making lures

I have heard of tying flys as a hobby, is this nothing more than  hobby or is there actually a market for hand tied lures?

My father ties flies, has been doing so as long as I can remember.  I just gave him some feathers off some of my hens at Thanksgiving.

I've gone with him to the home of a guy who sells hand tied flies.  The guy also sells equipment and supplies for the hobby.  This was 30 years ago, so I'm going off memory and I'm sure my mind is going.  The guy had a wall covered in flies of all shapes and sizes.  Some looked like bugs, some were just weird.  I recall prices ranged from 50 cents to a few bucks. 

Flies are designed to land on the surface of the water and float for a few moments while being reeled in.  This is called casting, cast fishing, and fly fishing.  The bait mimics a bug falling on the surface of the water.  Reeling it in serves to agitate the bait.  The fish say it looks just like a struggling insect and an easy lunch.  Because the fly floats, there is no need for weights and bobbers on the fishing line.  All you need for tackle is fingernail clippers, the ability to tie a knot around the eye of a hook and a vest with flies stuck in it. 

The tools and equipment for making your own are cheap and simple.  A vice to hold the hook.  Some small tools-scissors, razor, tweezers, a spooler, maybe a couple of paper clips to manipulate the material as it is applied.  Everything you need can fit in a desk drawer.

The materials for production are simple enough.  Feathers, string, and whatever that glue stuff was.  This is a hobby of accumulation.  An assortment of different feathers, different kinds of string, small tools, a work light, various materials, boxes with lots of drawers to organize all the little parts.

The process is simple as can be.  Put a hook in a vice, tie a small knot near the eye, add a piece of material, tie it on.  There are waterproof resins which make the job easier and enable more complex creations.  Let the thing dry...then go fishin.

Duplication allows for more rapid production.  You can have all the stuff in place, tie the flies a little faster.  If the fish are biting a particular fly, an angler may want more than just one.  Some flies work, some don't.  I guess the fish are finicky.  Size, color, and design are all factors in making an effective lure.  There are books out there with pictures, descriptions of materials, and how to instructions so you can produce flies proven to be effective for specific fish.  My father has made some based on the pictures, but he is color blind.  He'd come into my room with feathers in his hand to ask me what color they were.  "Which one of these is orange?"  I'd say "this one is yellow, that one is purple."

The investment in getting set up to tie your own is low.  I would think that if you know a lot of fly fisherman you might be able to sell some of the things.  Even if you cant tie a fly, selling the supplies to those who do can offer some potential.  With a flock of chickens or other livestock you have a supply.  Perhaps supplying the suppliers is a direction to pursue.

All sorts of ways you can go with this.  I don't see it as a big industry, but every little bit helps.

A permaculture landscape would offer lots of fly-tieing supplies. Species diversity is a big win, here.

Wild birds that die of natural causes should offer a lot of opportunities, although I guess you have to be careful about using some protected species.

Fur of various sorts would also probably be useful, and maybe some plant fibers, as well. Even insect fibers might be worth collecting, e.g. the silk from tent worms.

You could also produce beeswax, rosin, and castor oil, and sell them in the formulas below (although castor oil might be worth buying: ricin is no joke).

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part139.php

There once was an episode of "northern exposure" where a guy comes to town and decides to stay and open a fly tying shop because he loves to tie flies.  And holling says something about how everybody knows that nobody can make even the most meager living from tying flies, plus people come to buy the flies in order to visit and nobody wants to visit with that guy.

I think if one is bonkers about tying flies, then what the hell - go for it.  But plan on your time having a value of about $2 per hour, tops.

lol...

That's how Bass Pro started in Springfield MO

So, what you are you saying is that the pay starts off really lame, but there is a chance to strike it big?

Leah Sattler wrote:
I have heard of tying flys as a hobby, is this nothing more than  hobby or is there actually a market for hand tied lures?

That's how Cabelas got their start

Oh yes fly fishing is very big in some places, the top end poles cost a fortune! & so with that in mind, if you have a top end pole you need a top end fly.

One of my relatives makes flies for people, he makes a pretty penny doing to. But I think that in order to do this you must love it & you need to be part of that culture, so you have an in, he gets most of his clients by word of mouth. 

Were I to go into that business, I might also try to keep the option of producing rods and/or lines. To that end, I might, for example, grow a hedge or copse of tree of heaven (ailanthus) with their associated silk moths, and depending on the climate, Tonkin cane, Japanese varnish tree and ramie.

That plan makes sense. Then you can offer package deals

This is one that location might be one key to suscess.

Sport fishing is becoming less popular (as more and more people are eliminating the word 'leisure' from their vocabulary), and fly-fishing is a small percentage of the hobby.
However, amongst the sport fishermen, the fly-fishermen are the most passionate in their pursuit of "the one that got away".  They will stop at nothing to land the next big one.

To sell flies, one would need to study the art to determine what works, and how to produce flies that a very knowledgable audience would want.  A shortcut to income might certainly be providing the raw materials to the avid fans.

about 15 years ago I did just this, had a friend with a local store and tied up flies in my spare time sold them down there for $3 one for the store and two for me, about 15-20 a week went and most of them were the gaudy ones that I knew wouldn't catch a trout, what I learned from it was that most folks who know what makes a fly work tie their own.

Visited Lee in Lakeland almost 20years ago.
He made some small machines that carved Lure Blanks.
Most the finishing, painting and detailing was done by hand.
We fished the Okavango with some of his lures - very effective.
http://www.sissonsdesigns.com/

people up here will pay up to 80$ for a lure regularly 20$+ A lure is differant from a fly in that it swims in or on the water
Folks still make the best ones out of red ceder toonis australis

I bet that the first time you lost an $80 lure to a snag you would never buy one again. It would be tough to compete with the mass produced tackle for price. Seems a better fishing supply business would be live bait and a small bait shop . Worms from vermiculture , black soldier fly larvae , Minnows or shad in an aquaponics system , Catalpa worms. Better yet if you are positioned close to a popular fishing spot.