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One Fly Tying KitThe One Fly Tying Kit is for new and experienced fly tiers who would like to try a new tenkara pattern without having to buy a lot of new materials. The one question asked by most people who are thinking of taking up fly tying is "can you save money tying your own flies?" The answer to that, as for many other questions, is "yes, but..." You can save money tying your own flies, but only, ONLY if you can avoid the slippery slope that catches most fly tiers. You can save money only if you remain, first and foremost, a "fly tier" and resist the urge to become a "collector of fly tying materials." Tie flies and you'll save few bucks and have a very pleasant and rewarding pastime for when the snow flies, the wind blows or you can't get out on the water. Collect fly tying materials and you'll spend thousands of dollars on esoteric feathers and fibers, hair and hides. You won't (can't) save money if you buy materials that you will never use. The One Fly Tying Kits come with a package of 25 Daiichi hooks, the materials required to tie 25 flies and a pattern sheet that provides easy to follow step-by-step instructions. There will be very little waste and you won't have to buy a whole rooster neck or partridge skin, or enough yarn for a whole sweater, just to try out few flies. If the fly works and you want to tie it on a regular basis, then you can buy the normal quantity of the required materials. At this point, the following kits are available: The Killer Bugger is a cross between a Killer Bug and a Woolly Bugger - basically a Killer Bugger with a marabou tail. The extemely mobile marabou tail adds a significant "trigger" for strikes. It changes the fly's profile from scud/cranefly lava/caddis pupa to helgrammite/sculpin/minnow. Plus, the slow pulsing manipulation tenkara masters use gives the Killer Bugger a lifelike swimming motion. The Woolly Bugger is successful everywhere but as it is usually tied, it is too large and too heavy for tenkara rods. The Killer Bugger is not too heavy and not too large, and is a good match for tenkara. The Ishigaki Kebari Tying Kit is a bit simpler, with just thread, hooks and hackle, but buying good quality saddle hackle is getting more difficult now that it is a fashion trend to weave saddle hackles into hairstyles. (There's even a dog grooming shop in the East Village that offers them for your cocker spaniel). This way you can try out the pattern without having to wonder whether it was your wife, girlfriend, teenage daughter or cocker spaniel that "borrowed" your expensive saddle. The CDC & Elk Tying Kit includes everything you need to tie the only dry fly I need. It is a simple fly, with just two materials other than the thread and hooks, and it's relatively simple to tie. You'll want to tie more than just 25 of these flies, and the materials packages are modest, so I've including the regular sized Hareline packages. That pushes the price up another buck, but I think you'll decide it's definitely worth it. The Killer Kebari Tying Kit contains more materials - everything in the Killer Bug kit plus a spool of thread and a partridge wing. The Sakasa Kebari Tying Kit comes with Hungarian Partridge hackle, Pearsall's Gossamer silk tying thread, and a peacock eyed stick. This is a classic Japanese tenkara fly which is surprisingly similar to the reverse hackle flies developed in Italy for pesca mosca Valsesiana and to the sparse North Country spiders that have been catching fish for hundreds of years in the UK.
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