REVIEW: White River Fly Shop® Fly Tying Kit - Bass Tying

As mentioned in an earlier post, D bought me a White River Fly Shop® Fly Tying Kit - Bass Tying package, so that I could begin learning to tie flies. Now that I have been through it, I thought I would give you a bit of a review.
First, what's included:

• Buck Tail: white, brown, olive, black
• Dear Hair: white, brown, olive, black
• Chenille: chartreuse and red
• Flash: crystal, copper, red, purple, etc.
• Hackle: white, red, black, tan
• Marabou: chartreuse
• Thread: tan, green, black nylon, and yellow Kevlar
• 8 corks
• 4 lead eyes
• Assorted hooks
• Zap-a-Gap, Flex-Seal Cement, Head Cement
• Bobbin, Needle, Scissors, Hackle Pliers, plastic tube
• Vice
• Lefty Kreh instructional DVD

The kit gets pretty good reviews on the Bass Pro web site. You are supplied enough materials and instruction to tie the following patterns: Bendback Streamer, Lefty's Deceiver, Clouser Deep Minnow (baby bass), Lefty's Popping Bug, Hackle Fly (seducer), Deer Hair Diver (frog), and Deer Hair Popper (frog).

Lefty Kreh is one of the biggest names in fly fishing, and he is a good teacher. I only have two main criticisms. First, I am an exacting person. I want to master the fundamentals, and after that, I can experiment. So as I am learning, I would have preferred a bit more precision in the descriptions of the amount of material to be used, ratios, etc. Also, I think in a starter kit, the instruction/demonstration should utilize the same materials and tools as supplied in the box. I realize that this not Lefty Kreh's fault, that everything was packaged probably as an afterthought, but still, I have to deduct some points.

I would have to rate the quality of the materials pretty good, and in keeping with what I have seen for years in different craft type applications. I wish there had been a bit more included in the box, but I really can't complain. I tied a bunch of flies, and have significant material left over, especially fur, despite having run through the white and black hackle pretty fast.

I think the vice is a no frills, adequate piece of hardware. I intend to make extensive use of it, even if I later decide to purchase a nicer one. The tools are all pretty good quality too.

As for using the kit to learn, I couldn't imagine a better way to learn on my own. We are talking mostly streamer type flies, large ones at that. It was great for learning and practicing basic techniques on a large scale that I could then apply to smaller flies and hooks. It might be nice to be able to have someone with experience standing over your shoulder with a watchful eye and able to answer questions, but failing that I can say I learned to tie from Lefty Kreh!

In short, if you want to start tying, I readily recommend you look into purchasing one of these kits, even if you have an experienced teacher ready to help you along. What you get for the dollar spent makes this a real value.