Traditionalist's imaginative use of a variety of cheap, effective materials for fly-tying has gotten me thinking about other cheap alternatives to branded items, or kit that is purportedly designed for anglers.
Several good ideas have appeared in various sections of the forum from time to time.
My suggestion is to start this thread to collect them together.
I'll kick off with a couple-
Fishing Bag
Hard-bottomed tool bags from the DIY trade such as Plano - £30, similar from Snowbee £80
Fly or Bits Box
Eight compartment box from Maplin (Code SF04E) £1.99, similar from Orvis £15
There's actually tons of stuff like this, you can save a fortune on some things just by buying them somewhere other than a tackle-shop! :) I have nothing against tackle-shops per se, indeed I have spent quite some time ( and money! :) ) in many of them, but nowadays if something is labeled for "Fly-fishing" or "Fly-tying" it invariably costs more than if it was labeled for something else. It is not always easy to find out what that "something else" may be, but it is invariably worth the effort. I am not a cheapskate at all, and I don't mind paying money for something of good quality that I need, but I do resent having to pay through the nose for stuff which I can get for very much less elsewhere.
Anyway, rant over, here's a tip for backing line. Get a reel of bricklayers polypropylene line in 1mm diameter from your local DIY market. Floats, shoots like greased lightning, is impervious to just about anything ( Even bricklayers ! :) ), and is usually very cheap indeed. You can also actually use it as fly line if you want to. So a fly line for beck fishing with spiders etc will only cost you about 20 pence!
I have a whole load of tips on stuff like this, but I will have to sort them out and post them as I find them.
By the way, the draught excluder foam (In the salt water fly posts), makes lovely fly box inserts, and there are a few other nice tricks to it as well. You can also use it on your hat, not to keep the draughts out, but to stick flies in!
As an added attraction it will also hold barbless flies securely if you thread some flexible magnet up the core. The Foam then holds the fly and the magnet stops it falling out. The stuff already comes with a powerful adhesive backing. You just peel the covering off and stick it where you want it.
TL
MC
This is going to be an interesting thread I reckon. I had a look through my fly tying stuff to see if I've got anything useful, but all I could find was assorted beads - liberated from toys and craft kits my kids have binned over the years - and some tinsel from crunchie wrappers and so on. A very useful freebie, which will be hard to find nowadays sadly, is the lead foil from the top of wine bottles. Don't see it these days unfortunately, but I've still got a wee stock left... hic.
Well if a dozen Paul Proctor flies can be expected to sell for £90 in the Wild Trout Trust auction, I guess a few forumites could make a bob or two with their creations. The trick, as always, is presentation and marketing.
I came across these when looking for boxes to protect poker-sized playing cards. Measured and cut some foam board to place in the bottom and hey presto, a pocket sized fly box suitable for use bandy catching, presentation and posting.
Sizes are 4"x3"x3/4" in real money 100x75x18 in the new fangled stuff.
Real benefit? they cost 27p each.
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More useful boxes;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sistema-split-Storage-Container-Coloured/dp/B004AHLX5K/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1329563997&sr=8-26 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sistema-split-Storage-Container-Coloured/dp/B004AHLX5K/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1329563997&sr=8-26)
there are loads of these on the market as sandwich boxes etc. They make good fly boxes, lined with draught excluder and you can have colour coded boxes. I have found some very good ones in a "pound store".
For the draught excluder the TESA D self adhesive is good, you can line a lot of fly boxes with a roll of it;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tesa-Draught-Excluder-Profile-White/dp/B0024NKDFS/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tesa-Draught-Excluder-Profile-White/dp/B0024NKDFS/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url)
TL
MC
zinger from poundland,a pack of two with pens in the stationery dept.
any guesses welcome on cost.
andy
Oil skin jacket: £5 Gortex equivalent: £150
Quote from: Inchlaggan on February 18, 2012, 12:11:58 PM
Well if a dozen Paul Proctor flies can be expected to sell for £90 in the Wild Trout Trust auction, I guess a few forumites could make a bob or two with their creations. The trick, as always, is presentation and marketing.
I came across these when looking for boxes to protect poker-sized playing cards. Measured and cut some foam board to place in the bottom and hey presto, a pocket sized fly box suitable for use bandy catching, presentation and posting.
Sizes are 4"x3"x3/4" in real money 100x75x18 in the new fangled stuff.
Real benefit? they cost 27p each.
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Where did you get those Ken ?
plasticboxshop.co.uk
watch out for their delivery charges though!
For outdoor clothing have a look at the gear made for wildlife photographers. It seems to me to be much higher quality and cheaper than fishing gear.
Quite a well known one using plastic tubs, baskets etc for line trays. The one in the pic below cost around £1 in Lidl for two of them and needed no DIY to use it as a line tray; used a belt from an old pair of airflo waders which fitted through the slats at the sides. The slats at the side are also low enough for the water to drain away without any need for drilling holes in it.
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Its 100 times better than a collapsible line tray I bought and no way I'd pay for an orvis one