Shari
In the movie "a river runs through it" they are purists fishing with dry flies and the flies are probably caddis. A medium sized fly that is easy to tie. The fellow that I got my equipment from only tied one fly. A plain grey dry fly.
All you really need is a vice to hold the hook. Everything else makes it easier but is optional. I shouldn't say he only tied one fly but he started on a stream with one fly and if it didn't work he would catch what was hatching and tie a look alike. Right on the stream with a finger vice and a minimum of tools.
I tied for relaxation after work in a closet so the cat wouldn't get my material. I tied from patterns and I did have a magnifier light but seldom used it. A whip finisher tool makes tying off easier.
You start at the head with a spool of thread and wrap the body back as far as you need to go then wrap in the tail with two or three wraps then start adding body material always with a minimum of wraps so it doesn't get bulky. Stop body material before you want the head because this part takes up more space than it seems. Glue the head with nail polish so the knot doesn't come undone. And last float it on a glass of water and look at it from the bottom because what a fish sees is actually a pattern of displaced water not the actual fly. Flies like the Royal Coachman are a curiosity to fish and they will strike for that reason only. They don't actually look like anything. An interesting fly is one made with a coffee bean to look like a beetle.
Now wet flies are different and more forgiving because they sink and the fish actually see them. They all look like grubs.
A latex caddis is only a strip of a fluorescent condom got from the bathroom of a bar wrapped over a wool body to give it shape.
You can do as I did also and tie things you could never cast like Dragon flies and their Cousin the Damsel fly.
Hackle is the neck of a chicken and a good hackle from a Barred Rock chicken is worth about 50 dollars because it is rare to get really good hackle. Beware though, you will start to collect everything from cat hair to hair off road kills if it can be used. You will haunt farmers for wool and calf tail hair. Some stuff you may have like silk floss and different coloured thread. Oh and the lead strip from around the top of a good bottle of wine. For weight. And Styrofoam for the opposite reason.
A simple fly to start with is a muddler. It is large and all deer hair.
You also can fish in your back yard with just a pail to aim at because what you are doing on a river is dropping the fly just up from a rock where a fish may be resting with enough loose line so the fly drifts past looking normal but not so much loose that the fish spits it out before you can tighten. The line is what you are casting not the fly, it doesn't have enough weight to drag the line. Different from casting a lure on light mono. Whipping back and forth is only for dry flies to dry them.
My sister in law has my kit, and of course My Brother had to buy all new better tools and material. He does catch fish though. Idiot throws them back. I don't have any more flies, Jennie gave them away as Christmas presents to her relatives.
I do have my fly rod though.
Cheap store bought flies don't float right and therefore don't work. The hook is too heavy and coarse.
Davit.
