Tie Your Own, I$ it le$$ expen$ive ?

The West Virgina Gazette ran an article on tying your own flies. In the article the author is explaining how much cheaper it is to tie your own flies, rather than purchase them from your local fly merchant. The much favored fly to tie for tiers is the beloved woolly bugger. Apparently the author has taken the time to do the math and come up with the cost for tying one bugger. He does later include that the cost of labor and tools could bring the fly up to around 80 cents so he still feels it is a great deal compared to purchasing flies at a store. He is very correct if you are willing just to stick with the basic patterns and tie only flies that you plan on fishing with. Over my 15 years in the fly shop business and a very avid fly tier I can safely estimate that most of my flies probably cost me between 5 to 7 dollars a piece when I factor in all the variables. Most fly tiers get started for the same reason that the article states, to save a bunch of money on their fly bill. However you must be very careful with the power of the art of fly tying! The addiction of tying the perfect fly and crafting a new pattern that works like no other is a dangerous balance. If you stick with the necessity of tying the basics you can keep the P&L of fly buying in balance, but if you go the rout of the serious tyer you will send the budget through the roof, much like our current administration. I spend as much if not more on my passion for tying flies than I do on the equipment that I fish with each and every day. My tackle bag is worth more than my truck and boat combined. Fly tying will eventually haunt you and your passion for fishing will be determined on weather you have a new bug to test out or not. I hope that everyone gives tying a try and I just want to warn those who read this post that be careful what you wish for because you could soon be trying to talk the wife into a an addition on the home to house your tying materials.