7wt

I started tying with Teimco because I didn't like the barbs on Mustads, they were just too big. After buying a ton of TMC 100's over the years I made the switch to Mustad because they are alot cheaper and they have a "clasic" look about them. Now I don't feel guilty when I donate one to the trash.

I parked it over a steam vent.

I thought it would be fun to show pics of our beloved four wheel friends in various situations. Here is mine, can anyone guess what is going on?

Thanks for the compliments guys. I haven't done much tying in a while and I am glad to start back up. The camera and some new tools gives me the motivation to dust off the HMH. I need to get back in shape with me deerhair work, I recently learned that a pond near my appartment has some nice bass in it. Need to get a float tube!

On the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

One of my all time favorites, rain is comming to the desert.

My little hair frog tried to hide from me!

Very nice! Now all you have to do is drill some cribbage holes around it and you'll be all set!!!

Those look fantastic!

That's a size 14 TMC 100. It has Hoffman tailing pack for the tail and Hoffman coachman hackle and Superfine for the dubbing. That was the very first real pack of hackle I bought and I remeber that day like it was yesterday. The hackle used to look nicer but again, it has been ridding shotgun with me for about a year. As far a s the pic goes, thanks for the compliments. Since I now have a camera that can take macro shots I intend to dust off my bench and give my HMH some more use. It has always sucked to poke around on this site without being able to post pics of my stuff. By the way, the camera is a Nikon D40.

I was out in Borrego today testing out my new camera and decided to take a pic of this trude that has been stuck to my visor for over a year. I forgot when I tied it. Snowshoe wing.

I use the loop on most of my dubbing because of it's versitility. You can tie a verigated ribbed body with a dubbing loop all the way down to size 18. Take a very small touch of light color Superfine dubbing and twist it onto a dark color thread very very tightly then catch the dubbed portion in a loop and twist the crap out of it. If you spin it tight enough and if the dubbing was on tight enough you end up with a light color skein with the darker color thread spiralled through it. Wrap the hook and you get a body that looks like it is a quil but has some mottle to it. I like to use brown Ultra thread and pink or peach Superfine. It make a great calibeatis. Sorry I don't have pics, my camera is in the Gulf for the next six months. Oh, it is super strong too. No trouty trout trout's teeth is gonna mangle it up.

My wife didn't get me a vise for Easter...what gives????

I like what you have done with the raffia. I have used it in the past but I just cut the wing shap and never twisted them. The twist looks like it adds some meat at the tie in point so the wings don't rip out as easily. Nice job!

For bass stuff I like my Rite cermag. I can tork down as hard as I want and the spool won't pop off like other bobbins I have used. I also have a standard Rite that I use for small bass and bluegill flies or foam stuff. For the more delicate stuff I like my Tiemco bobbins. Some people like the creamic insert bobbins, I prefer the solid ceramic tube designs like the Rites and Tiemcos. I totally understand not wanting to spend a fortune on these things but good ones will last forever. They are something you can also easily add to over the years. I started off with one good bobbin, I now have six, two Rites and four Tiemcos. I probably will end up adding another Rite to the mix in the near future even though I don't really need it, they are just too cool to tie with.

Will, Since you said you like to tie for steelies my vote for the HMH goes up another peg. I have The magnum jaw which I use for deerhair work, the standard jaw for all else and the tube collet for tubes (of course). Tubes make awsome steelhead flies! http://www.hmhvises.com/tubeflytool.html As a side note for all the folks that push the rotary thing, it's not for everybody. I tried to tie rotary when I had my traveler and wound (pun intended) up just using the thing fixed. Then I ran into the problems Troutbum was referring to. The only real time I ever rotated it was to get to the bottom of the hook to tie clousers and that stupid jaw was in the way. Even now with my HMH when I am doing tubes with my jaw horizontal I don't spin it to apply material. I work on one side at a time. Oh, and slight correction to what Hairstacker said, the only difference in the Standard and the Spartan is the draw tube is a little longer on the Standard and it has a slightly heavier base. I chose the Spartan because the shorter draw tube. I felt it gave me move support as it was closer to the stalk of the vise when I was really cranking down on my deer stuff. Functionally they are the same. They both are a joy to look at and a joy to use. I still get a chuckle everytime I look at the vise polling thread and the HMH only has 4%. That is a shame.

Thanks for the reality check on the 100 bucks. I was just getting to the point where I was comfortable with dropping a grand on a new suspension for my truck.

My vote is the HMH Spartan. I have had several vises over the years all were sold after using the Spartan for a week. I am beyond pleased with mine.

Yes Whiting is worth the money. I buy only saddle hackles. I picked up about 6 different varieties a while back and they are still going strong. These can be picked up for about $30 and will give you tons of variety from size 10 down to 18's or so. They also make sweet over wings on clousers. I say start with a brown and a grizzly and go from there. How long have you been fishing around Waco? I went to school there and I can tell you that the best times I had were spent in the Middle Bosque just outside Mcgreggor. There were some really good bass in there that were really spooky and a bunch of goggle eye that weren't. I also went down to Clifton a bunch, really nice little area that was just loaded with sand bass and catfish. Oh the stories I could tell you, too bad I'm not there now. I love to hit some of my old haunts. Glen Rose was great too. Whitney, Lampasas and the Llano.....I could go on and on.

I have always just wrapped some tying thread around where I wanted the joint, put some glue on it then bend it.

So I guess we should all stock up know, after all....the sky is falling.

Thanks Al, that's exactly what I had in mind.

I second the hook question. Also thread choice.

Here are some more... The Hidy Rod Company Scandi West Sweet Water Rods Eden Cane JD Wagner inc

Those spinners look fantastic but the price of the material just might be out of buget for a lot of folks!