What is a "set"

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

it occoured to me while I was reviewing fflutterffly's thread about the donation flys for CFR.

Is there a actual number for what a "set of flys" is or is that determined on each occasion?

thought I'd ask ...

hank

[willowhead]

it's just a word hank........the number is totally arbitrary..............like the "Set" of flies i'm doin' for the Sowbug live auction.......whatever that number turns out to be, will make up "the set."
now if your talkin' Boo rods.........a SET is a BAD thing, and needs to be fixed or the rod won't cast well. It usually happens when a rod is stored wrong for to long a period of time. Boo rods should be stored horizontally, not vertically.........not left to Lean, for long periods of time.

[Soft-hackle]

Hank,
When I tie set of flies it is usually a dozen, two of each pattern. I usually put them in a six compartment plastic box with labels for each pattern.

I do not sell a lot of flies, but will occasionally make up sets of my choosing. I was tying flies for an older gentlemen who lived and fished locally. He was always trying to get the most for his money. He would come with requests for flies that I don't tie. One time he wanted a dozen Stimulators. I don't use that pattern, so I had to dig up materials-or buy materials I don't use, to meet his order. After that, I told him I could not tie for him anymore. I could not afford to keep purchasing materials I rarely used. If I were servicing, perhaps, 100 customers, it'd be justified, but since I was only tying for him, I could not justify it, especially since he did not want to pay what I thought the flies were worth. Commercial tying does not pay UNLESS you have a recurring client base, which is good sized. You've got to be good and fast, otherwise it really does not pay. So, if I wish to sell flies, it is usually in sets, patterns of my choice.(Thought I'd add this little story for interest.)

I have also seen sets of six flies-one of each pattern.

Mark

[willowhead]

Mark's dead right if your thinkin' commercially......or maybe not even nessessarily commercially.....a standard accepted set number might be a half dozen or a dozen..........but i highly doubt the word "standard" even applies. i can so relate to what Mark's sayin.....i use to tye for fly fishers who didn't tye.....and it was maddening.....because like he said, they're either always asking for something you don't have materials for.....so your instantly goin' in the hole.....or they're so damn cheap they just wanna get over.........best way to get rid of 'em or fend 'em off, is to charge what YOUR worth.....they'll flinch every time..... Hey, if they want tyed in BF Africa prices.....go to the fly shop.......thass where they get 'em.

[JohnP]

In this case, I am doing 14 flies as a set, since there are apparently 14 women participating in the Casting for Recovery event. I plan to do at least two, and possibly three, different patterns, 14 of each.

[CM_Stewart]

I think there's no set "set." With 14 women participating, 14 flies sounds like a very good set.

As commercial tyers go I'm pretty small scale, but there is an easy way to keep from going into the hole on flies that need materials you don't have. Just offer flies that use the materials you do have, in the hook sizes you do have. If they want something else, respectfully decline the order. Makes life easier and makes managing your costs much, much easier. I'll never get real big, but if I had to buy new materials for every other order, I'd never last long enough to get big anyway.

[willowhead]

Good advice Chriss....."keep it simple." Commercial tyin' really is not fun for most tyers. You have to have a certain personality for it. And you HAVE to be a fast tyer or your dead in the water before you ever get started. If you can't "Crank" them out by the dozen in realtively short order (where they all look pretty much indentical).....just give it up.....cause it aint gonna "happen" for you. Fly shops don't pay squat, so unless you have say at least a dozen solid regular customers, you better have a very very little refridgerator, no wife and no kids........... OH! and a bicycle.

[hankaye]

w-h, Howdy;

...so unless you have say at least a dozen solid regular customers, you better have a very very little refridgerator, no wife and no kids........... OH! and a bicycle.

I have a bicycle, no kids ( if ya don't count Rascal), and a 6.0 cu ft. refridgerator/ freezer.....
I just don't tye real fast. Not even regular fast...
I also do not have a disire to do the tying commercialy .
I just kept seeing the term "set" utilized and thought I'd ask what it ment to everyone,
or if there was a designated number for "a set".

hank

[FliTrap]

In dealing with CFR, John P. has it spot on, that a CFR event has 14 women or participants. As I once (for a two year period, two years ago!) was the coordinator / equipment manager for all of CFR, I can advise on how donations of flies were managed back then!

At each event, there are 14 participants.
For each event, we send out a general fly box, typically matching the hatch for the retreat location, as best we could. These "big boxes" would typically have some 10-12 patterns, totaling about 120 -180 flies! The "big box" was stocked from any flies that had been donated by tyers or shops, who choose to send "quantity" of flies! These "big boxes" of flies would then be on hand at the retreats to be used as the ladies go fishing! The "big Box" and left over flies were sent back to the equipment manager for re-use at other retreats!
So.......
----- If a person or shop would want to donate any quantity of flies, they are greatly appreciated and will be used as noted!
-----If a person tied or collected flies and sent them with any specification as to what retreat they were to go to, then we made every effort to send them on to the Retreat Coordinator. In doing so, flies were sometimes, pre-boxed, to total 14 boxes, most often, such boxes of flies, or single flies, will be given to the ladies as a "gift box", their choice to use them at the retreat or take on home!
You can visit the link: ( http://castingforrecovery.org/retreats ) to clarify where retreats are held and who the contact persons are, if you want to arrange shipment directly to the retreats!
Or...
Send flies to Headquarters!
Casting for Recovery
P.O. Box 1123
3738 Main Street
Manchester, VT 05254
If you are sending "gift boxes" as such, the cool thing is that they all do not need to be exactly the same! I would try to balance them out and of common use to the area of the retreat you send them to!
I find this to be a great way to clean my "new fly storage boxes" when I am making room for new patterns!
FliTrap

[willowhead]

Hi Trap.....thankx for that info. It was up in Vermont (at the 1999 International Women Fly Fishers Annual Festival), where we first met the women who got us into tying for CFR. She had a booth and was selling quilts i believe, and artwork.....she was an artist. i bought a print of a Brookie chasing a fly from her. i think she may still be involved with CFR. Was/is her name Sue? It's been a while.....we saw her once or twice again in the insuing time frame.....but we're talkin' well over a decade now. i think at that time, she may have been one of the top people in the CFR organization. Anyway, from that point on, i got all the cats from the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild (i was the monthly "Programs" director at the time), to devote one monthly meeting a year to tying for CFR. And to this day, we still do that. Hank Rope (one time President of the CFTG), has always been the one to make sure the flies got to wherever they were sposed to go.
Do you happen to know, if they (CFR) have a retreat here in Arkansas on an annual basis? i could perhaps get somethin' goin' to help supply flies for that. TKX.