"essential" materials

Hey guys, I know there will be many different opinions on this matter but it should be interesting to see what everyone thinks. What are the your 5 most important (or favorite) tying materials? Not counting thread, wire, tinsel, beads, hooks etc., try to think materials. My 5 are probably peacock herl, pseudo wing, grizzly hackle, black foam, and pheasant tail (I wont even get into dubbing, there's too much ;D). Of course I love tons of other materials but I think that these are pretty basic "essentials" (for me anyway) and that you can tie a variety of flies with these. I'm interested in your opinion so start typing!

-kyle

1, Pheseant tail
2, Hares ear mask
3, Hen neck in brown 4, squirrel dubbing
5, Tinsel

Its hard to narrow it to 5 but I can make a lot of good flies with these 5 materials.

I know it's tough to narrow it down that much. I didn't list dubbing because I use so many different types it's hard to choose an essential, or most important one.

-kyle

To augment Aaron's list:
(1) Brown soft hackle hen,
(2) Patch of natural coastal deer hair,
(3) Dark brown chenille,
(4) Dark dun poly or Antron yarn, and
(5) Turkey quill.

You could also make some fine dry flies with these added materials.

I am having a hard time coming up with just 5....

No doubt

1)Pheasant Tail
2)Hare's Mask
3)Grizzly Cape
4)Brown Cape

after that I start arguing with myself over other materials...elk hair, deer hair, calf tail, turkey quill, heck...black lawn and leaf bag for shell back would make the list......

dam, I forgot about deer hair, I use that a lot as I tie a ton of comparaduns. Another material I forgot was beige or white CDC, deffinatly one of my favorite materials to work with.

-kyle

1. Pheasant tail
2. Hungarian Partridge
3. Coastal Deer Hair
4. Poly Yarn
5. Peacock

Really need about a list of ten to be fair.

I know but I wanted to make it tough ;D

-kyle

I guess if I go by what I use most frequently it would look something like this:

1. Hare's Mask/Dubbing
2. Ice Dub- assorted colors
3. Mottled Hen Saddle (for nymph legs & tails)
4. Peacock
5. Chenille- various colors/sizes

and if I can have more:
6. Thin Skin
7. Flexi-Floss (legs/tails)
8. SLF Masterclass dubbing
9. Zonker strips
10. Pheasant Tail

I don't really like the thin skin, I find that if you stretch it a bit too much over the back of the fly the paint cracks. So I use clear plastic sandwich bags, cut them to the desired width using a razor, and just color them what ever color I want when I'm done. It's a lot cheaper too.

-kyle