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5 Colors
Synthetic Zonker
Price reduced from$4.95to$1.95
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10 Colors
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Fulling Mill Barred Rabbit Zonkers
$6
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10 Colors
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Fulling Mill Rabbit Zonkers
$6
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Fulling Mill Crosscut Rabbit Zonkers
$6
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6 Colors
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Fulling Mill Big Game Rabbit Zonkers
$6
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Bass Bug Spinning Hair
Price reduced from$10to$3
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6 Colors
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Pine Squirrel Skin Zonkered
$29.95
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9 Colors
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EP Craftfur Brush 3" Wide
$9.95-$14.95
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4 Colors
Bling Rabbit Strips
$4.95-$6.49
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2 Colors
Polar Fiber Craft Fur
$5.95
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Elk Hair
$4.50
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Hare’s Mask w/ Ears
$6.95
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6 Colors
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Arctic Goat Fur
$5.95
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3 Colors
Elk Hair Bleached Or Dyed
$4.50
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2 Colors
Coastal Deer Hair
$3.95
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1 Color
Synthetic Yak Hair
$6.50
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9 Colors
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EP Foxy Brush 3" Wide
$17.95
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Calf Body Hair
$3.95
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4 Colors
Yearling Elk
$6.75
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6 Colors
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Fish Skull Faux Bucktail
$7.95
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Grizzly Hair 16"
Price reduced from$5.95to$2.99
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2 Colors
Barred Zonker Strips
$5.95
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1 Color
Magnum Zonker Strips
$4.49
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Crosscut Rabbit
$3.49
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FAQS
Basic fly-tying materials include hooks, thread, dubbing, tungsten beads, deer and elk hair, feathers, marabou, hackle, tailing wire, fly wire, head cement, and dubbing wax. Keep in mind that these are your essential starter fly-tying materials to cook up standard recipes for top wet flies, dries, and nymphs. If you’re getting serious about tying flies, you’ll need foam for terrestrial patterns, flash or tinsel, soft hackle, body parts, eyes, floss, and varying thread sizes, colors, and weights.
The best fly-tying thread for smaller flies is 8/0 (eight aught) or 70 denier, and 3/0 (three aught) or 210 denier for larger flies. You’ll find the best-quality fly-tying thread in this collection, whether you’re cooking up tiny midges or larger streamer patterns.
While sewing thread may make affordable and useful practice thread while you’re getting used to the intricacies of fly tying, we do not recommend using it for flies you intend to fish. Sewing thread is not durable enough. It rots quickly and usually breaks away after only a few uses.
The best feathers for fly tying are high-quality, natural-looking feathers that will give your patterns a lifelike look. The type of feather you use depends on the pattern. Flowy ostrich marabou creates movement for effective wet flies, but you’ll want to use buoyant, fluffy cul-de-canard feathers for emergers, dry flies, and nymphs. Similarly, stiffer center tail pheasant feathers work great to dress up salmon or steelhead flies. There are several types of feathers used in fly tying, and each is the best for its specific purpose.
You can use many types of feathers in fly tying, but a “feather is a feather” philosophy won’t work. Feathers are not automatically interchangeable. Specific types of feathers create specific types of looks and movements on a fly, so you can’t achieve the same effect with a blue jay feather you found in the yard as you can with a peacock quill or barred marabou.
Once you know your pattern, you’ll know what hook size you need, which dictates the bead size. The bead size needs to match the hook size, and there are differences between cyclops (countersunk) beads, slotted tungsten beads, and cones. For example, on a #10 hook, you’ll need a 3.3mm countersunk bead but a 4.6mm bead if you’re using slotted tungsten. We keep a hook-to-bead size chart handy because trying to memorize which types of beads go with which types of hooks can be frustrating if you’re tying several different-sized patterns.
For natural materials like feathers and hair, as well as thread, hooks, and beads, you should always purchase your fly-tying materials from a fly shop or fly-tying materials retailer. There can be a great difference in caliber of these materials, and those sold by fly shops are selected for their fly-tying quality. Many fly tyers will recommend going a step further and hand-selecting your materials at a fly shop in person. This way, you know the materials will meet your needs. Synthetic materials can vary in quality too, but tyers are often less choosy about selecting some synthetics. The benefit of buying synthetic materials from a fly shop is that the sizes, colors, flexibility, durability, and other important properties will be pre-selected for use in fly tying.
High-Quality Natural & Synthetic Hair & Fur for Fly Tying
Find the best collection of hair and fur materials for tying lifelike flies at Orvis. Discover premium choices among real animal fur and hair, including prime selections of rabbit, elk hair, goat, and calf, to create irresistible dry and wet flies as well as streamers and zonkers. Our options in high-quality synthetics give fly tyers the lifelike movement they seek as well as a variety of colors to convince even the spookiest of fish. From faux bucktail to real deer belly hair, stock your station with the exact fibers you need to cook up lifelike bass bugs, hoppers, terrestrials, midges, caddis, and mayflies. Our hair and fur fly-tying materials are ideal for creating patterns that target a range of species, and you’ll find fur and brush strips in various sizes for small to large streamer patterns for attracting big gamefish. For the best selection of body and wing fly-tying materials, browse our full Hair & Fur collection.