$17, One Hour and 15 Minutes

That is about what it takes to set yourself up for success this winter--roughly a 20 dollar bill and a couple of hours some Sunday afternoon when your team is getting blown out on the television by division rivals. This season has enough unpleasantness...favorite lakes are frozen over, it is already dark when work lets out and everyone in the country gets to witness how bad my Cleavland Browns are... But you don't have to add to all that a fly tying debt spiral. Choose the one fly pattern you know you will be pulling out of your box the most and take an hour or two to save yourself a good deal of cash. Pick the pattern that you use the most and that is the easiest and fastest to tie, and that takes the least amount of materials. This should be easy, because the best winter flies are tiny and simple. You can choose the RS2, Poison Tung or Zebra Midge. Here is the ingredient list for the $17 (for fifty!) Zebra Midge:

Umpqua Feather Merchants U201 #20
Two 25 packs of Spirit River Brite Beads 2mm (5/64") Black Nickel (or Silver)
Small Silver UTC Ultra Wire
6/0 Black UNI-Thread

There, $100 worth of flies...