Fly Tying Materials??

[SeanSwenson]

Good morning everyone. I am gonna throw this one out there; where does everyone get there fly tying materials from these days?

[Nick Pionessa]

sure make me feel even worse...

JK but i can't say the question hasn't come up before. Cabela's pretty much sucks, just not a great selection. Coville's is great if you want a pin rod or some dyed sacs. Orvis has the basics but IMO fairly crap quality materials.

the most local shop with good stuff is probably Malinda's in Altmar (Salmon River) sadly she doesn't do online but outside of the busy season you can usually get her on the phone and get what you need.

Online there's a ton of choices but i don't have a lot of experience. companies like Angler Sport Group (WNY owned and operated Daiichi hooks and more), Spirit River and HMH sell direct and i'm sure there are others.

if anyone else has had any good online experiences cough em up.

[mike faracca]

I generally agree with the comments about the local retail shops, especially if looking for spey materials forget it.
sadly I used the shop closeouts to stockup on fur/feathers I'm sure as others did.
however in the meantime I realize that these will runout and I've been surfing online sites.
the challenge online as with any online purchase is that you cannot see/touch/feel the product so you never really know the quality that you'll be getting.
hooks/beads/chenille/antron yarns/etc are one thing but fur/feathers is different.
I've come close to pulling the trigger
but ima scared!!

[mike faracca]

I miss the shop

[johnbenish]

I too miss the shop greatly. The fur shop in Niagara Falls near the airport (Chistchester) has a great selection of interesting fur but as I remember not open on Saturday but better to go in person. Website chichesterinc.com.
The old Hunter's has been bought by Stone River I think its name is now, don't know there.
There is a place in Quebec which did a lot of stuff for Atlantic Salmon, they were able to supply stuff I couldn't find here.
Urban Angler has been good, the one in Alexandria is run by a Drakian.
Big problem is that Fly Tyer magazine doesn't have that many ads lately, so it's hard to tell what's out there, many places are no longer in business.
Haven't gotten anything from Blue Ribbon, but I can't imagine they would be anything less than darned good.
Most shops are naturally focused on local fishing, I used to be able to get a lot of great one-shot stuff while visiting on the West Coast, but those shops are now closed, same general effect of the industry consolidating and constricting, hurting the small local shops.
I have recently bought stuff from Feathercraft, they did all right, but didn't get much in materials.
If anyone else hears of something, it would be good to know.

[Nick Pionessa]

good reminder about Blue Ribbon Flies John. Especially for hair like deer, elk and caribou. Hun partridge and pheasant skins. they always had a great selection of that stuff.

BTW Urban Angler in Alexandria is the latest casualty of the big box/big manufacturer revolution. They closed about a month ago.

[johnbenish]

So sorry to hear about Urban Angler Alexandria. I think his name was Rick, is a good guy and I hope he is still able to live the good life.
All the more reason to support small shops.
It is an uphill battle in any field to try to keep going with all the forces of large competitors going against the small proprietor. It seems that far too many people today either believe in mass advertising and its name/ brand recognition or the "size is better" or in squeezing price points versus service a small proprietor can provide which is much superior to "big box" a good example is the time Nick gave (and still gives!) sharing his knowledge in casting and tying.
I and most solo practitioners in my field are in the same type of struggle, there won't be many of us left soon. No sympathy expected, just bear in mind things like the old hardware stores where someone knew what they were doing vs. the big box places where the best advice is "we sell a lot of them" and the merchandise is cheap imported garbage made to be sold at the lowest price point and discarded when it soon breaks or wears out.

[jeffraz]

As stated, Blue Ribbon is incredible. Dette Trout Flies in Roscoe is a great little fly tying shop (although not much for rods, reels, and waders). He has some awesome high quality fly tying materials. His hook selection is hard to put into words. As you could imagine, his stock is almost exclusively inland trout based since the Beaverkill and the Big D System are quite close. An added bonus is the fly tying pedigree that runs through his blood and of course, to the vice. He is very knowledgeable about the flows in the Catskills. If you are ever in Roscoe it would be worth your time to check it out. He is online as well.

[Jethro Soudant]

Nothing can replace being able to walk into the shop, and ask questions or learn of a possible better material for what you want to tie. Miss it big time. That said, I've purchased a few things from this guy troutlegend.com I think he's in Springville so shipping is super fast. Don't know if he has an actual store to pop into. Not the biggest selection, but he had Whiting CDL when I needed it. I've also gotten some basic items from www.jsflyfishing.com/fly-tying-supplies, but I'm hesitant to drop $50 or more on some feathers unless I can touch it. www.feather-craft.com/ is another place that has a big selection where I've had no complaints. You can sign up for their free printed catalog which is fun to peruse. Both those places seem very well regarded in terms of quality, and prices are competitive. . Otherwise, I'm headed to CO in early July and plan on stocking up on materials while out there.

[Charlie Dickson]

Yup, fly shops in Western New York; it’s a sad state of affairs since the Oak went under. I continue to be disappointed by Cabala’s and Orvis. Very rarely go in either of those places and find what I want.

If you are going to order online - www.anglersworkshop.com/ and www.theflyfishers.com/ are both very good general purpose online shops. Not a lot they don’t have. If you’re tying deer hair bass flies and other warm water stuff try - rusuperfly.com/. www.blue-ribbon-flies.com/ is great for trout stuff.
For Salmon, Spey and steelhead stuff there are a few good options. feathersmc.com/ has great stuff for classic Atlantic salmon flies. www.aaronmostojfeathers.com/ is great for Spey flies and classic west coast steelhead flies. www.redshedflyshop.com/ is another good place for classic west coast steelhead flies.

If you’re going to drive, like Nick said, Malinda's in Altmar is the closest thing we have to a local shop. Keep in mind that her focus is steelhead fishing.