Tropical Saltwater Tying Kit

I've just returned from a trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i--my third in six years. While all of the trips have ostensibly been family vacations, my long suffering wife has allowed me to get a good amount of fishing in on each. I've written about the trip in an article for the web site I help moderate, and I'll be cross-posting it here in the next few days, but here and now I wanted to talk about assembling a tying kit for warm water fishing destinations.

Before I begin I have to point out that this material and tool list is far from exhaustive. It favours the flats and reef fish found in the central and south Pacific - jacks, bonefish, barracuda, grouper, bream, etc. I'm sure there would be plenty of cross-over with other areas, but this is based on my experience in Hawai'i and the colours and patterns that have worked. Most of the materials are rather drab and muted, but then so are most of the prey species.

Materials:

• Chinese Rooster Cape ("Chinchilla"or very light barred grizzly)
  
• Red Fox pelt piece or similar marked fur
  
• Arctic Fox or similar soft white fur
• Fun fur (pale tans, greys & pinks)
  
• Bucktail (white and grey)
• Light ginger dubbing (squirrel, rabbit, or similar)
• Diamond dubbing (rootbeer, golden olive brown or similar)
  
• Flat braid (rootbeer)
  
• Krystal Flash (rootbeer, pearl and red)
• Nail Polish (red and clear)
• Head cement
• Invisible mending thread (fine)
• Thread (pink, chartreuse, white, red)
• Lead wire or substitute
• Hooks (saltwater: std #8-2, xl #4-0)
• Dumbbell brass eyes (x-sm, sm, m, lg)
• Dumbbell lead eyes (x-sm, sm, m, lg)
• Mylar eyes and sticky backed foil
• Five minute epoxy
• Popper materials
• Mylar woven body material
• Letraset pantone markers
  

Equipment:

Fly tying equipment is often a matter of personal taste. Some prefer to whip finish by hand, while others (like myself) use a whip finisher. Some swear by serrated scissors, some like flat blades. The point here is that everyone's equipment list is going to be slightly different. The following items are the minimum I bring with me when traveling to Hawai'i.

• Small vise (I use a Griffin 2A on a pedestal but a c-clamp packs easier)
• Bobbins (2)
• Scissors - straight/fine tipped
• English hackle pliers
• Toothpicks
• Bodkin
• Whip Finishing Tool
  

Packing:

It's nice to be able to pack all your fly tying materials and equipment into one of those very slick bags such as those produced by manufacturers such as Fishpond, but unless you're chartering a private plane to some exotic destination, the extra luggage charges and possibility that the bag will get "lost" in shipping really don't make them that practical. I've found that heavy plastic soft sided pencil cases are excellent as material and equipment organizers. They can stuff into the corners of your luggage, lay flat between folded clothes and generally don't take up a lot of room.

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That's about it for now. In upcoming posts I'll talk a little bit about fly selection for Hawai'i and recommend some web resources.

Aaron