Fly Tying with Household Materials ^Pictures^

[TeenFishermanID]

Ok, so I really want you guys to know how limited my fly tying and fishing knowledge is. Before yesterday I had tied about 4 flys (All chartreuse wooly buggers) and caught about 5 fish. Other than the books and articles I've read I've learned everything from trial and error this Spring.
Fly tying is expensive so I have to slowly build up a supply of materials. Well I was getting impatient and started to search for random materials around my home. This is what I came up with: (Sorry for the crappy quality)

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I love fishing for bluegill, so I decided to create a little foam spider. I used the foam insole of and old pair of shoes for the body, and some strands off of the skirt of a spinnerbait for the legs. I used a trout hook off an Eagle Claw snell that I modified a bit.
Now, I really didn't expect this spider to do much. It was crude looking and the hook was much too large. When I went to the local pond later that night, after a while of fishing, I tied the spider on. Much to my surprise, a small bluegill, probably only twice the size of the spider itself attacked it right as it hit the water.

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I plan to create several more of these, with smaller hooks of course.

Now here is my question to you. What household items have you found work well for tying flies? Any pictures or ideas would be awesome!

Thanks [cool]
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[mudsucker]

My wife had an old pair of Crocs shoes in a tan color. I cut the strap off that holds the shoe on the foot and found it is a light foam that floats. It was also grasshopper colored and I made a hopper body and caught several planter trout before it tore off.

My son got some Mentos gum in a plastic container. I noticed the label is a foil sticker with a fish scale hologram sparkle design. I pulled off the label and the back side is all sparkle, no printing. He caught a bluegill with a piece of the label, I'm sure it could be tied into a lure.

Several years ago Sun Chips had a bag made out of something that was very loud. I cut one into strips and made a jig out of it and I swear I could hear it in the water. Nobody bit, it might have been too loud for the fish, too.
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[tob04002]

I've used normal yarn to tie up wooly buggers, rubber legs, and streamers before. It actually works pretty good and is a lot cheaper than chenille. I've also used wire hangers as 'lead' or weight material for my flies that need to sink well.
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[windriver]

Sponge spiders are awesome. I love them. Make your legs as thin and dangly as possible. In fact I am going to tie some spiders with my son today.

WIndriver
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[scorsi]

Nice Job! One thing I like to to is cruise through the second hand store to see if I can find something to tie with. Nice fly, you could easily catch a nice fish with it.
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[cpierce]

Great job on the spider. You can color the foam with permanent markers too to imitate beetles, ants, hoppers etc.
In the home look for other foams, yarn, hair, ribbons, and foil bags.... Ear plugs make great bass poppers. Pet hair in various colors can make good dubbing and tails etc. The under fur in your pet brush and I have even considered dryer lint, but haven't actually used it for dubbing. Depends on what was washed and how long the fibers are. Gorilla Glue can also be used to make floating bodies. http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforu...ead#unread

Beyond that look at garage sales, dollar stores, thrift shops, and craft shops. Just about any kind of feather, fur, (even stuffed animals), or foam can be used for something.
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[cpierce]

WindRiver's song post also reminded me of the wire you can get from small motors and transformers. Some good thin copper or even colored wire can be found. The wire can be used to weight the fly.

You can also use some sewing threads to tie with. FlyGoddess at one time posted a chart with the equivalences for the different threads.
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[forgiven]

Look for dead squirrels in the road (make sure they are a failry fresh road kill) and cut off the tail. Great fly tying material.

Know any hunters? Get deer, & elk hair, phesant feathers and etc. from them. Also get carpet samples, take the carpet strands and make your own dubbing.
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[cpierce]

Good suggestions all!

I also forgot about the thin foam sheets that are used to pack electronics. Also anti static bags. If you don't have any go to an electronics store and see if they have some in the trash that you can have.

KGlissmeyer ties a great midge pattern that uses the electronics foam as a tied back wing. This is his fly picture:

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[flygoddess]

Packing foam is gold. Mike from UOTF came up with a small dry that you tie in that same foamin a wulff wing pattern.... Called the Gorge Burger...deadly. Old Navy has sales on flip flops all the time...makes excellent beetles, hoppers and stoners.

K Glissmeyers flies are sweet.


Might I add, use a bodkin and Q-Tip tubes to tie new flies on. You can use whatever hook you want with it and make sure the fly works before commiting a hook. Tube flies are way cool.
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[StacyR]

I don't tie flies, but I do make hand tied jigs for bass, crappie and steelhead.

For any application where threads are not visible and you're not required to yank hard on the thread, I use Coats and Clark monofilament thread. Costs about $2.75 for a 400 yard spool at hobby or sewing shops. Comes in nylon and polyester, but the polyester thread is easier to find in stores. Either one works fine. I got mine at Joann's, and I've heard Wal-Mart also carries it. The spool fits a standard size fly tying bobbin. It's transparent, so you can also use it for jigs and flies where you want the material to show through. Just make sure you whip finish a couple of times and glue at the end, because it's very slippery.

Speaking of glue, nail polish top coat makes great head cement. I buy it from the dollar store. Colored nail polish also makes good paint for jig heads. These have a base coat of white powder paint and a top coat of gray nail polish:



I buy chenille online from Crazy Angler and Grandpa Bob's Jigs. Not sure if linking to their sites is allowed, so just google the names. Much cheaper than the local fly shop.

TeenFisherman, where are you located? I may have some stuff for you.
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[flygoddess]

I'd fish those Stacy.
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[TeenFishermanID]

I'm in the Boise area
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[flygoddess]

PM me an address and I have some material I would donate to the cause.....cause being a new fly tier[cool]
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[TeenFishermanID]

Would you mail them to me? I don't know why I'm so worried about sending my address out [sly]
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[flygoddess]

That was the plan. [cool] I quit stalking years ago[]
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[GP]

Latex gloves make good nymph bodies.
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[flygoddess]

Transformers out of electric appliances has killer wire. Copper mostly, but some red and some green. My favorite wire as it is thin and strong.
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[cpierce]

Just keep in mind that the first flies and lures were probably made with whatever feathers and furs could be found on the local farm. We are lucky to live in a time were a multitude of materials are all around us. Experiment with what you have. You may create a killer fly that no one else thought of.
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[TeenFishermanID]

Well, thanks for all the great ideas, I love how much input I got! My dad doesn't want me giving my address out so I'm not sure what to do there [:/]
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