"Padishar Creel" wrote in message
...

"Dan" wrote in message
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How can one tell? I just got an offer for these shipped for $25. Anyone
heard of a Kevin Elliot who ties flies?
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This may be a great deal, especially if tied on decent hooks. However,
take
a few bucks more and head to your local fly fishing pro shop and have them
fill you up a box of starter flies. You won't be sorry because your time
on
the water is too precious to sell it short with the wrong flies when you
could have a local expert guide you. For example, there is NO hexagenia
hatch on a certain river I fish, but the local pro shop knows that a hex
pattern is a killer. They be very right. Local knowledge like this is
worth a little extra cost to get both the advice and the flies (IMHO)

I visited a fly shop today and purchased $75 worth of tying materials and
dodads. I got a couple hundred dollars worth of advice and the owner set
down at his vise and showed me a technique I could have never mastered
without his instruction. I hope I made my point. Of couse, this all be
my
opinion your mileage may vary.

Chris

I'm not sure which part of California you are from but if you are from the
northern part, I recommend stopping in and talking with Bill Kiene in
Sacramento. He is a frequent contributor to this newsgroup and a damn
fine
gentlemen to boot.




Good advice here. You could always ask Kevin Elliot for a sample or two,
for a buck or two, but if you go to a good local shop you're better off
usually. Check the sharpness of the hooks against your fingernail, it
should stick in the nail with little force. This is just as important as
the style of fly. Doesn't matter if they love the fly, but you can't set
the hook, actually can be even more frustrating.

Mike