When you shop for fishing flies in stores, you can find dry flies and nymphs ranging from 79 cents each to $1.95 each. Online you can even get them cheaper. I’ve seen them for 42 cents each.
The most expensive flies sold by premium fly shops are tied in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the fly tying capital of the world. There are over a dozen major fly tying companies that have tying facilities there. The fly-tying resource base there (number of fly levels experienced) is greater than anywhere else in the world.
Other areas of the world that produce significant numbers of flies include China, Sir Lanka, and Kenya. There is some production in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Philippines. Fly production in the United States and Europe, where the largest number of users are found, is mostly by domestic tiers or tiers that are tied to specific fly shops. There are some domestic levels that sell their flies on the Internet.
In fly factories, the cost of production is based on the cost of materials, cost of labor, cost of facilities, administrative cost, and profit. Currently, for dry flies and single nymphs, that adds up to about $3.50 USD – $4.50 USD per dozen (I’ll use USD in the rest of the article) in Thailand, and about $2.00 – $2.50 in Kenya.
When shipping to the US, Europe, Canada or Australia, shipping costs are $0.15 USD per dozen and the US duty is approximately 10%. In the US there is also an excise duty that must be paid based on the first sale after they enter the country which is around 9 1/2%.
Based on a factory cost of $4.00 per dozen, the fly company that imports flies must add the shipping, duties, and excise tax it will incur when selling to stores, bringing the cost of the fly to $4.00. 5.63 per dozen. The fly companies that import the flies need to make a profit, so the cost to stores is typically trapezoidal (50% markup), so the cost to stores is now $11.26 per dozen ( 94 cents each).
When the fly shop pays for shipping and increases operating costs and profit, key again, the cost to the consumer is increasing that $1.95 figure that you see when you walk in.
Big box stores, in order to drive prices down to what they do, either get deep volume discounts or buy flies that are tied somewhere other than Thailand, or both.
Some retailers have their own tying facilities and not only tie in the least expensive locations, but skip the costs of the fly importing company by going directly.
Hopefully now when you are surprised when you walk into a fly shop you can understand why the shop is charging what it does.
