shemp

Awesome ideas in this thread. I am new to tying. I use a couple of 2x4's drilled out for tools and bobbins. Nothing photo worthy. I am in the basement spreadout on an old kitchen table and a kids desk (5 bucks at the thrift shop) with a tilted drawing top that also sits flat. It is like one of those old school desks - you can open it up and stuff things in it. So I keep all of the materials strewn about on the old kitchen table and then tie on the kids desk on top of a breakfast in bed tray I stole from my wife. She got that at Marshall's. I like being spread out and having open space. I imagine one day I may be able to tie in a neat little space but for now, I am all over. I try to get my daughter to help and to design a few bugs - so having the stuff out and all over seems to help our creative process. I have a grab bag I got at the Somerville NJ show and I don't know what half the stuff is - she will say, Daddy, put this on that bug, so I do. It makes for great fun. We did just make a Bass shaped fly holder. The base is fish shaped, it is then drilled to hold dowels on the perimeter that have alligator clips on top for holding the hooks.

Hello - I don't know why but I love to fish. Started late in life and am nuts about bass fishing. I am mostly a soft plastics / spinning rod fisherman but three years ago I went to the fly fishing show in Somerset NJ and bumped into Rich Murphy. My kid, 4 at the time, recognized a squid on Rich's table and said - Daddy, Squid. Rich gives it to her. Well she wanted to make one when we got home. I'll use any excuse to do fishing stuff - so we started tying monsters as she calls them. Last year Rich gave her a small crab, and this year a ray. I will throw sinking Zonkers on the back of a float with my spinning gear from time to time but my main reason to tie os to sit with my daughter and make whatever she can conceive. Since the show last week we have been at the vise everynight. She pickes stuff, I get it started and then I let her wrap etc. Once she claims victory I knot it up and then she gets to give it a hair cut. So I am here to learn patterns and to get tips as to how to keep her interested in tying so we have something we can both work on together for a long while. She bass fishes with me and has even commandeered my 6'6" St Croix rod as her own. She wants to fish REAL stuff like me. She can handle it pretty good. I want to learn top water hair poppers and foam poppers as she loves the Hula Poppers. Tying is magic to me and I just love it. One day I may learn to fly fish, buit for now, I like to tie. Great site so far!