I tie mostly wooly boogers and hair jigs for bass, but also an occasional salt water minnow or trout fly.
Fly Tying
- Thread starter SoDakDom
- Start date
It's always interesting seeing what other fly tiers are using.
I'm stilling using a Thomson Vice that my Dad bought in his early 20's... 40 Years ago.
I'm stilling using a Thomson Vice that my Dad bought in his early 20's... 40 Years ago.
Catyrpelius, most tiers I know started out with a Thompson vise. Some still use it. If hooks start to slip in your vise and the vise no longer is able to tighten the hook, you may want to consider upgrading. But let your skills push your need to upgrade. I know Charlie Craven, a master tier, author of three fly tying books, and co-owner of a well-known fly shop in Colorado, insists on using a stationary vise instead of a rotary vise.
I have no real complaint with my Thompson vice, for roughly 75% of the flies I tie it works really well. Every once in a while when tying something size 20 or smaller the hook will slip from the jaws of the vice. Its not that common of an occurrence but I will probably switch to something new this fall or winter... Seems that all I do is dump money into this hobby. I've been looking at the Regal vises I haven't really heard anything bad about them. I bought my dad a Peak vise for Christmas (it was the one he wanted) and he likes it a lot so its one I'm considering also.
Alpster, that's a terrific fly tying station you have. The vise looks like an HMH, but I can't quite tell. The other photos suggest you fish with conventional rods as well as a fly rod. What bass flies do you tie? You might want to consider placing a plastic board over that beautiful grain finish, if you use adhesives. I know feather-craft.com used to see such boards in various sizes.
I used to tie flys with my pop. Neither of us get the chance to do much fly fishing these days. I do have a nice Sage. Wish I had more time.
Catyrpelius, both the Regal and Peak vises are high quality. There is no adjustment for the size of hook for the Regal. If you select the Regal, I would buy one with the stainless steel jaws. Those jaws allow a huge range of hook sizes. I can tie down to #24 on the stainless steel jaws. The Peak is a bargain for such a quality vise. The standard jaws also allow a wide range of hooks sizes. I can tie easily midges on the Peak. Both the Peak and the Regal will hook a hook without it slipping. Have you tied much on the vise you gave your dad? Also, consider the Renzetti. If there is a decent fly shop nearby, why not try out some of the vises the shop has for demonstration?
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So very true, Floyd Eye. You may have heard the best time to go fishing is when you have the time!
- Thread starter
- #29
I wouldn't mind participating, depending on the category of flies. Have you ever conducted a fly swap? I understand it's a lot of work.
- Thread starter
- #31
Yeah, but it's also been with a group that meets to tie on a regular basis. We'd all bring a fly for each person. Everyone would bring a dozen flies and end up with an assortment of 12. We'd have a panfish day, trout, bass, etc. that way a bass guy wouldn't end up with a bunch of trout flies.
I've tied on my dads Peak vise a few times. The only real problem with it that I have is that you can't angle the jaws up and down and I've found that it makes it difficult to tie flies where you need to work down the bend of the hook.
Catyrpelius, you may be capturing too much of the bend when you mount the hook. Mount the hook lower so you capturing a small part of the bend and all of the spear of the hook. You might have to adjust the Peak jaws a little, but it should hold the hook without it slipping. Normally, I do that when I tie midges on the Peak and I tie some well into the bend. On smaller flies like midges a tier does not need to crank hard on the hook. I notice the Peak also sells a midge jaw that is even smaller than the standard, which has fairly fine tips.
SoDakDom, that works if the ties are identified in advance of submission.
- Thread starter
- #35
I also enjoyed the surprise of it while just generally knowing which category the flies will be in.
You are correct, it's HMH standard. The base was too small, so I stole a cast iron lamp base. Yes I also make custom rods, including flyrods. As I said before, I mostly tie bass flys & poppers and some clousers and muddlers for stripers. The board is homemade, just a a few pieces of red oak from the Home Depot with colored finishing nails to hold thread. The base is oak plywood, probably got about $30 bucks in the whole thing. I usually only use a little binding cement and some color preserver. Not too messy. here are a few fly rods. I only built two of these.
Here's the Renzetti rod lathe..
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- Thread starter
- #37
You are correct, it's HMH standard. The base was too small, so I stole a cast iron lamp base. Yes I also make custom rods, including flyrods. As I said before, I mostly tie bass flys & poppers and some clousers and muddlers for stripers. The board is homemade, just a a few pieces of red oak from the Home Depot with colored finishing nails to hold thread. The base is oak plywood, probably got about $30 bucks in the whole thing. I usually only use a little binding cement and some color preserver. Not too messy. here are a few fly rods. I only built two of these.
Here's the Renzetti rod lathe..
Wow, that is really neat!
i jsut started tying flies the other day, though ive been fly fishing for a few years. so far ive tied 3 zebra nymphs, a pheasent tail nymph, a rusty spinner, and wooly bugger. its a lot of fun
Those are fairly sophisticated flies for a new tier. What prompted you to tie? What source do you use to learn?
