every hook that comes out of that packet will be blunt. So not all experienced fisho's use sharp hooks either. My point is that if you can fish with good equiptment then do so, if you can't then you'll still enjoy the experience but you do run the risk of loosing that once in a lifetime trophy that just may not ever come along again. As far as posers go, well I don't have Sage rods and Abel reels but I like to fish with quality stuff but most of mine will be down one tier or two from that gear. I lost a Cobia on fly last year because the reel I was using at the time died , it was a cheapy and didn't do what it was supposed to do. Luckily I did get another one latter in the day but with that one the 10wt rod broke but I still landed it. So I made up my mind from that day on not to trust cheap crap. I've custom built rods for the last 30 years and I know what's good and bad so I just buy and fish with the gear I can afford to use but if someone else can't afford to use the same as me , I don't look down on them either as we are all out there just trying to enjoy the same experience and catch a few fish.So it's the same old thing, a cheap flyline will always act like a cheap flyline and a cheap hook will usually be blunt. All I can say is buy and use what you can afford and don't worry about what others think. I will one day buy myself an Abel reel with a pretty paint job because I want to and if I can afford it I might even get 2. Do I have to, no but I love using quality gear, it's so much better and far more reliable.TonyB, Mr Rudd won't be happy as I could only get the Nautilus from the U.S.A. direct, Oh well atleast I helped the Yanks out, I think they need it even more than we do.Cheers Darren

[Ranger 48]

recently bought 3 reels NOS(new old stock)all 4 weights with disc drag and ball bearings $60 the lot.

I like the pretty gold ones! How much for just ONE? ;D

[Guest Brent61southoz]

hi,driving thru the city parklands (opp memorial drive) this afternoon, i saw what i thought was a fly-rod training session. i may be wrong but certainly looked like it unless it was a fishing club .brent

[Ranger 48]

That's interesting! Pity we dont have contact details.I understand you were probably in a hurry, but be careful driving through the parklands, they frown on that!

[projoe 261]

it could be peter hayes casting clinic from Tasmania?? (only on last weekend)normally held at pinky flat on the Torrens, these are excellent classes but start at $165 if you can get in one. Peter is one of Australia's champion casting & fly fishing experts & hold's these classes all round Aust.

[Guest Brent61southoz]

it could be peter hayes casting clinic from Tasmania?? (only on last weekend)normally held at pinky flat on the Torrens, these are excellent classes but start at $165 if you can get in one. Peter is one of Australia's champion casting & fly fishing experts & hold's these classes all round Aust.

hi Joe,these ppl were 30m from the road opposite memorial drive, looked like fly rods . just caught my eye as i was driving pastbrent

[tonyb 1,017]

Hey, Joe,Hardly any interest shown in this fly Tying group mate, might as well get the Mod's to close this post down :stir: :stir: :stir:

[Big Ian 0]

ok Tony if you want me to i'll remove it then, shall I? :P

[tonyb 1,017]

Better check with our glorious leader/Feuhrer first Ian ;)

[crab_man 0]

hey fella's. im still really keen on this and keen to help try get it up and runny again any suggestions :dry:

[tonyb 1,017]

I think Joe lost interest as there were so many guys wanting to use their own materials and Joe's idea was to get the tackle industry involved to make more/better fly tying gear available and we could bulk buy, thus making good savings Not sure where it will go from here, tho' with the wealth of Fly Tying talent on S&H and 67 replies and who knows how many hits here, there's obviously a big interest and a definite need for a Fly Tying Group/Club.Any one interested in picking it up and running with it? :woohoo:

[crab_man 0]

i think we should speak to joe again and see what he says.. is anyone still intersted??

[rangfish 1]

I think it would be a good idea to have a fly tying club. It would be good for beginners like me to learn how to properly tie flies.

[crab_man 0]

so have we agreed that we will speak to joe and try and get this up and running again???

[tonyb 1,017]

OK, agreed Shane, we have nominated you as the new "Potential, S&H Fly Tying Club" spokes person Please report back as soon as more information becomes available.Could be a few karmas in it for you if you do a good job